BWW Reviews: THE ADDAMS FAMILY Won't Creep Out Theatre Harrisburg

They're creepy, kooky, mysterious, spooky - but wait, that's not this ADDAMS FAMILY. No, it's not about the Presidential Adams family instead, but Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice sought the Addams Foundation's, cartoonist Charles Addams' administrators', sanction for the musical, and they were directed to go back to the original cartoons rather than to the popular television show or to the movies for their inspiration. That's one reason why Andrew Lippa's music and lyrics don't highlight, but rather hide, the song that everyone knows and loves. It's also one reason why the musical feels a bit off to the average Addams fan. You'll also find no Thing and no (sorry, movie fans) dancing of the mamushka, which would certainly be a wonderful stage event.

Theatre Harrisburg's production of THE ADDAMS FAMILY, directed by Steven Flom, boasts a lavish set and lavish costumes, all of which are a joy to see. It boasts some nifty choreography and a pit orchestra that's too hot to handle. It should be the thing to see. Unfortunately, what THE ADDAMS FAMILY lacks in closeness to the show it makes up for in unfortunate writing; it was tooled in Chicago, retooled for Broadway, retooled again in Chicago, and retooled yet again for the national tour. Many area residents did catch the show on Broadway - if you did, be prepared; you may not recognize the second act. Book, songs, and plot have all been changed, without necessarily improving its weaknesses.

That said, you've got costumes, you've got set, you've got music and dancing, and you've got Darren Riddle as Gomez - if you liked him in THE MUSIC MAN, you'll love him here. Granted, his Gomez do could be flatter and more oiled - it's a little too full and modishly Latin for an immediately identifiable Gomez - but he couldn't dance, fence, or attempt to seduce Morticia every five minutes any better if he tried. Amy Rosenberry, as Morticia, seems almost challenged to keep up with Riddle's dancing, and it's surprising at first to see a Morticia who isn't taller than Gomez, but she has a healthy dose of Morticia Addams attitude, and that's what we're all here for.

The plot is only secondarily about Morticia and Gomez, however. It's narrated neatly by the infamous Uncle Fester, here a terrifically feisty Randy Stamm who seems quite at home in the part, and it's ostensibly about Wednesday (Cori Vinton) falling in love with the painfully average and ordinary Lucas Beineke (Brendan McAlester) - they want to get married, and somehow they have to have their parents meet and not kill each other. Alice and Mal (Becky Mease and Kerry Mowery) have even less to do in the rewritten show than they did in the original - there's no squidnapping of Mal in the revision - but the performers do a fine job with the limited time that the Beinecke family of Ohio is given.

Much of the action centers around Morticia demanding a game of "Full Disclosure," in which each person has to tell absolute truth about a secret, because she believes Gomez is lying to her, and the game's failing to go as planned. Pugsley has spiked the drinks with one of Grandma's potions, and Alice becomes the unintended victim of the plot, with chaos ensuing. The "Full Disclosure" ensemble piece has some lovely staging, as does the opening "When You're An Addams," in which all the Addams ancestors come back to dance on stage. The "dancestors" make their way silently through every scene, and the plot device is one of the most amusing parts of the show.

What's lacking? Is it the absence of the mamushka? Is it the inability to fathom the Wednesday/Lucas relationship? Is it the lack of real Addams/Beinecke conflict? Is it the lack of real drama in Morticia's horror that Gomez has lied to her? Maybe it's the lack of passion with which the Beineckes' lack of marital passion is addressed. It's not Fester's part, certainly, it's not Pugsley's fear of desertion by his big sister, and it's not the performers' efforts. But the story itself really doesn't hang. It's hard to get worked up about any story line but Fester's - we can sympathize with his unrequited love easily enough, even if his love object isn't quite the usual (how could it be, when we are discussing Fester Addams?).

Nonetheless, a happy ending ensues, with appropriately delightful ensemble and orchestra moments, and everyone gets what they want, especially the ever-glorious Fester, whose weird charms dominate the show. And that may be enough for a warm May afternoon matinee.

Produced by Theatre Harrisburg at the Whitaker Center. If you can't catch it, the classic comedy GREATER TUNA will be produced at the Krevsky Center in June. For tickets and information call 717-214-ARTS or visit theatreharrisburg.com.

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