Based on the iconic characters created by legendary cartoonist Charles Addams, THE ADDAMS FAMILY is an all-new musical comedy starring Tony Award winner Roger Rees as Gomez and stage and screen star Brooke Shields as Morticia. THE ADDAMS FAMILY features an original story. It's every parent's nightmare. Your little girl has suddenly become a young woman, and what's worse, has fallen deliriously in love with a sweet, smart young man from a respectable family. Yes, Wednesday Addams, the ultimate princess of darkness, has a "normal" boyfriend, and for parents Gomez and Morticia, it's a shocking development that turns the Addams house upside down when they are forced to host a dinner for the young man and his parents.
THE ADDAMS FAMILY has a book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice (librettists of the 2006 Tony Award-winning Best Musical, Jersey Boys), music and lyrics by Drama Desk Award winner Andrew Lippa (The Wild Party), direction and design by Phelim McDermott and Julian Crouch (Shockheaded Peter, The Metropolitan Opera's Satyagraha) and choreography by Sergio Trujillo (Next to Normal, Jersey Boys).
Move over, Wicked, there’s a new Halloween musical in town, and, unlike its predecessor, it is safe not just for 13-year-old girls but for 13-year-old boys. I am talking, of course, about The Addams Family, the snap-happy tribe whose latest, musical iteration has popped into fitful life at the Lunt-Fontanne. Amply supplied with sometimes clever, sometimes groaning vaudevillian one-liners by book writers Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, whose last hit was Jersey Boys, and given resourceful songs by Andrew Lippa, composer of the gloriously decadent off-Broadway show The Wild Party, The Addams Family lends further life to a clan in love with death.
Brevity is not one of the qualities of the latest incarnation of The Addams Family. The first act of this new musical comedy is a pleasant, if often mindless and more often vulgar, diversion; certainly the spectacular set and special effects (notably a delightful Venus flytrap puppet) keep us engaged even when the comedy and songs sag. But Act Two proves to be one act too many; it felt as if the show's creators had tired of playing with their toys, and instead left them to flounder on their own within a bottomless pool of cliches drawn from second-rate kids' films, sitcoms, and hackneyed musicals. Nothing interesting or witty happens during this last hour, which is surprising in that it includes three songs that are clearly intended by the producers to be show-stoppers. I was bored and disappointed and left The Addams Family, which I sincerely tried to enjoy, feeling saddened by the squandering of resources that it represents.
2010 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
2011 | US Tour |
National Tour US Tour |
2021 | UK Tour |
UK Tour |
2024 | West End |
West End |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
---|---|---|---|
2010 | BroadwayWorld Awards | Best Costume Design | Phelim McDermott |
2010 | BroadwayWorld Awards | Best Costume Design | Julian Crouch |
2010 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Actor in a Musical | Nathan Lane |
2010 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musica | Kevin Chamberlin |
2010 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical | Carolee Carmello |
2010 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Lighting Design | Natasha Katz |
2010 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Lyrics | Andrew Lippa |
2010 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Music | Andrew Lippa |
2010 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Musical | The Addams Family |
2010 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Set Design | Phelim McDermott |
2010 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Set Design | Basil Twist |
2010 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Actor in a Musical | Nathan Lane |
2010 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Actress in a Musical | Bebe Neuwirth |
2010 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical | Kevin Chamberlin |
2010 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical | Carolee Carmello |
2010 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Set Design | Phelim McDermott |
2010 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Set Design | Julian Crouch |
2010 | Tony Awards | Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre | Andrew Lippa |
2010 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical | Kevin Chamberlin |
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