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).
'The Addams Family' is a musical all dressed up with no place to go. There's one simple reason: Nobody knew why they were writing it. There is no animating purpose to the evening, except to throw well-known characters on stage so the audience can luxuriate in their comforting familiarity. Charles Addams' iconic cartoon creations have been robbed of all subversiveness, something even the 1960s TV series—made in a considerably more socially conservative era—didn't do. The thin wisp of plot—daughter Wednesday wants to marry a 'normal' boy from Ohio—in Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice's choppy book serves mostly to muddy the comic strip's iconography, and their inclusion of a subplot involving Morticia's fears of aging only compounds the problem. They've also come up with one of the flimsiest excuses for a chorus since Captain Jim romanced Rose Marie in the heyday of operetta.
The stagecraft seldom disappoints; there are brilliant use of puppets, including a curtain tassel that springs to life and becomes a love interest for hairy Cousin Itt. And the cast, led by Broadway pros Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth as Gomez and Morticia Addams, works hard to put over a script that seriously drags in the first act and generally owes more to vaudeville than the dry wit of Charles Addams' original cartoons. Neuwirth interrupts her morbid love song 'Just Around the Corner' with the elbow-poking line 'Coroner. Get it? Death is just around the coroner.'
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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