THEATRE REVIEW: "The Addams Family" at the Oriental Theatre (Chicago, IL)

      In January of 2010, my mom, my sister, and I saw an evening performance of the World Premiere Production of the Andrew Lippa / Rick Elice / Marshall Brickman musical "The Addams Family" at the Ford Center for the Performing Arts - Oriental Theatre (now called the Nederlander Theatre).  The Production Design was by Phelim McDermott and Julian Crouch.  Basil Twist designed the puppets.   I wonder if there was a musical number that got cut called "Do the Basil Twist" where all the puppets danced.  Well, the song "Clandango" was cut when "The Addams Family" transferred to Broadway.  Either that, or it was rewritten and/ or replaced with the song "When You're an Addams."  My point is that anything's possible.  

     The cast of this production included Nathan Lane (Gomez Addams), Bebe Neuwirth (Morticia Addams), Zachary James (Lurch), Kevin Chamberlin (Uncle Fester), Jackie Hoffman (Grandma), Adam Riegler (Pugsley Addams), and Krysta Rodriguez (Wednesday Addams).  We saw the musical towards the end of its Chicago Run, and had heard rave reviews, as well as lots of hype before the production opened.  We went out to dinner around Christmas and my mom gave us an envelope containing a newspaper clipping about the show, and a theatre ticket to it.  My aunt and uncle had seen the show, and my aunt said Bebe Neuwirth looked so stiff in her dress, and that her performance seemed off.  That must have been the case because Bebe Neuwirth's understudy, Rachel deBenedet, performed the role of Morticia the night we saw the show.  The rest of the cast performed that night though.  The World Premiere Production of "The Addams Family" performed at the Ford Center for the Performing Arts - Oriental Theatre from November 13th, 2009 through January 10th, 2010.

 

     The cast of "The Addams Family" also included Terrence Mann (Mal Beineke) and  Carolee Carmello (Alice Beineke).  They played the parents of Wednesday's love interest, who was played by Wesley Taylor (Lucas Beineke) --the three of whom get invited to dinner at the Addams Family mansion, where hijinks unfolded.  I guess I should explain that Wednesday is older in the musical than she was in the tv shows.  Also, in the musical, the Addams Family mansion was located in the middle of Central Park.  I'm not sure what the point of these creative liberties were, but as one of the souvenirs in the theatre lobby read in boldface letters: "define normal."  Nonetheless, the musical only ran for 722 performances on Broadway, and was nominated for just two Tony Awards (Best Original Score and Best Featured Actor in a Musical...the nomination of which went to Kevin Chamberlin).

Publicity photo of the World Premiere cast of "The Addams Family."

     This was a pretty good show, but I was surprised by how much hype the show generated prior to opening in Chicago, let alone Broadway.  It was good, but not that good.  I might be saying that because our seats were good and not good at the same time.  While they were dress circle seats, they were off to the side, to the point where we could only see half of the stage.  My sister had the best view out of all of us because she could see most of the stage.  I think, because of that, she disliked the show the least out of all of us.  I don't think any of us were too disappointed that Bebe Neuwirth wasn't performing the night we saw the show.  Also, I don't think any of us would have liked the show any more had she been performing that night.

     The ensemble cast members of "The Addams Family,"  (most of which played ancestors) included Merwin Foard (who I saw in "The Sound of Music" about six years later), Jim Borstelmann, Michael Buchanan, Colin Cunliffe, Rachel deBenedet (who played Morticia the night we saw the show), Matthew Gumley, Fred Inkley (who played The Beast when I saw "Beauty and the Beast" in 1997), Morgan James, Clark Johnsen, Barrett Martin, Jessica Lea Patty, Liz Ramos, Samantha Sturm, Charlie Sutton, and Aléna Waters.  The only cast information I don't have is for the giant squid that lived under the Addams Family stairs.  I guess that performance will have to be uncredited.