Addams Family - To Broadway!

PAUL FANLUND | The Capital Times

CHICAGO – As the new musical “The Addams Family” closes its two-month run here next week and moves to New York City, the buzz in theater circles is whether its Midwestern preview will have served as the launching pad for the next Broadway mega-hit.

After all, in recent years Chicago’s theater district has been a proving and refining ground for “Spamalot,” “The Producers” and “Movin’ Out” before the musicals’ smash debuts on Broadway.

If “The Addams Family” does not prove hugely popular when it opens at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre in New York this spring, it will not be for the lack of A-list talent, on stage or off.

Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, creators of the 2006 Tony Award-winning best musical, “Jersey Boys,” wrote the book for “The Addams Family” and composer Andrew Lippa (“The Wild Party”) created the music and lyrics. Lippa’s awards include a Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle and a Grammy nomination. But the greatest sizzle is on stage, with two of the biggest Broadway stars of this era: Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth.

Lane (Gomez Addams) has won two Tonys and an Emmy, and is best known for his roles as Albert in the movie “The Birdcage” and as Max Bialystock in “The Producers,” where he co-starred with Matthew Broderick.

While most familiar to television audiences for her Emmy-winning role as Lilith – the wife of Dr. Frasier Crane on the shows “Cheers” and “Frasier” — Neuwirth (Morticia Addams) burst onto the Broadway scene in “A Chorus Line” nearly 30 years ago and gained her greatest stage success with the revival of the musical “Chicago” in the 1990s.

Surprisingly, “The Addams Family” is not based on the TV series from the mid-1960s, but instead on the “bizarre and beloved family of characters created by legendary cartoonist Charles Addams” in The New Yorker magazine, according to the show’s Web site.

The story is built around a love affair. Wednesday, daughter of Gomez and Morticia Addams, falls for a “normal” boy named Lucas Beineke from a conservative Ohio family. When the Beineke family comes to the creepy and brilliantly staged Addams mansion for dinner, the cultural collision is joined, with music, dancing and lots of subplots and one-liners along the way.

Initial reviews of the show were mixed. Most notably, an influential Chicago Tribune critic suggested the show needs more spontaneity and a sharper focus. Apparently in response, producers announced Monday that Tony Award-winning director Jerry Zaks had been hired to supervise changes to “take this original musical to the next level” before it hits Broadway, he told the New York Times.

Still, in viewing a holiday performance last weekend before the announcement, it would be hard to imagine it not becoming a big thing on Broadway.

To start with, the roles of the lead couple seem to have been written for Lane and Neuwirth. With a twinkle in his eye, Lane produces a bemused, stylish and consistently funny portrayal of Gomez. A highlight is his rendition of “Happy/Sad,” a touching song about the conflicted feelings a parent has watching his child grow up and chart her own path in life.

Neuwirth is a perfect fit for the role of Morticia. She is both eccentric and elegant, and floats across the stage in a sleek black dress, haunted by worry that she is losing her sex appeal.

While it is hard to imagine anyone else originating these roles, it is a young, less-credentialed actress named Krysta Rodriguez who most stands out. She plays the part of Wednesday Addams beautifully, with emotive eyes, understated intensity and a stellar voice. Judging from her credits to date, “The Addams Family” appears to be her big career break.

As one might expect in a $16.5-million production with marquee headliners, the other roles are occupied by actors with huge credentials.

The part of Mal Beineke, the father of Wednesday’s suitor, is played by Terrence Mann, whose Broadway credentials include the role of Beast in “Beauty and the Beast” and Javert in “Les Miserables,” both of which earned him Tony nominations. And the part of Alice Beineke, the mother, is played by Carolee Carmello, whose Broadway credits include the lead role of Donna in “Mamma Mia!”

Even the part of the eccentric Uncle Fester is performed by a big-time Broadway talent. Kevin Chamberlain, a Tony nominee, played the role of the odd and rotund Fester with humor and style.

Yet the pressure is really on, perhaps because critics expect “The Addams Family” to be such a commercial success this spring. A New York Post column headline “Flaws Run in the Family” brought a holiday scolding from Lane.

“Everyone on the creative team is working very hard to bring the best possible show into New York,” wrote Lane in a letter published in the paper. “I don’t have to tell you, but I’m going to anyway: Birthing a new musical is no day at the beach. As (another critic) said, ‘If Hitler’s alive, I hope he’s out of town with a new musical.’ After your column today, I feel (Hitler) might be working for the New York Post.”

After watching Lane’s portrayal of Gomez Addams, that feisty spirit seems like it could have come from either Gomez Addams or Nathan Lane.

Here from the hinterlands, informed by a nearly-ready-for-prime-time version of the musical, it will be fun to watch the bullets over Broadway this spring.