The Addams Family | Stage review

 

Two years after a near-disastrous pre-Broadway debut here in Chicago, The Addams Family returns to the city that birthed it, having undergone two major revisions. Although missing some pizzazz—the magical sets (by the show’s original directors, Phelim McDermott and Julian Crouch) have been scaled back for the tour, and what remains of Basil Twist’s puppetry is just but an echo—the show that emerges now has narrative cohesiveness. With the story refocused on the titular macabre clan, there’s even more for their fans to embrace.

On opening night Tuesday, we spied quite a few youngsters in the audience whose parents clearly aimed to impart to a new generation their love of the creepy, kooky, mysterious and spooky family. And let’s face it: Given how uneven and bloated the original musical was, it’s only the great love that many people have for these characters (from the pages of The New Yorker to television to film) that kept this musical afloat. Even after veteran director Jerry Zaks retooled it for Broadway, the show received bad-to-middling reviews; now it’s been retooled again.

So what will the Windy City audiences see? Well, they’ve added several new songs and excised others, such as the bizarre giant-squid number, which nonetheless showcased Twist’s impressive puppetry to maximum effect. Still forming the spine of the show is the time-tested trope of meeting the wacky would-be in-laws (think La Cage aux Folles and Meet the Parents), spurred by a romance between Wednesday Addams and Lucas Beineke, whose conservative parents hail from Ohio.

Long gone is "Clandango", the original overlong opening number we saw here in December ’09. It's been replaced with the more succinct “When You’re an Addams.” More recently jettisoned is Morticia’s hum-drum subplot with her anxiety over growing older. Instead we get meatier stakes: conflict between her and Gomez, who conceals Wednesday’s engagement from his wife. This gives the sexy goth matriarch, played with verve by Sara Gettelfinger, a brand-new number called “Secrets”—and a helluva lot more to work with than poor Bebe Neuwirth ever got. (Another song for Morticia, “(Death is) Just Around the Corner”—added for Broadway, new to Chicago audiences—kicks off Act Two in near-showstopper style.)

Gomez, too, benefits from his new character arc and a new song (“Trapped,” one of the best in a serviceable but instantly forgettable score). Of course, Gomez (as played by a miscast Nathan Lane) always played a prominent role; what we see in this production is a quality that was sorely missing before—despite Lane’s Tony-winning talents, which surely include the ability to sell tickets. But with actor Douglas Sills, whose impressive pipes match his good looks, we finally get a Gomez with suave sex appeal. It makes a big difference.

Not every change is for the best. The stifled Ohio mom in this version doesn’t register as strongly as Carolee Carmello, who brought down the house with “Waiting” at the climax of act one. (You could feel the electricity in the air when she sang it.) Worse is the retreat from supporting prominence of Grandma, previously played by Second City all-star Jackie Hoffman. Still, the character (now played by Pippa Pearthree) gets one of the most enthusiastic laughs of the night in her exchange with her grandson, that pesky Addams tween Pugsley.

When he asks the function of a particular potion (prior to his stealing it and serving it to the guests), Grandma answers, “One sip of this turns Mary Poppins into Medea!” Puglsey bemoans, “I don’t get your references!” to which Grandma retorts, “Then stop all the damn texting and pick up a book once in a while!” As the mild cursing in this exchange indicates, the humor in this (mostly) family-friendly musical is mostly PG.

The more risqué jokes will probably fly right over younger kids’ heads. So this is the show, then: Addams Family 3.0, presumably and finally set in stone. It’s still not as great as it should have been, but it’s better than it was. And, thank goodness, the show’s most singularly delightful bit of stagecraft remains intact: Uncle Fester (a hilariously creepy yet lovable Blake Hammond) follows his declaration of love for Luna with Act Two’s sublime “The Moon and Me.” When you’ve seen Uncle Fester dance in mid-air, you can forgive a lot.

---

Catch The Addams Family through New Year's Day 2012 at the Cadillac Palace, 151 W Randolph Ave.