Below is my review along with some spoilers so if you want to be completely surprised by the musical, I wouldn’ t suggest reading this. Though, in reality, nothing I write in text really compares to seeing Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth on stage.  Also, please note that this musical is in previews (as has been pointed out in the comments) and so it is a work in progress still (I think that’s what it means) and so your experience may be even better than my own.  Enjoy.

ALL AFTER THE CUT.

The Premise.  The premise of the musical is that daughter Wednesday has fallen in love with a young man (Lucas) and he and his parents are coming over to the Addams Family home so everyone can meet. (I should note that Wednesday is 17 or 18 in the musical which is based on the actual Addams Family cartoon drawings, not the television show.)  Obviously, Wednesday is nervous about the impression her family will make and, obviously, they do not disappoint.   The young man’s parents are more uptight than Gomez and Morticia who each (separately) try to get the father and mother to be more intimate with each other.  In the process, Morticia becomes obsessed with her own age.  Meanwhile, Wednesday and Lucas decide to run off together and get married.  Puglsey is worried about who will torture him when Wednesday runs off.  The parents come together to convince their children not to run off just yet and, in the process, everyone is drawn together, happier.  All throughout, Uncle Fester is singing about love.  He has fallen in love with the moon.

The Set.  The set is fantastic.  Really well done and the detail is nice.  When the musical opens, you see the entire family (complete with Uncle Fester, Lurch, and Grandma) standing in front of the family home in the cemetery, staring out through the gates that surround the house.

Probably one of the most impressive moments with respect to the set comes near the beginning when we see the boy’s family searching for the Addams’ Family’s house which, I learned, is in Central Park in the middle of NYC.  No kidding.  Anyway, there is a huge facade of the entire house near the back of the stage and trees that move around in front of the house.  Music plays and swells and fog swirls along the floor of the stage and then the entire facade of the house falls straight forward (on its face, as it were) with a tremendous clap as it hits the stage – sending the fog/smoke dancing along the stage floor in a whoosh toward the audience.  Standing behind the facade, previously hidden from view is the Addams Family.  Immediately following that loud clap, the traditional, iconic Addams Family theme starts and the family, arms crossed over their chest, snap their fingers.  The audience immediately responded.  Despite having already seen all the actors, it still felt like this was one hell of a way to make an entrance.

The musical also does a very good job of managing to get Thing in on the action.  A lone hand is seen drawing back the curtain when the musical begins, for example.  The squid that lives in the house also plays a decent role in the musical and all of its arms make an appearance after it falls in love with Lucas’s father.

The Music.  This is a hard one because people often need to hear a tune more than once to really enjoy it.  I could hum one tune (“Let’s Not Talk About Anything Else But Love“) only because a version of it is done no less than 3 different times in the musical.  The first number (“Clandango“) is not particularly memorable for an opening song.  The song “Pulled” is sung by Wednesday as she talks about how she feels pulled toward Lucas – all while she’s operating a torture device that pulls Pugsley’s limbs in all different directions. (Which he enjoys.)    “One Normal Night” is Wednesday’s plea to her parents to act normal during the visit and it could have been really cool song but right when Wednesday sings one cool riff, the melody changes again and the groove you just got into is gone.  The result is that, for me, I never really got into the song.  This was a recurring event with songs that seem to have no real melody that is repeated (aside from the previously mentioned “Let’s Not Talk About Anything Else But Love“).

The mom (Alice) – she likes to write poetry.  I think it is when she is talking about her poetry and what she likes to write about when she says that she likes to write about something that everyone needs and so few people have.  The obvious inference is that she means love – but Morticia says, “Healthcare?”  Audience loved it.

Another popular line is when Grandma is explaining a potion and its effects to Pugsley and she says something like, “One drop of this would turn Mary Poppins into Medea.”

The song “At Seven” is about how Gomez and Morticia do the Tango every night at 7. Wasted song, in my opinion.  It’s not memorable and the point was made in other ways that didn’t require the overkill of the entire number.

“Full Disclosure” is a song done by the full chorus while the two families are at dinner.  It refers to a game the family plays in which they all drink from a chalice and tell a secret about themselves.  The Grandmother (Jackie Hoffman – Second City has a great alum in her and Chicago loves her) more or less steals the show here, taking the chalice and confessing that she’s going to get a full body makeover and become part of a 90-year old grandma sandwich.  Oh, and she smokes weed in the attic.  And also, Morticia and Gomez don’t know whose mother she is.  This revelation is pretty funny when it is made between the two of them.

Act I ends there and Act II opens up with us revisiting Morticia’s struggle with aging and playing “Second Banana” to her daughter, Wednesday.  Bebe Neuwirth’s voice is really distinctive and I don’t know that I’d have cast her for this role.  While she looks fantastic (that low cut dress served her well), her voice has a lot of vibrato that somehow didn’t seem as silky/sexy as you’d imagine Morticia’s voice would be.  In general, that seems to be my impression – I felt like I was supposed to like her in this role because she has the look and acting/singing chops, and because she’s Bebe Neuwirth… but I just didn’t.  I did, however, gain a new appreciation for her breasts and legs.

So, one of the most interesting, entertaining parts of the show comes next with Uncle Fester singing about his love for the moon.  (“The Moon And Me“)  Using a very dark stage and careful, careful lighting, they manage to create the illusion that Uncle Fester is gently floating in the air, singing to the moon amongst the stars.  His real legs are clad in black but he has fake legs that are being moved around in comical positions.  Nothing I can explain here really does it justice but it’s fair to say that it is extremely well done and meant to be obviously fake while also cleverly handled.  This is one of the most memorable scenes in the musical for that reason and everyone was wide-eyed and watching closely.  Hats off to Gregory Meeh who did the special effects.

Then we get a few pointless songs again.  Gomez and Wednesday sing “Happy/Sad” and then Lucas and Wednesday sing “Crazier Than You.”  Neither of them were particularly memorable or entertaining.  The first is about how Gomez is both happy and sad to see his little girl grow up and how you need sadness for happiness to exist, etc.

“Teach Me How To Tango” – Gomez teaches the mom (Alice) how to Tango.  Again, not that memorable.  “The Swordfight/Tango” – this is when Morticia discovers Gomez and Alice dancing and flies into a jealous rage, blaming her age for his perceived disloyalty.  They have a sword fight and there are two things here that are really funny.  First, Gomez takes a swing with the sword at Morticia and the entire stage freezes, the music slows, and we see the action Matrix style, with Bebe Neuwirth leaning back slowly as the sword swooshes over her.  Then the music, scene immediately resume.  The audience loved it.  Next best part?  Bebe Neuwirth gets her dress sliced off and is in thigh-high boots.

“In the Arms” is with The Dad (why am I now blanking on his name?) and Alice singing about the love they’ve found for each other again.  Eh, not a particularly fantastic song, not a great melody and the words were slightly hard to understand.  “Move Toward The Darkness” closes the musical and it, too, is not terribly memorable save for the fact that you finally get to hear Lurch sing.

Music and Lyrics were done by Andrew Lippa.  Overall?  Ehhh.  I was not a huge fan of the numbers.  They served their purpose – which was, basically, a vehicle so the lyrics could advance the story forward.  In some cases, though, the lyrics didn’t so much carry the storyline further as simply beat it into the ground.   I do think, though, that I might feel differently if I heard them again – but, mainly, I think that many of them just never really developed a strong melody.

I haven’t said much about Nathan Lane.  His comedic skills are great and his timing is good.  He didn’t seem to overshadow the rest of the cast.  That reminds me…the costumes are excellent.  Really sharp.  Not overdone – just done well.

SO!  Overall?  I think it’s a good musical.  It’s not great, but it’s good.  Overall, I feel like it could be tighter.  The songs could do more to advance the storyline rather than simply re-iterate a feeling.  As it happens, the story actually seems to stall while there was a musical number and then it would advance again when the song was over.  That’s not always a bad thing – as it sometimes is a great opportunity to show off the composer’s skill, along with the lyricist’s – all while enriching the entire story with the layers of emotion added by the song.  But that didn’t really happen here.  While Uncle Fester’s theme about love is memorable, that’s partly because it’s a little overdone.  I found myself sort of wishing they’d stop singing that same line about not talking about anything but love.  However, I do think the song served as one of the anchors which the audience recognized – which is good to sort of recenter everything once more.

The actress who plays Wednesday (Krysta Rodriguez) is great.  I found myself wishing that they gave her better music to sing (especially in “One Normal Night” which could have been fantastic if they’d gone along with the rockish/jazzy blurb she does when she’s asking for a normal night).  I hadn’t heard of her before so I found myself intrigued.

Edited to Add:

Dear Krysta Rodriguez,

After some thought and a night of sleep, I’ve decided to love you.  Please to let’s get hitched.  KTHXBAI!

-RE

I’d go see it again to see if the music had carved some sort of groove that I could settle into but didn’t blow me away.

I did mention my new found appreciation for Bebe Neuwirth’s breasts and legs, didn’t I?

Right then.  Just checking.