“The Addams Family” musical comedy brought a night of delightful fun and warm-hearted comedy to the Stifel Theater on Thursday, April 17. Sadly, the touring show was one-night only, as the show is highly recommended for a night of pure enjoyment, even if you are not much of a fan of either musicals or even the Addams Family. Of course, if you are a fan of the Addams Family or all things ookie kookie spooky, it was even better.
The spooky Addams family began as an off-beat cartoon by Charles Addams in the New Yorker, before it made the leap to TV, in a classic crazy comedy most kids loved. The Broadway musical version opened in 2010, starring Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth. Touring versions have revamped the original musical a bit. The current hit TV show, “Wednesday,” about the Addams daughter, might bring some new audiences but this show still features the same Addams family. That Addams family is plenty weird and full-on Halloween but part of their charm is that they are still a happy, loving family, no matter how different they are from the norm.
“What’s normal” is a theme of this national tour, and the show’s emphasis is on the comedy part of this musical comedy. The cast in this version of the musical is expanded to include a host of ghosts of Addams family ancestors. Some supporting characters, especially Uncle Fester and Grandma, also get featured parts in this two-act musical comedy.
Rodrigo Aragon plays Gomez Addams and Renee Kathleen Koher plays his beloved slinky wife Morticia, the couple who are at the head of this happy but weird family. Wednesday (Melody Munitz) is their teen daughter and Pugsley (Logan Clinger) is her younger brother. The family is rounded out by happy witch Grandma (Cirque du Soleil clown Shereen Hickman) and Uncle Fester (Chris Carsten), with wordless butler Lurch (Jackson Barnes) lurking silently at hand. They also get a “hand” from Thing (a disembodied hand) and a visit from hairy, hatted Cousin Itt (Delaney Shea).
The show opens with the Addams visiting the cemetery where the family crypt is located, for an annual celebration with the ghosts of Addamses past. The ghosts of various eras and costumes emerge from the crypt, dance around or turn flips, to greet and celebrate with their living descendants. The ghosts sport costumes of their time period but all in wispy gray and white. The ghosts are wordless but play an active role in the story, thanks to narrator Uncle Fester.
Uncle Fester knows a secret: his niece Wednesday is in love, and he wants to help the young couple out. But how to introduce the two families? Will they get along? Wednesday’s boyfriend Lucas Beineke (David Eldridge) has spooky potential but his parents, Mal and Alice Beineke (John Adkison and Sarah MacKenzie Baron) are uber-conventional. “From Ohio, a swing state,” Uncle Fester says with a shudder.
That “swing state” joke is one of a couple of gentle political jokes in the show but most of the humor is the spooky Addams type. There a little bit of joking about ancestors’ multi-hypenate Spanish names despite that Addams last name, and Grandma’s showcase monologue is a tad rude and borderline bawdy, but still mild enough for families. This is a funny, joke filled show but it has heart too.
The two families are set to meet when Wednesday persuades her parents to invite the Beinekes to the Addams mansion for dinner. But Wednesday puts dad Gomez in a tough spot when she tells him a secret and makes him promise tell her mother Morticia – something he has never done. The secret creates a farce situation which the show gleefully exploits.
The songs are fun and hummable and dance numbers not too long or too elaborate, with a tango being a highlight. For a touring show that mostly plays one- and two-night stands, the sets are surprisingly complicated and big, not the expected just flats and projections, but the multiple set changes are seamlessly done. A particularly nice touch are the family portraits on the Addams mansion walls, which are sometimes occupied by the ghostly ancestors who mug and pose as scenes play out. One of the “wow” sets is the big central staircase surrounding the entry hall of the Addams home, with a big portrait of the family’s founder hanging above it all.
The whole cast is wonderful, with every one of them charming the audience. The love affair between the young couple is equal by the Gomez and Morticia romance, and Rodrigo Aragon and Renee Kathleen Koher are perfect in the roles. Melody Munitz is marvelous as Wednesday and David Eldridge is cute as Lucas, devoted to Wednesday and trying to find his way to fit in with the Addamses.
More of the pure comedy falls to Uncle Fester, Grandma, and, often, Lurch. As Lurch, Jackson Barnes is soulful and a bit Buster Keaton-esque with unsmiling gaze, and even does a touch of pantomime comedy too, with a surprise scene in the Second Act which is a real treat.
A special comic treat is Shereen Hickman, who is best known as a creator and lead clown with the famous Cirque du Soleil. Hickman is wonderfully funny, playing an unfiltered, slightly bawdy Grandma, making the most of her spotlight, and showing off her well-honed comedy chops. She does a featured scene that is a bit of a showstopper when Pugsley comes to her for some advice.
Chris Carsten’s Uncle Fester often serves as a kind of narrator and “ring master” (maybe ring leader) for the playful ghostly Ancestors. Carsten also gets a magical feature bit in the Second Act, when he falls in love with the moon, a production number that is both absurd and romantic, and brings a delightful touch of stage magic to the show.
This farcical show gives the supporting characters a little more room to shine than the early versions of the musical. As Pugsley, Logan Clinger get his moments too as the younger brother worried he is losing his sister and best friend, and Clinger does a great job those scenes, and generally playing the comic-creepy, torture-fan and boy who loves to blow things up. Thing and Cousin Itt (Delaney Shea) get their featured bits as well.
“The Addams Family” musical comedy played the Stifel Theater on April 17 for one night only. Most of the national tour’s stops are one or two nights, with the longest run in Detroit, April 22-29 at the Detroit Fox Theater. The next closest show is in Peoria, Illinois on June 17-18 at the Peoria Civic Center. The national tour continues through June 29.
© Cate Marquis
