Addams Family Steals the Spotlight
Ba-da-da-da, *snap* *snap*. Ba-da-da-da, *snap* *snap*. Ba-da-da-da ba-da-da-da ba-da-da-da, *snap* *snap*.
The curtain rose as the cast of the Addams Family play stepped from a cage. They fanned out, facing the audience, and started raising their ancestors from the grave. One by one, the ghostly figures walked in from stage left and right, slowly and silently filling the faux graveyard until the entire Addams Family (living and dead) were staring at the audience. As the final chords of the first number faded away, Gomez Addams stepped forward to begin the plot.
The play followed the story of the Addams and Beineke families as they dealt with the unorthodox love between Wednesday Addams and Lucas Beineke and the consequences of their “one normal night” together with both of the families under the same roof. It is a heartfelt story of love, change, and acceptance that had many smaller story lines woven together along with the main plot.
One of the foremost things about the Addams Family was that it was a musical. There was a total of two acts with 25 songs split unevenly between them. From the Prologue to Pulled to Crazier than You, the songs were all well written and well sung. While they weren’t Grammy material, they were enjoyable to listen to, and added plot as well as flavor to the play.
The set where the songs were sung was a very nice background. It consisted of a white backdrop that had colors projected onto it which provided most of the emotional tones for each scene, two side pieces that stayed pretty similar throughout the play and served as entrances and exits to the stage, and various other trees and pieces that were moved around between scenes and provided differentiation between the locals. Hanging off the front of the stage was netting that evoked a layer of dirt (the Addams Family lives in the middle of Central Park, after all).
Overall, the play was very enjoyable. The acting was not perfect, but enjoyable to watch. The songs were well sung and provided a lot of the flavor for the play. The set was very nicely put together, and with a five dollar asking price, the Addams Family was well worth my time and money.
Gail Silver • Feb 1, 2016 at 2:25 pm
Although we appreciate a student’s point of view, I must take exception to some of the comments.
“The Acting was not perfect”, “the songs were unevenly split”,”the songs were not Grammy material”, “set ..two sided pieces that stayed pretty similar throughout the play”, etc.
I don’t this review was totally negative, but the reviewer did not do his homework before watching the show.
the set was amazing, the special effects were difficult and very professional ( dry ice for fog is not easy), the music was done with a piano and a digital track and the actors had to memorize many lines, entrances and exits and learn to sing with the track and underscoring of music.
No mention was made of the choreography, costumes, makeup ( that took 2 or 3 hours to do)..or any individual performances.
Quotes from Mr. McDonough, Ms. Leeson, Ms. Fish and Ms Cambpell were raving reviews of a very difficult musical and one of Bellaire’s most successful shows.
I know the reviewer did his best and we appreciate the time and effort, but I did feel that it was necessary to express my views.
Thanks