Tour Announced! New Orleans, First Stop

The Addams Family musical continues its critic-proof ways by announcing that its national tour will begin September 2011 at the Mahalia Jackson Theater for the Performing Arts in New Orleans.

That’s right — they’ve announced the national tour just three weeks after opening at the Lunt-Fontanne on Broadway to what would have been devastating reviews for mere mortals.

By the way, my family is serving me a big helping of crow tonight because I fearlessly predicted the tour would start with one of the venues of producing partner Five Cent Productions. Nope.

As for Tour Stop #1, the theater is located  in Louis Armstrong Park, near the French Quarter.  It was officially christened the New Orleans Theater of the Performing Arts in 1973.

In 1993, the New Orleans City Council renamed it the Mahalia Jackson Theater for the Performing Arts to honor the legendary New Orleans gospel singer.  The theater was all but destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 but has been rebuilt at a cost of $27 million. It seats 2,100.

The Addams Family in tour will be the first Broadway musical to enjoy incentive programs offered by Louisiana Entertainment, the entertainment industry development office for the state.