Author Archive for admin
New (Addams) Family Members Arrive Today
The Addams Family gets fresh blood today in the form of new cast members, including Brad Oscar (pictured right), Heidi Blickenstaff, Adam Grupper, Jesse Swenson (pictured left) and Rachel Potter! Meet the new cast in this Broadway.com exclusive video as they rehearse to become part of the kookiest family on Broadway.
New Arrivals for the Addams Clan
Goodbye, old chums. Nathan Lane and Terrence Mann exit stage left. Photo: Joan Marcus
The Addams Family Blog bids a fond farewell to some very talented Family-ites who helped make the show a smash hit. And we welcome their equally talented replacements, including Tony winner (for … Nicholas Nickleby) Roger Rees as Gomez and Tony nominee (for The Producers) Brad Oscar as Uncle Fester. (Rees comes on board later in March.) Read about the changeover in this excerpt from Playbill—
.
Goodbye, Gomez: Nathan Lane Among Addams Family Actors Exiting Broadway Musical March 6
By Kenneth Jones
06 Mar 2011
Goodbye, young lovers. Krysta Rodriguez and Wesley Taylor exit stage right. Photo: Joan Marcus
The mansion of Broadway’s The Addams Family gets de-populated, but not for long, after the March 6 matinee at Broadway’s Lunt-Fontanne Theatre. Nathan Lane, Kevin Chamberlin, Carolee Carmello, Terrence Mann, Krysta Rodriguez and Wesley Taylor leave at the end of their contracts.
Pouring through the door starting on March 8 will be replacements Heidi Blickenstaff (as Alice Beineke, the Carmello role), Adam Grupper (Mal Beineke, created by Mann), The Producers Tony Award nominee Brad Oscar (Fester, created by Chamberlin, who was Tony-nominated for his turn), Rachel Potter (Wednesday, created by Rodriguez) and Jesse Swenson (Lucas Beineke, Wednesday’s “normal” boyfriend, created by Taylor).
Merwin Foard, the production’s standby for Lane’s Gomez, will play the patriarch of the macabre clan until Tony Award winner Roger Rees (Nicholas Nickleby, “Cheers,” “The West Wing”) steps into the part on March 22. (Rees is currently co-director of Off-Broadway’s Peter and the Starcatcher, opening March 9.)
Continuing in the roles they originated are Tony winner Bebe Neuwirth as Morticia, Zachary James as Lurch, Adam Riegler as Pugsley Addams and Jackie Hoffman as Grandma.
Anne Hathaway Interview
We previously posted a series of Drama Desk interviews conducted by our own Jimmy Merrill. But with Anne Hathaway in the news for her Academy Awards duties, we’ve now posted her interview by itself. ENJOY!
Help Grandma Celebrate Her Sweet (One)16th!
The Addams Family Musical is celebrating Grandma’s Sweet (One)16th Birthday with a month-long birthday bash. Click here to visit the website event page where you can view Grandma’s Birthday Video and learn more about how you can help Grandma celebrate…from visiting Grandma’s Coroner at the theatre, to bringing your own Grandma to the show for free!
Rick Elice’s Peter and the Starcatcher in Previews
Peter and the Starcatcher, created by Rick Elice (The Addams Family, Jersey Boys), Roger Rees (The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickelby, [soon to be] The Addams Family), and Alex Timbers (Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson), is now in previews at New York Theatre Workshop. In the play, a company of 12 actors play some 50 characters on a journey to answer the century-old questions: How did Peter become The Boy Who Would Not Grow Up?
Broadway friend Pamela Singer saw the show last week and had this to say: Saw Rick Elice’s new play “Peter And The Starcatcher” last night. Brilliant, touching, and funny, not unlike the man himself. Rick is a genius and a mench!
Robert Simonson of Playbill.com wrote a fantastic article that gives insight into the background of the show, and the men involved. Click here to read that article.
Nathan Lane to Reprise Role on Modern Family
Actress Sofia Vergara posted the above picture of herself and Nathan Lane on her Twitter account this week to let fans know Mr. Lane was back on the set of the hit ABC comedy Modern Family . He will be reprising his role of Pepper in an episode to air some time in the Spring.
Addams Family Cast Members Shine at ‘At This Performance’
excerpt from the “Stage Rush” website, posted February 14, 2011
The latest installment of the At This Performance concert series brought big laughs Sunday night. The concert that gives Broadway understudies and standbys the spotlight saw performers choosing hilarious song selections and telling stories of their careers that had the audience in stitches.
The night kicked off with At This Performance’s youngest performer ever—11-year-old Logan Rowland from The Addams Family. He sang Pugsley’s solo “What If” with polish and confidence while his parents video taped and took pictures from the audience. Rowland told the story of his first time going on in the role—co-star Nathan Lane made an announcement to the audience during the show’s curtain call that they had just witnessed his Broadway debut.
Rowland’s Addams co-stars Mo Brady and Lisa M. Karlin duetted with “Crazier Than You,” and each had a follow-up solo. Karlin sang “See What I Want to See” from See What I Want To See. Brady’s solo was a song called “I Won’t Have To Anymore.” Easily the night’s most emotional performance, Brady sang the story of a young man preparing to flee the home of his verbally and physically abusive father. Showing great emotional depth and vocal range, Brady’s performance was among the night’s most memorable.
New “FAMILY” Members to Arrive in March
from the BWW News Desk, Friday, February 4, 2011:
Blickenstaff, Grupper, Oscar, Potter & Swenson Join THE ADDAMS FAMILY
Heidi Blickenstaff
Adam Grupper
Brad Oscar
THE ADDAMS FAMILY welcomes five new principal cast members beginning Tuesday, March 8 at the Lunt Fontanne Theatre (205 West 46th Street) when Heidi Blickenstaff ([title of show]) assumes the role of Alice Beineke, Adam Grupper (Brighton Beach Memoirs) as Mal Beineke, Brad Oscar
(Tony-nominated for The Producers) as Fester, Rachel Potter (Wicked nat’l. tour) as Wednesday Addams and Jesse Swenson (Spring Awakening) as Lucas Beineke. Original cast members Nathan Lane, Kevin Chamberlin, Terrence Mann, Carolee Carmello, Krysta Rodriguez and Wesley Taylor will give their final performances on Sunday, March 6.
Rachel Potter
Jesse Swenson
click here to read BWW article
Krysta Rodriguez and Wesley Taylor Answer Fan Questions
In the latest installment of Broadway.com’s “Ask A Star”, The Addams Family’s Krysta Rodriguez and Wesley Taylor answer questions from fans.
Nathan Lane Visits The Late Show, 1/21/11
The always hilarious Nathan Lane visited David Letterman recently, and shared stories of his holidays, The Addams Family Musical, and an onstage mishap with a bullwhip. ENJOY!
Wesley Taylor Shooting “One Life to Live”
According to Wesley Taylor’s Facebook page, he will be out of the matinee tomorrow (Wednesday, January 12, 2011) and perhaps the evening show, also. Don’t worry, he’s not sick – he’s shooting scenes for the ABC soap “One Life to Live.” Apparently he’ll be playing a “Creeper”. I’ll post the episode air date when I know it.
Sorry for those who will miss Wesley tomorrow, but great for him! And if you do have a chance to see his understudy, please let us know how he was.
Congratulations Wes.
Rick Elice Takes A Trip Down Memory Lane
A trip down memory lane for ‘Jersey Boys’ co-author
Posted by Don Aucoin, January 5, 2011 03:18 PM, Boston.com
The Colonial Theatre, Boston
When ”Jersey Boys” coauthor Rick Elice read in the Globe yesterday that his show had broken a weekly box-office record at the Colonial Theatre, pulling in $1.1 million for the week that ended Sunday, he got very excited - and not just for the financial reasons you’d expect.
It turns out that the Colonial has occupied a rather substantial place in Elice’s heart for decades.
“The Colonial is a theater that, for me, is one of the great places in the world,” Elice said today in a telephone interview. “It’s a beautiful, beautiful theater. I never dreamed that ‘Jersey Boys’ would play there, so I was very happy to hear that it broke the record.”
In the early 1970s, when he was a stage-struck teenager and Boston was still a significant tryout town for productions on their way to Broadway, Elice used to take the train from New York to catch shows at the Colonial. He remembers seeing Stephen Sondheim’s “Follies” there in 1971, and Sondheim’s “A Little Night Music” a couple of years later.
By 1980, Elice had become an actor, joining Robert Brustein’s brand-new American Repertory Theatre. He played Lysander in the ART’s inaugural production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” directed by Alvin Epstein, with a cast that included Cherry Jones and Tony Shalhoub.
After its ART run, Elice says, the “Dream” production moved to the Wilbur Theater, which gave him a chance to walk up to Boylston Street and take frequent peeks at the Colonial. He recalls a production of “Sugar Babies,” starring Carol Channing, at the Colonial at the time.
He left the ART in 1981 to embark on a career in advertising, serving as creative director at a New York ad agency until 1999, then spent a decade as a creative consultant at Walt Disney Studios. One of his poker buddies was Marshall Brickman, a renowned comedy writer (Brickman co-wrote “Annie Hall,” “Sleeper,” and “Manhattan” with Woody Allen). Eventually, Elice and Brickman teamed up to write “Jersey Boys.”
Next month, “Peter and the Starcatcher,” Elice’s adaptation of an adventure novel by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson, will open in New York.
But today, Elice had Boston on his mind. He noted that “Jersey Boys” also enjoyed a solid run last year at the Shubert Theatre, saying “Boston has been very good to us.” He added: “Whatever show is in the Colonial is somehow better because it’s at the Colonial. The show seems like the icing on a very beautiful cake that’s there all the time.”
It’s been two decades since he was last inside the Colonial (for a production of the musical adaptation of “Grand Hotel.”). But he plans to rectify that soon. “I’m going to Boston before the end of the month to see my ‘Boys,’ ” said Elice.
Happy New Year!
Happy New Year from The Addams Family blog! Sorry for the lack of new content, but I took a little vacation from blogging. I’ll be back with new Addams Family info very soon.
Thanks for visiting, and come back soon.
Catherine
“A Christmas Carol – The Concert” Available From Amazon
“A Christmas Carol – The Concert”, featuring the voices of Merwin Foard (The Addams Family) and Daniel Reichard (Jersey Boys, The Midtown Men), is available for purchase from Amazon.com. This is what people are saying about the CD:
… I loved the music. It is very contemporary with a broadway musical flair. Any generation would love it. Merwin Foard is an amazing talent who plays Scrooge with a vengenance!! His baritone voice reaches the soul…
…This is the best Christmas Carol I have ever jheard, bar none, Merwin Foard’s voice is fabulous as Scrooge and the score and lyrics are clever and memorable. This deserves to be heard on the radio…
…This is a beautiful CD. The music is rich and varied and the lyrics are downright inspirational. One song brought me to tears. I can’t wait to listen to it again…
…I purchased this because I love the story. I’ve listened to it over and over because the music is so amazing! The narration and vocals are wonderful and the music is like no other version I have heard.
Click here to visit amazon.com and purchase your copy now.
