All Entries Tagged With: "Gomez"
Brooke Shields IS Morticia
On Tuesday, June 28, THE ADDAMS FAMILY welcomed stage and screen star Brooke Shields in the role of Morticia. Ms. Shields joined current Broadway cast members Roger Rees as Gomez, Brad Oscar as Fester, Rachel Potter as Wednesday, Jackie Hoffman as Grandma, Zachary James as Lurch, Adam Riegler as Pugsley, Heidi Blickenstaff as Alice Beineke, Adam Grupper as Mal Beineke and Jesse Swenson as Lucas Beineke. Here is a first look at Shields and the cast!
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.
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
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!
The Addams Family Musical An Entertaining Afternoon of Theatre
Catherine (me) and Rick Elice
Last weekend was a whirlwind of friends, parties, and great Broadway entertainment! AND I was able to spend some time with my favorite Broadway writer, Rick Elice. Rick is that rare breed of celebrity who is unassuming, humble and completely genuine. He is such a pleasure to know – one would never guess he has two of the top 10 shows currently running on Broadway.
While Saturday was all about Jersey Boys, Sunday was reserved for The Addams Family. I had second row center seats for the matinee – up close and personal - and I was a little bit nervous. There have been mixed reviews, not only from the critics, but from a few of the readers here on the blog, and I didn’t want to go in with any preconceptions about the show. So, I went in with an open mind, and I had a blast!
From the opening number “When You’re An Addams”, to the final curtain, I had a smile on my face and a laugh in my throat. I don’t want to get into a scene by scene analysis – that’s been done to death. I just want to share my thoughts.
Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth were wonderful as Gomez and Morticia, two parents facing what all parents face when they realize that their baby is all grown up and about to leave the nest. Of course, not all parents face it in quite the same way! Bebe was gorgeous! Her flawless skin and deadpan expression were classic Morticia. She danced beautifully, and her “Just Around The Corner” was one of my favorite numbers. Nathan definitely lived up to the hype. His comedic timing is impeccable, and he had the audience in stitches.
Kevin Chamberlin was hilarious as the “moonstruck” Uncle Fester. He really got into his oddball personae, and the audience loved him.
Jackie Hoffman as Grandma was as hysterical as everyone says. Although her role was small, she made the most of each and every line, leaving the audience doubled over in laughter. At one point during “dinner”, she was obviously ad-libbing, talking about running the mara…mara…mara..thon (NY marathon was run that day), and the cast was laughing so hard, Bebe actually had to lay her head on the table so the audience wouldn’t see. Of course, being in the second row, I could see her head shaking!
As the tormented young couple, Wednesday Addams and Lucas Beineke, Krysta Rodriguez and Wesley Taylor were fantastic. They portrayed just the right amount of teenage angst, mixed with a craziness that comes with young love. Krysta’s voice was crystal clear, with a bit of a rock edge to it, and Wesley was a perfect accompaniment. Their “Crazier Than You” was another of my favorites. I’ll be keeping an eye on their careers, I’m betting they go far.
Carollee Carmello and Terrence Mann played Alice and Mal Beineke, Lucas’s “normal” parents from Ohio. If that’s normal, I’d hate to see odd. She with her bright yellow dress and rhyming speech, and he with his tough-guy “I won’t be pushed around” act (until I meet the right squid), were very entertaining, and they played the roles to perfection.
As Lurch, the mostly silent butler, Zachary James was brilliant. And Adam Riegler was terrific as Pugsley. He had a fantastic voice for such a young age, and was very enjoyable to watch. His sadness at realizing his sister was growing up and wouldn’t be around to “play” with him much longer was very touching.
And last, but certainly by no means least, the Ancestors were all superb. Each one had his/her own personality, they danced beautifully, and the way they were utilized onstage was ingenious.
On the top of my list of ”high points” has to be the set design. Congratulations to Julian Crouch and Phelim McDermott for a tremendous job! Basil Twist’s puppetry was also spectacular, adding a layer of creativity not seen in many shows. And, as usual, Rick Elice and Marshall Brickman wrote a great story, with a perfect mix of humor, seriousness, and Charles Addams absurdity.
“Just Around The Corner” and ”Crazier Than You” were my favorite musical numbers, with “When You’re An Addams” and the tango scene following close behind. Gomez had two ballady numbers that dragged a bit (for me), but Nathan performed them beautifully. And Uncle Fester and the moon, and Mal Beineke and the squid were a bit over the top, but hey, this is the Addams Family - they are over the top!
Please bear with me while I vent….I know this is a family friendly show, and yes, they sell candy at the concession stand, but people, this is a high dollar Broadway show, not a movie theater. Please have the courtesy to NOT open loud candy wrappers, slurp noisily on lollipops, or rifle through your shopping bags in the middle of the performance (yes, I experienced all of this within two rows of me, and the perpetrators were all adults.) This is not only rude to your fellow audience members, but most especially to the cast.
I would like to say a huge thank you to the entire Addams Family ‘family’ for an exciting and entertaining afternoon of theatre!
Who Would Be YOUR Picks For Gomez and Morticia Replacements?
According to several news sources, producers of The Addams Family are actively searching for replacements for Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth, whose contracts expire in March, 2011. Although (according to the NY Times) star actors were deliberately played down in the show’s advertising – emphasizing instead the famous Addams brand – which would make it easier for actors to “slide” into the lead roles, after the recent hit the box office took when Lane was out on vacation, it would seem they are searching for recognizable names to fill the Gomez and Morticia costumes.
It is rumored that John Leguizamo and Minnie Driver, who would have fit the bill quite nicely, both turned down offers, with no specific reasons given. So the search continues.
Who would YOU pick to replace Bebe and Nathan? Let’s hear it from the fans!
Nathan Lane on Vacation from The Addams Family
Nathan Lane will be on vacation from The Addams Family Musical next week, August 24 thru 29. We’d love to hear from anyone who’s seeing the show with Merwin Foard in as Gomez. 
Please leave your comments here.
Another Look At Merwin Foard
I’ve posted a couple of interviews/articles on Merwin Foard, understudy for Gomez and Mal Beineke in The Addams Family Musical, but I think my readers can stand one more. I find Foard truly fascinating, and anyone who can go on in the lead role of a show, without a single cast rehearsal, is a hero in my book!
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Understanding Broadway: The Standby
By Frank DiLella, Theatre Producer for NY1 News
01 Jul 2010
Merwin Foard observing the performance from the backstage monitor at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre.
There’s a chameleon lurking in the wings over at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre. No, I’m not talking about the Basil Twist creature that lives under Pugsley Addams’ bed.
Eight times a week this chameleon, known as actor Merwin Foard, sits patiently backstage, prepared to step in for Nathan Lane’s Gomez or Terrence Mann’s Mal Beineke — just in case anything goes wrong with either performer.
Foard, a longtime musical theatre vet, has spent the last few years standing by for some of Broadway’s biggest stars, from Michael Cerveris’ Sweeney in Sweeney Todd to Brian Stokes Mitchell’s Fred in Kiss Me, Kate. Foard’s new home is now with The Addams Family.
“I arrive at the theatre an hour before curtain and go to the green room, where we have a video screen of the stage,” said Foard during a recent matinee. “Once the performance begins, I watch the monitor and check for differences in choreography and blocking. Physically, I perform the show with the performers while watching it on the screen.”
Unlike a typical understudy in a Broadway musical, who also appears as a minor role in the show or in the chorus, Foard is called a standby — a role that demands an actor to literally stand by — in case a leading performer needs to miss a show or leave mid-performance.
“It’s a tricky thing to take on,” added Foard. “You have to do it all on your own. You’re subject to watch the rehearsal…but you’re rarely physically on your feet…so it requires a lot of homework you need to do privately.”
That homework came in handy out of town last fall in Chicago, where The Addams Family had its world premiere.
“It was Thanksgiving weekend and Nathan came down with bronchitis,” said Foard. “I had no rehearsal and we were in previews. All the rehearsal time had been afforded to the actual cast, so when it was announced that Nathan was going to have to miss a show, we all went into emergency mode.”
He added, “I worked with our musical director, choreographer and director to get me as physically prepared as I could be in a rehearsal studio so that I could do the next three performances.”
As for his initial reaction when he was told he was going on for the first time as Gomez? “Shock. It was so early on in the process and you can’t fault Nathan for being ill. I got into this laser focus. You say to yourself: ‘[I] have to do it’ — because the only other option is to cancel the performance.”
It also helps to get support from the show’s leading lady, Bebe Neuwirth. “Bebe was fantastic. She was there to rehearse scenes and choreography.”
And while this chameleon, who calls himself “the Swiss army knife of Broadway,” has made a career of standing by for some of Broadway’s finest, he says he hopes to continue to shed layers, looking forward to new experiences on The Great White Way.
“Of course it’s nice to be thought of as a dependable back-up. But I’m anxious to have a role outright and not have to split focus.”
Nathan Lane is Broadway.com’s #1 Superstar of the Decade
Broadway.com at 10: Top 10 Stage Superstars of the Decade
Features By Kathy Henderson, May 18, 2010
In the same way that Angelina or George Clooney can “open” a movie, a very short list of theater actors have the star power to attract producers (and audiences) on the strength of their name and talent alone. Broadway.com’s tenth anniversary is the perfect time to pay tribute to 10 stage superstars of the past decade—and to thank them for their loyalty to the Great White Way.
1. Nathan Lane
To borrow a lyric from his Tony-winning character Max Bialystock, Nathan Lane reigns as “the king of old Broadway.” After his triumph in The Producers (2001), Lane could have coasted through his pick of musical revivals, but he’s insisted on stretching his outsize talent in an impressive series of shows with nothing in common beyond his desire to bring them to Broadway: his own adaptation of The Frogs (2004), a smash-hit revival of The Odd Couple (2006), a black-comedy turn in Butley (2006), David Mamet’s satirical November (2008), an acclaimed revival of Waiting for Godot (2009) and now an irresistible performance as Gomez in the new musical The Addams Family. Wow! Where Nathan goes, audiences follow.
The following actors finish the list. To read the entire article, click here.
2. Patti Lupone
3. Kristin Chenoweth
4. Harvey Fierstein
5. Hugh Jackman
6. Liev Schreiber
7. Laura Linney
8. Angela Lansbury
9. Audra McDonald
10. Mary-Louise Parker
The Addams Family Heads to the Recording Studio
The cast of Broadway’s The Addams Family (which stars Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth as Gomez and Morticia, and includes Terrence Mann as Mal Beineke, Carolee Carmello as Alice Beineke, Kevin Chamberlin as Uncle Fester, Jackie Hoffman as Grandmama, Zachary James as Lurch, Adam Riegler as Pugsley, Wesley Taylor as Lucas Beineke and Krysta Rodriguez as Wednesday) will head to a Manhattan sound studio on April 19 to record the cast album of the new musical, with an expected release date of June 8.
According to Composer/Lyricist Andrew Lippa, the cast recording will include bonus tracks (yet to be revealed) that will be available digitally.
The opening night Playbill reveals the following list of musical numbers for The Addams Family:
ACT ONE
Overture
“When You’re an Addams”
“Pulled”
“Where Did We Go Wrong?”
“One Normal Night”
“Morticia”
“What If”
Full Disclosure”
“Waiting”
“Full Disclosure” – Part 2
ACT TWO
Entr’acte
“Just Around the Corner”
“The Moon and Me”
“Happy/Sad”
“Crazier Than You”
“Let’s Not Talk About Anything Else But Love”
“In the Arms”
“Live Before We Die”
“Tango de Amor”
“Move Toward the Darkness”
“The Addams Family” – WORD OF MOUTH
The Addams Family can’t rely on the critics, so it’s up to the fans of the show to show their support through WORD OF MOUTH.
CLICK HERE to visit the WORD OF MOUTH post. Scroll to the bottom and click “Comments” to share your thoughts or experiences of “The Addams Family” on Broadway, and to read others’ experiences.
“The Addams Family” A Critic-Proof Smash
This is a pretty long article, but it’s so good that I have to post it in it’s entirety. I found these excerpts to be of particular interest to fans of the show:
“…the musical has grossed $6.5 million in five weeks… and the producers are already planning a multicity national tour.”
“…(the) President of Group Sales Box Office, a major Broadway ticket seller, said …that “The Addams Family” remained the biggest ticket advance of any Broadway show that his company has sold this year.”
A scene from “The Addams Family,” featuring Bebe Neuwirth and Nathan Lane, which opened at the Lunt-Fontanne Theater.
Critics May Rant, but ‘Addams Family’ Rakes It In
By PATRICK HEALY, NY Times
Published: April 13, 2010
The new Broadway musical “The Addams Family” opened Thursday to the sort of scathing reviews that would bury most shows in the graveyard next to the Addamses’ forbidding mansion.
The result: The show sold $851,000 in tickets last weekend on top of a $15 million sales advance, huge figures for a new Broadway run, and all but guaranteeing that it will be hard to snag a pair of good orchestra seats until fall. After five months of well-publicized creative difficulties for the show, this seeming paradox amounts to a theater world version of the golden fleece: the critic-proof smash.
Hollywood, pop music studios and book publishers long ago mastered the art of assembling commercially successful products that critics hate. Theater is different: Only a fraction of shows turn a profit to begin with (about 30 percent on Broadway each year), and expensive tickets, fixed performance schedules and a finite potential audience for most live theater increase the importance of reviews.
Yet “The Addams Family” seems to have cracked a formula that to various degrees made long-running hits of “Jekyll & Hyde,” “Beauty and the Beast,” ”Mamma Mia!” and “Smokey Joe’s Cafe” after being dismissed by many critics. Such shows have tended to attract audiences already fond of their songs or characters.
That formula for “The Addams Family” includes a beloved brand-name title, a famous star, an inoffensive script, echoes of nostalgia and some savvy commercial judgments. The producers chose a theater with an unusually large number of orchestra seats, many of which they can sell at premium prices that top out at $300 apiece. And, in an unusual move for Broadway, they recruited five regional theaters as producing partners, spreading the financial risk while also having access to their subscribers and to those theaters for a national tour.
Kevin Chamberlin as Uncle Fester and Jackie Hoffman as Grandma performing onstage in “The Addams Family.”
While the creators promised to base the musical on Charles Addams’s mordantly sophisticated cartoons in The New Yorker, they ended up adding the theme song of the “Addams Family” television show for the audience to snap-snap along with before the curtain even goes up. In hopes of improving the show between a Chicago tryout and its Broadway run, they also added broad, sometimes goofy touches like a toupee-wearing Uncle Fester and a Grandma dressed like a Red Cross nurse — images that make some people laugh, but belie the darker spirit of the Addams cartoons for others.
The producers also built a marketing campaign that would cover all the bases, using images that would remind people of the cartoons, the television show, and the “Addams Family” movies. And the casting of Nathan Lane to play the paterfamilias Gomez, through at least next March, has been especially important to the musical’s fortunes, according to several theater producers not affiliated with the show, given that he is a popular actor with both theater- and film-goers.
“If Nathan Lane is in anything you already have my money in the till, and I imagine that there are thousands of others who feel the same,” said Michael Ritchie, artistic director of the Center Theater Group in Los Angeles, which is not associated with “The Addams Family.”
Whether the musical — which cost $16.5 million to mount on Broadway — can flourish without a well-known star like Mr. Lane is among the factors that will determine whether the show endures as critic-proof. Based on 26 major reviews for “The Addams Family,” including one in The New York Times, the theater Web site Stagegrade.com gave the show a median grade of D+. For now, however, the musical has grossed $6.5 million in five weeks — more than current hit musicals like “A Little Night Music,” “Billy Elliot,” “West Side Story” and “Wicked” did in their early weeks — and the producers are already planning a multicity national tour.
“We sought to create a musical that was not only very funny, but also surprised the audience by proving to be touching as well,” Roy Furman, one of the lead producers of the show, said in an interview by e-mail. “We are delighted that audiences have responded so strongly, as evidenced by nightly ovations, and word of mouth, which has sparked advance sales.”
Four years in the making, “The Addams Family” had a pre-Broadway tryout in Chicago last winter, drawing huge crowds but mixed reviews from critics there. Those reviews prompted Mr. Furman and the other lead producer, Stuart Oken, to hire the veteran Broadway director Jerry Zaks to take over the show from its two directors, the Broadway newcomers Phelim McDermott and Julian Crouch, and ostensibly fix “The Addams Family” before opening in New York.
Opening Night of “The Addams Family” Musical
Opening Night … in pictures, courtesy of broadwayworld.com
Critics Aren’t Raving, but Audiences Love The Addams Family!
Yes, it is every producer’s goal to win the approval of the critics, but ultimately it’s up to the “real” people, the audiences, the ticket purchasing public to make or break a show. And from what I’ve read, audiences are LOVING the kooky Addams Family musical. And at the end of the day, isn’t that what makes a successful show - audiences that walk out of the theatre smiling and humming and happy? So if the creative team of the Addams Family musical can’t rely on the critics, then it’s up to the fans to show their support through WORD OF MOUTH.
Below is the “Word of Mouth” Review from Broadway.com, where REAL people review the show.
If you’ve seen the show, or just want to offer your support of the show, please leave a comment here and let the world know how you feel about The Addams Family on Broadway. And if you have pictures you’d like to share, please e-mail them to afblog@comcast.net, and I’ll get them put up here.
(Comments are threaded, so you can leave a “stand alone” comment, or reply to someone else’s comment.)
Addams Family Musical Stars Chat with USA Today
by Todd Plitt, USA Today
‘Addams Family’ stars: Kooky, spooky, in no way spoofy
By Elysa Gardner, USA TODAY
NEW YORK — Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth may be dressed in black — a color also favored by Gomez and Morticia Addams, whom they play in the new Broadway musical The Addams Family— but there’s not a whiff of the macabre in the stars’ relaxed conversation.
And perhaps that’s fitting. Based on the Charles Addams cartoons that inspired the hit TV series of the 1960s, this new adaptation — with a book by Jersey Boys librettists Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice and a score by Andrew Lippa— presents a happy, loving family. “It’s just that everything they like happens to be the opposite of what ‘normal’ people like,” Lane says.
Chatting hours before a recent preview at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, where The Addams Family opens April 8, Lane and Neuwirth discuss the pressures and pleasures of bringing their iconic characters to the stage.
Q: When did you first become familiar with the Addams Family?
Neuwirth: I watched the show on television as a little girl, then discovered the cartoons when I got a bit older.
Lane: I watched the show first, too, and loved it.
Neuwirth: Did you want to be Gomez?
Lane: Nah, I didn’t project myself into it. I just thought it was really fun and different. It only ran for a couple of seasons, but they were obviously memorable.
Q: How about Morticia, Bebe? She’s the first character you’re creating for a new Broadway musical.
Neuwirth: I loved Morticia so much as a girl. I think many women love her; she’s really archetypal. So it’s very important to me that she’s represented properly — that she doesn’t have anything dopey to do or say, or anything that isn’t honest. I feel I have to take care of her.
Q: Word is that this show takes its spirit from Charles Addams’ cartoons. Is there anything that will surprise people who are only familiar with the TV series?
Neuwirth: Its depth.
Lane: Yes, I think we win them over with humor and then …
Neuwirth: Then we sock ‘em in the solar plexus!
Lane: People will expect to laugh and have a good time, but maybe not to be moved by it. But there are some very touching moments.
Neuwirth: The big musical theater moments are there, but they happen in a way that’s true to the Addams Family. There are no sequins on this stage. Nobody wears anything shiny.
Q: Gomez and Morticia are a pretty hot couple. How do you get that chemistry across?
Neuwirth (coyly): You’ll see. Look, these people love each other, they love their family. They love their pets. The boy (the Addams’ son, Pugsley, played by Adam Riegler) has a big lizard, but he loves it like a puppy dog.
Lane: It’s just great fun to be them, you know? For me, it’s been joyous to play someone who is so positive about everything. That’s the opposite of me.
Q: After the show’s run in Chicago last year, (veteran director) Jerry Zaks was brought in as a creative consultant. There was speculation that the darker, more sophisticated humor of the cartoons didn’t translate for audiences expecting to see the TV show replicated. Any truth to that?
Neuwirth: That had nothing to do with it. The show was very good in Chicago; we packed the house every night, and they stood up and cheered. But a good show can get better.
Lane: The producers felt we needed a fresh pair of eyes, and fortunately, Jerry agreed to work with us. And he’s been able to come in like a Jewish Ty Pennington and give us an extreme makeover. But that’s how shows have been created for years — friends give advice, people help.
Neuwirth: You go out of town, you make changes and it keeps evolving.
Lane: Of course, this is a high-profile show, so everyone’s got an opinion. People say (affects a lofty tone), “It’s the most highly anticipated musical of the season.” It’s like you’re being set up for a fall. We’ve done a tremendous amount of work, and there’s more to come. A lot of fun, but a lot of work, too.
