‘The Addams Family: A New Musical’ @ The Firehouse Theatre
Photos by Jason Anderson/Pendleton Photography
—Hannah Kneen
The much beloved members of the Addams Family are brought to life (or death) onstage at The Firehouse Theatre this fall with their production of The Addams Family: A New Musical, directed and choreographed by Alli Franken. (Songs are by Andrew Lippa, and the lively script by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice.)
It is difficult to imagine anyone not knowing who the Addams’s are (though perhaps not so many remember they were created long ago by Charles Addams as a series of cartoons for The New Yorker magazine). But for those who don’t, suffice it to say this ghoulish family loves turning traditional values on their head. To them, weird is normal, pain is fun, sadness is happy, and a good death is never to be underappreciated. Full of great music and an eminently entertaining storyline, this show is definitely a worthwhile outing if you’re looking for something funny, uplifting, and off-the-wall.
The story is centered around the family’s antics in reaction to Wednesday Addams (Delaney Wenger) bringing home a boy and his family for dinner. And this is not just any boy—he’s a boy from Ohio, and he and his family are horrifically normal. Or so they seem. Lucas Beineke (Dylan Ciminna) has, after all, chosen Wednesday Addams to love.
Desperate for a normal evening with the boy she wants to marry, Wednesday confesses everything to her father Gomez (Jason Philip Solis) and swears him to secrecy. Now trapped between wife (he’s promised never to lie to her) and daughter (whose secret he has sworn to protect), Gomez must attempt to juggle the landmines of a difficult evening. While Gomez is wondering if his wife Morticia (Georgia Fender) will ever dance with him again, son Pugsley (Wyatt Hartz) is wondering if his sister will ever torture him again if she goes off with this boy. He schemes to sabotage the dreaded Game that haunts the first act like a ghost. What truths will be revealed—and what their consequences will be—well, you’ll just have to find out for yourself.
It’s hard to go wrong with a show like this, but what really makes this production stand out to me are the little things. Costumes (by Dayna Dutton) and scenic design (by Logan Uhtenwoldt and Maggie Sproul) are well done overall, as are lighting (Destini Spraggins) and sound (Michael Marbry). But what stuck with me were the small touches: the knife in one of the dead ancestors’ back…the names on headstones–-Barry D. Alive or Normo Lee Livin, for example. A giant white beach ball fills in for the moon in the song “The Moon and Me.” And Uncle Fester (Grant Hollowell) wears a wig that should come with some sort of warning (no use the rest of the family trying to look normal).
Most of all I appreciated the transitions between scenes. There’s nothing like a slow transition to kill the momentum of a show. TFT’s production, deftly led by Franken, actually manages to make the between-the-scene moments funny and entertaining all on their own. As just one example, there had clearly been some creative thought about how the chorus of dead ancestors could play with each other during these short in-between moments of the show.
Of course, I can’t forget the main actors. Jason Philip Solis’s Gomez Addams was a joy to watch. Georgia Fender’s Morticia was formidable and matched him well. Delaney Wenger approached the difficult part of Wednesday beautifully, and she and Dylan Ciminna played well together as the young lovers. I have to send major kudos to Hilary Allen (Alice Beineke–the “normal” mom) for her performance–-especially in the fallout of The Game. Her Alice and Hunter Lewis’s Mal Beineke worked wonderfully together.
The whole cast put their all into this show, from the major parts to the smaller ones. Andi Allen’s Grandma had me thinking that maybe every show needs a crazy old lady of dubious origins, and even Christopher Ryal’s Lurch had his moments in the spotlight.
If you want a show that’s weird and ridiculous and fun and ghoulish, this is the one for you. Most of all, if you want a show to remind you that family is everything and love is crazy in the very best way, then look no further.
And as Gomez says, “Tell your friends–-word of mouth is very important!”
WHEN: Sept. 14 - Oct. 1, 2023
WHERE: The Firehouse Theatre, 2535 Valley View Lane, Farmers Branch TX
