Oh, who cares? I mean, besides the producers who sunk millions into this nostalgia machine, and those starstruck Drama Club brats bussed in from the suburbs for a night, and of course the baby boomer fans of the '60s TV series, does anyone out there really give a damn whether this big Broadway adaptation of The Addams Family is actually "good"? If your tween wants to see it, you'll buy a ticket, no matter what the reviews say, and if you're a tourist hankering for a superficial spectacle, you'll step right up, too. (And they have been—the theater was filled to 100% capacity in recent weeks.) But are any real New Yorkers out there actually wondering whether this rote extravaganza, ostensibly inspired by Charles Addams's cartoons in The New Yorker, is worth the average ticket price of $100? more ›

Earlier this month Charles Addams took over some space at the Museum of the City of New York with a fitting exhibit spotlighting the cartoonist's own depictions of the city. Over 80 drawings, cartoons, sketches, watercolors, and pencil sketches (some of which were never published), as well as examples of the artist’s personal ephemera are on view through May 16th. A little history: more ›

Could it be that the Broadway-bound musical adaptation of The Addams Family is just a tad dysfunctional? Reviewing the production's Windy City debut, The Chicago Tribune wrote, "Someone needs to stick a sharp pair of fireplace tongs into all the Gothic clutter that surrounds them in their overly weighty new musical." Other reviews were more positive—Variety calls it "theatrical comfort food, providing value for the consumer dollar"—but with $16.5 million sunk into the Broadway opening, producers aren't taking any chances. So they've brought in the big gun. more ›

Producers of a forthcoming Broadway version of The Addams Family have confirmed that Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth have signed on to star in the new musical. According to the Post, Lane will play family patriarch Gomez, and Neuwirth will co-star as his wife, Morticia. The production, expected to premiere next March (rights were granted two years ago), will mainly riff on the aesthetic of Charles Addams' old New Yorker cartoons—not the classic TV series they spawned. Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice (Jersey Boys) have written the book, and Andrew Lippa (The Wild Party) has penned the music and lyrics. The Times reports that "the plot will revolve around the couple’s daughter Wednesday, now 18, and her family’s adjustment to her coming of age, her new boyfriend and his parents." Krysta Rodriguez, the cute In the Heights vet, will play Wednesday, and Terrence Mann (Les Misérables) and Carolee Carmello (Parade) will play her boyfriend's parents. more ›