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.
Tony Award-winning director Jerry Zaks has taken over, though producers insist the show's not in trouble, and no one on the creative team has left the show or been fired. Zaks has a winning track record, and he's worked well with star Nathan Lane in the past, directing him in Guys and Dolls in 1992 and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum in 1996, for which Mr. Lane won a Tony Award. The promising cast also features Bebe Neuwirth as Morticia, Terrence Mann, and puppetry by the ingenious Basil Twist, so we're rooting for them. Previews begin March 4th.
