We thought that plans for an Addams Family musical were a good thing, especially when we read that old hands like Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth were on board. Rick Elice and Marshall Brickman, the writers behind Jersey Boys, are coming up with a completely original storyline, “taking nothing from either the TV show or the movies.” That includes the infamous theme song.
Rather, it’s meant to be based solely on creator Charles’ Addams cartoons for the New Yorker.
According to this piece from NPR, the real Mr. Addams was more of an Uncle Fester than a Gomez, drinking martinis with fake eyeballs in them and giving away monogrammed straitjackets as gifts. This could bode well.
Or maybe not:
“The musical is set in the present day, and the Addams family lives in a spooky castle in the middle of Central Park. The plot is a bit like Meet the Parents, with Gomez and Morticia throwing a dinner party for the parents of their daughter Wednesday’s boyfriend.”
Oy. If Elice and Brickman were wise, we think they’d spin this project — with its rich, twisted source material — into something more akin to Grey Gardens than their popular jukebox musical. Save the schlock-fest for your stage adaptation of Father of the Bride.