I got the wonderful opportunity to see The Addams Family at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, on Broadway. I'd heard so much about it, and only negative things, so I walked into the theatre not knowing what to expect.
I really liked it. The show was done old-school style, so the special effects were just lighting and/or puppets. No fly-wire, no special effects. It was simple. I didn't know that when I was watching the show- it looked like they used newer technology. However, when we had a talk back with the cast they said they kept it to the bare minimum.
The show was hilarious, and the actors did very well. They were attention-grabbing, the volume was perfect, and they were one of the most talented casts I've seen perform anything from The Addams Family. I'd seen other schools and groups do songs and monologues/scenes from the show, but this was the best yet.
The music of the show was really good. My favourite song was "Pulled"; Wednesday Addams sings it. She talks about going from being morbid and cruel to liking bunnies and being in love because she met a boy, Lucas. Rachel Potter played Wednesday and she has a beautiful voice. It was powerful and one of the best I've even heard on Broadway. Each time she opened her mouth to sing after that I was blown away. Her range was outstanding and even though Potter is out of college and grown up, she pulled off playing a younger character very well.
The opening number, "When You're an Addams" is so perfect. It's probably one of my favourite group numbers I've seen ever. The dancing and acting was captivating and I couldn't take my eyes off the stage, but the cast's singing was mind-blowing. I've seen multiple musicals, more than I can count on both hands, three of which were Broadway productions, and I've always been astonished. However, there was something about this song and cast and show that made this whole-cast number one of the best I've ever seen.
Another really good song was "Crazier Than You". Both Wednesday and Lucas sing it and they're talking about how they're different, but Lucas changes and decides to be more spontaneous and impulsive. In this scene, Wednesday shoots an arrow at an apple sitting on top of Lucas' head, and the effect was insane because there wasn't a fly wire or anything, so I have no clue how they did it. The tune was really well done because they both sang it with a lot of passion. It's an adorable song. However, Lucas' part was really underwritten. The harmonies for his part weren't that good, and he didn't really have that much of a chance to really show off. Besides that, the duet was cute and the two performer's voices fit really well together.
"Tango de Amor" was a huge dance number in the show, but the orchestra was unbelievable. A lot of times whenever there's a big dance in the show, I mostly focus on the cast. When I was watching the show, I was nearly completely focused on the music. It was a simple instrumental but they were so perfect that it sounded like a recorded track. The tempo was flawless and complimented the dancing very well. We actually had a talk back and one of the musicians, a violinist, was there. She'd been playing since she was four and said that that song was one of her favourites to play. It pretty much made everyone in the audience want to get up and dance too.
The Addams Family is a show that everyone should go see. It's funny, entertaining, and just silly and the songs will be stuck in your head for weeks.