The Addams Family
Review by Ernest Edward/Ernest Goes To The Theatre
The Addams Family a musical comedy opened the 2025/2026 Broadway at the Ordway Season. 2025 is also the Ordway’s 40th Anniversary. There is a lot to celebrate at the Ordway with the season opener. I want to mention that my subscription for the Broadway at the Ordway series, I go to the Sunday evening performances. With a show like The Addams Family, which is only in town for one week, I am going to the closing performance. You don’t typically review a show after it closes and tell people “to go see it”. I have a history with The Addams Family and wanted to talk about our favorite kooky, spooky family live on stage.
I had seen the musical in Chicago December 2009 for the preBroadway engagement. I’ve been going to preBroadway runs in Chicago ever since. That’s a different story for another time. The Addams Family in Chicago had Nathan Land as Gomez Addams, Bebe Neuwirth as Mortica Addams, Terrance Mann as Mal Beineke, and Carolee Carmelo as Alice Beineke. The Chicago run was fun, but it definitely needed some work. I heard that they did some work for Broadway, but not enough. Once the show went on tour in 2011/2012, they kept working on the show. For the Tour they had Douglas Sills as Gomez Addams. I got to see that tour at the Ordway in May of 2012. By the time the tour got to the Ordway in the spring of 2012, it was a much improved show. It was the final product from the first National Tour that went onto London and Sydney and is the script that we got to see at the Ordway this past week. I have unofficially dubbed The Addams Family musical with the following: PreBroadway run in Chicago was version 1.0, Broadway was version 1.5, and the first National Tour was version 2.0.
Let’s talk about the musical itself. It’s got everyone. There’s Gomez, Morticia, Grandma, Wednesday, Pugsley, Uncle Fester, Lurch, Thing and Cousin It. The Book is by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, with Music and Lyrics by Andrew Lippa. The story is that Wednesday has met Lucas Beineke. She is in love. Lucas and his parents are coming to the Addams mansion for dinner. Wednesday want’s a “nice normal” dinner. Normal? With the Addams Family? Wednesday confides to Gomez that Lucas and his parents are kind normal people from Ohio. Part of the fun in the musical is that Gomez doesn’t keep secrets from Morticia, but now Wednesday has a secret she confides in her father. Gomez loves both his daughter and his wife. He is so torn over this, and Morticia knows something is up. Once the Beineke’s arrive at the Addams mansion, Wednesday enters in a bright yellow dress. Which is different from the traditional black she and the family normally wears. The yellow dress hurts Morticia’s eyes.
We did have an understudy/standby for Uncle Fester Sunday evening. John Couzzo stepped in for the role of Uncle Fester and was having as much fun on stage, as were seeing from his performance. Rodrigo Aragon as Gomez Addams really carried the production. As Gomez he had the charm, and the energy and the charisma we expect from Gomez and then some. He was perfectly paired with Renee Kathleen Koher as Morticia Addams. Another standout in the cast is Sarah MacKenzie Baron as Alice Beineke. Alice starts out as the mild mannered midwestern housewife, thanks to a dinner game gone wrong, she really lets her hair loose and pops the cork on all of those bottled up emotions.
Once the muscial shannigans get ironed out. All is right with the world. Alice and Mal rediscover their love for each other. Morticia forgives Gomez for keeping a secret from her. Wednesday and Lucas get married. Don’t forget to snap your fingers to that classic Addams Family theme song.
Check out www.ordway.org for the rest the of the 2025/2026 Broadway at the Ordway season. Up next at the Ordway is the regional premiere of the musical The Notebook in November, and Jesus Christ Superstar is at the Ordway in December.
