Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Bassett
Dr.
Helvering
Musicianship
I
Crazier Than You is a duet from the musical, The Addams Family. The
Addams
Family
premiered
in
April
of
2010.
The
music
and
lyrics
for
the
musical
were
written
by
Andrew
Lippa.
Lippa
has
also
written
the
music
to
A
Little
Princess,
The
Man
In
the
Ceiling,
and
john
&
jen.
He
also
wrote
the
three
additional
songs
added
to
Youre
a
Good
Man
Charlie
Brown
for
its
revival.
Lippa
won
a
Tony
award
for
My
New
Philosophy
from
Youre
a
Good
Man
Charlie
Brown,
along
with
Gilman/Gonzalez-Falla
Theatre
Foundation
Award,
ASCAPs
Richard
Rogers/New
Horizons
Award,
The
Drama
Desk,
and
The
Outer
Critics
Circle.
The
singers
were
Krystal
Rodriguez
(playing
Wednesday
Addams),
and
Wesley
Taylor
(playing
Lucas
Beineke),
both
actors
are
best
known
for
premiering
these
roles
in
The
Addams
Family.
every
time
it
appears.
B
and
B
are
written
in
Bb
major,
B
is
written
in
C
major,
and
B
is
written
in
B
Major.
However,
the
most
interesting
section
of
this
piece
occurs
during
the
bridge.
The
bridge
of
the
piece
is
used
to
connect
back
to
the
original
material,
and
in
this
case
the
original
key
of
D
major.
What
is
really
intriguing
about
this
section
is
that
instead
of
using
traditional
chords,
it
uses
motivic
modulation
in
thirds.
It
starts
with
a
V7/IV
Chord
in
D
Major,
to
a
F/C,
to
an
Eb7,
then
a
D7,
then
resolving
back
to
the
original
key
of
the
piece
D.
The way the form of this piece works is that the A sections are less stable in
the
key,
starting
off
right
off
the
bat,
on
a
secondary
dominant
(V7/IV)
and
never
actually
hitting
the
tonic
chord.
This
works
because
of
the
way
the
song
starts.
Wednesday
and
Lucas,
in
the
show,
had
just
been
fighting
and
had
sort
of
broken
up,
and
while
Lucas
had
returned
to
talk
to
her,
they
were
still
on
the
outs
and
sort
of
fighting.
The
A
sections
are
the
spots
where
they
are
each
taking
a
solo
moment
to
explain
their
emotions
and
let
out
their
feelings.
Wednesday
says:
Once I was hopeful, thought we were one. / Life, less than perfect finly begun. /
But, now I wonder are we undone? / I wanna treasure you in death as well as
life/ I wanna cut you with my love and with my knife. / But can I live as your
tormentor and your wife? (Lippa, The Addams Family: The Musical).
This
explains
the
instability
with
the
key,
because
Wednesday
is
letting
out
all
of
her
insecurities
with
the
relationship.
Then
it
moves
into
the
B
section,
which
I
will
talk
about
later,
and
then
returns
to
the
A
section
for
Lucass
turn
to
talk
about
his
problems
with
the
relationship:
want to be unique/ Can you believe I mean it when you hear me shriek
As
Lucas
finally
admits
that
while
he
has
never
categorized
himself
as
any
of
those
things.
He
is
so
in
love
with
her
that
he
is
suddenly
finding
himself
willing
to
try
anything
for
her.
This
is
reflected
by
the
fact
that
this
is
the
last
time
the
A
section
appears
in
its
entirety
in
the
piece.
This
makes
it
all
the
more
of
a
contrasting
when
you
get
to
the
B
section.
The B section appears 4 times, and is the refrain of the piece. This section
follows
more
of
a
typical
chordal
analysis.
This
normalcy
actually
makes
sense
because
it
is
the
two
of
them
coming
to
terms
that
they
both
are
crazy
in
love
with
one
another.
The
words
sound
like
they
are
still
fighting,
they
are
in
fact
both
admitting
that
they
are
insane,
at
first
individually
after
they
sing
their
respective
A
section,
after
the
C,
or
bridge,
the
two
of
them
sing
it
together,
and
come
together,
with
their
craziness.
The bridge with its interesting chord progression is really when they display
their
craziness,
which
explains
the
interesting
motivic
repetition
in
thirds.
They
are
literally
facing
death,
by
blindfolding
Wednesday
and
having
her
shoot
an
apple
with
her
crossbow
off
of
Lucass
head.
This
insane
gesture
is
reflected
in
the
music,
and
can
audibly
be
heard
when
listening
to
the
soundtrack.
Also,
the
orchestration
on
the
recording
becomes
more
stark
and
staccato
than
the
rest
of
the
piece.
The
song
takes
a
rise
in
melodic
tension,
by
raising
up
the
starting
not
of
the
motive,
each
time
the
motive
of
the
C
section
repeats.
As
the
bridge
ends
it
elides
in
to
the
second
half
of
the
A
section.
Every cadence in this song is a half cadence, and many of them are elided.
The
only
exception
to
this
is
the
very
last
cadence,
which
ends
on
the
tonic
chord.
This
lack
of
full
cadence,
before
the
end,
keeps
the
fast
tempo
of
the
song
going.
It
builds
up
the
tension
rising
until
the
very
end
of
the
piece,
where
they
both
agree
that
their
parents
were
the
cause
of
their
problem,
and
that
they
are
really
more
alike
then
they
thought.
At
this
point
both
of
them
have
agreed
that
they
are
both
crazy
and
in
love
with
each
others
craziness,
and
that
they
are
happy
being
together.
This
having
been
resolved
between
them,
allows
the
full
cadence
to
feel
so
right
at
the
end,
because
they
are
done
fighting
and
back
to
just
being
together.
The reason I selected this song is, it is from one of my favorite shows. I fell in
love
with
The
Addams
Family
the
day
I
saw
it
on
Broadway.
This
song
in
particular
is
one
of
my
favorites
from
the
show.
The
things
I
like
about
this
song
is
not
only
that
Wednesday
shot
a
crossbow
on
stage
and
punctured
an
apple
on
top
of
Lucass
head
while
blindfolded.
(Even
though
it
was
really
awesome).
I
found
the
song
musically
pleasing,
although
I
had
not
thought
a
whole
lot
about
why
it
interested
me.
Having
analyzed
it,
I
think
part
of
the
reason
I
enjoy
this
song
so
much,
is
that
it
has
just
a
wide
range
of
strange
or
interesting
chord
progressions
and
ideas.
I
think
that
the
very
root
of
having
crazy
chord
choices,
and
interesting
motivic
movements,
is
what
I
enjoy
about
the
piece.
The
singers
really
take
the
music
on
the
recording
and
make
it
come
to
life
in
a
spunky,
vibrant
way
that
makes
the
song
all
that
much
more
exciting
and
rich.
This
analysis
has
truly
deepened
my
appreciation
for
the
song,
and
for
the
way
all
the
elements
come
together
as
one
cohesive
interesting
crazy
work
of
art.
Bibliography
production.php?id=484632>
Lippa, Andrew. The Addams Family: The Musical. New York, New York: Hal
Lippa, Andrew. Bio. Andrew Lippa. N.p., 2012. 2012. Web. 26 Apr 2012.
Rodriguez, Krystal and Lucas Beineke. Crazier Than You. By Andrew Lippa.
<http://andrewlippa.com/bio/>