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IN PRINT

BY FRANK I.OVECE

Specicl to Newsdcy

Wednesday

cARTOOT{S

Broadway musical "The Addams Family,"

opening Thurs-

trating for the magazine n1932,

and six years later drew the fust
cartoon of what would become

day at the LuntFontanne Theatre, "Don't analyze

me. It's a deep, dark hole, and you
don't wanna go there."
And yet through 50 years of
New Yorker cartoons, two live-

- action TV series, two animated

series, two theatrical features, a

direct-to-DVD.movie and now

this, we do wanna go there. We
love to visit that family of ghoulish glee, whotip steaming liquid
from the top of their Gothic mansion over Christmas carolers
below, or urge vehicles on a
winding road to pass their car as
an unseen tractor-trailer rounds
the curve. Patriarch Gomez Addams lights up with happiness
as he sees his corpse"Darling!"
like bride, Morticia, sewing little
baby booties . . . with four legs.

It's not that we secretly wish to

be homicidal, or to have six-

1
j.

T}IE ]{EW YORKER

Addams warns
her beau in the

limbed children. Hopefully. We're

just responding.to the Bizarro
World mirror image in which
dark is light and bad is good. The
extreme juxtaposition throws into
high relief the sayings and conventions of everyday life, the irony
awakening us to the banality of
our words
md, by extension,
our lives. But there's something else. In
all their incarnations, the Addamses are a loving, well-functioning
nuclear family
Brady
- the
Bunch gone Goth.
And as Andrew
Lippa, the new musical's composer, notes about the caroler cartoon, one of Charles Addams'
most famous, the steaming vat "is
.]eing tipped, but there's not a
single drop of it emerging yet. So
it's only the suggestion of something happening
mali- nothing
I think
cious actually happens.

that's a really important point. It

would stop being funny if they
actually tipped the vat."
So, we won't tip the vat. But we
will tip our hat to these four
iGrations ,of the family .Addarss: .

Charles Addams began illus-

the macabre clan

pale, beau-

tiful, black-haired -woman in

tomblike, cobweb-filled old

mansion, listening deadpan (so

to speak) as a vacuum-cleaner
salesman gives his spiel. Soon
she was joined by a husband, two
kids, a grandma, an uncle and a
all unnamed
towering butler
until the 1964 TV- show.
Addams, whose "Addams
Family" cartoons make up only a
small portion of his output, con-

tinued drawing for The New

Yorker until his death in Manhattan in 1988, atage76.

Not the same old Thing: "The Addams Family"

musical opens Thursday at the Lunt-Fontanne
with Adam Riegler, left, Jackie Hoffman,
Krysta Rodriguez, Nathan Lane,
Bebe Neuwirth, Zachary James
and Kevin Chamberlin

il
ON TV
,THE ADDAMS FAMITY' (ABC, 1964-66)
The mother'lode of Addamsania, starting
immediately with composer Vic Mizzy's
memorable theme (snap! snap!). It's the
place where the Addamses got their names:
Gomez (played by ]ohn Astin, whom Charles
Addams gave a choice between that or the
first name Repelli); Morticia (1950s film star
and Oscar nominee Carolyn Iones); Uncle
Fester'(former child star |ackie Coogan,
who'd played the titular role in Charlie Chaplin's l92l classic "The Kid"); Grandmama
(Blossorn Rock, older sister of musical star
feanette
MacDonald),

Huston and Thing enjoy a K

ON-SCREEN
ITHE ADDAMS FAMILY'
(1991) and 'ADDAMS

John Astin as Gomez, Carolyn Jones as Morticia

FAMttY VALUES'(1993)

Barry Sonnenfeld ("Men in

Black") directed these two
darklycomic hit movies that
were more inspired by the
original cartoons than by the
'60s sitcorn Raul Julia and Anjelica Huston starred as Gomez and

and Pugsley (Lisa Loring and Ken Weatherwax; Addams'frst suggestion for the boy was
Pubert, which surfaced as the baby's name in
the i993 movie "Addams Family Values").
The series also gave us the disembodied

hand called Thing and Cousin Itt, a short,

shaggy creature that looks like a walking,
4-foot-tall wig. Each has a cameo in the new
musical, which opens with a passage from
the famous theme.

Morticia, with child actress

Christina Ricci enjoying a breakout role as the dour Wednesday.
(Asked at a Halloween event in
the sequel why she isn't wearing
costume, she gives an eerily
straightforward reply "I'm a
a

ffi,n

homicidal m

looklike

an;-.

WorkmarL v
acting, playe

Christopher

Carel Struyc
giant from "played Lurcl
was fudith Ir

movieandC
second.

Nathan L;
Gomez on

police i
"Addams Fa
of many star
as a

ln cameos.

ON BROADWAY
,THE ADDAMS FAMILY'
(Broadway musical)

Ifbackstage reports are to

z
q
C

o
I

you have a r
son. That's :
Lane is ac

be believed, the joyfully maca-

clown" in tL

bre goings-on onstage in the

new show starring Lane and
Bebe Neuwirth mask the bubble, bubble, toil and trouble

concerns a I
day (Krysta

behind it. During out-of-town

tryouts at the Oriental Theatre
in Chicago late last year, the
acclaimed lerry Zaks took over
as director from Broadway
newcomers Phelim McDermott and Julian Crouch, who
were relegated to providing
"input." And word kept leaking
out of Neuwirth's frostiness
toward co-star Lane, and dissatisfaction with her role as it
was developing.
The two made nice in an
interview with New York
Magazine, where Neuwirth
conceded the two "both have a
nice, healthy dosg of diva," but
that "we also do really go
together. You've got the little
clown running around, and

with

boy (

and bringinl
rence Mann
lo) to meet l
Fester (a shr

Chamberlin
equally shor
Hoffman), I
Riegler) anc
|ames) - th

siastic patrir
chaos at ba)

thr

tr*4i

nel

fl
.r

,:

..0 I

'?. -':.
(

I
i4
l.. .i

l-r

;....,-

and Thing enjoy a

E:

ON-SCREEN

ni

,THE ADDAMS FATILY'

(199'l) and'ADDAilS
FAiilLY VALUES', CI993)
Barry Sonnenfeld ("Men in

tt

homicidal maniac. They can

were more inspired by the

original cartoons than by the
'60s sitcorn Raul fulia and AnjelicaHuston starred as Gomez and

look like anybody.") |immy

Worlanan, who discontinued
acting, played her brother.
Christopher Lloyd was Fester,
Carel Struycken (the mysterious
giant from "TwinPeaks")
played Lurch, and Grandmama
was fudith Malina in the first
movie and Carol Kane in the

Morticia with child actress

second.

BlacIC') directed these two

darklycomic hit movies that

Christina Ricci enjoying a breakout role as the dour Wednesday.

(Asked at a Halloween event in

Nathan Lane; who PlaYs

the sequelwhy she isn'twearing

a costume, she gives an eerily

Gomez on Broadway, apPeared

as a police desk sergeant in
"Addams Family Values," one
of many stars who poPPed uP

straightforward rep\t "I'm a

in cameos.

ON BROADWAY
,THEADDAIIS FATIIY'
(Broadway musical)

Ifbackstage reports are to

be believed, the joyfirlly macabre goings-on onstage in the
newshow starring Lane and
Bebe Neuwirth mask the bubble, bubble, toil and trouble

!
F

risrtHi

behind it. Ouring out-of-town

tryouts at the Oriental Theatre
in Chicago late last year, the
acclaimed lerry Zaks took over
as diiector from Broadway
newcomers Phelim McDermott and fulian Crouch, who
were relegated to providing
"input." And word kePt leaking
out of Neuwirth's frostiness
toward co-star Lane, and dissatisfaction with her role as it
was developing.
The two made nice in an
interview with New York
Magazine, where Neuwirth
conceded the two "both have a
nice, healthy dosg ofdiva," but
that "we also do really go
together. You've got the little
clown running around, and

you have a very still, dry Person. That's a fun pairing."

'Lane is actually less "a little
clown" in the show - which
concerns a grown-up Wednesday (Krysta Rodriguez) in love
with a boy (Wesley Taylor)
and bringing his parents (Terrence Mann, Carolee Carmello) to meet her parents, Uncle
Fester (a show-stealing Kevin
Chamberlin), Grandmama (an
equally show-stealing |ackie
Hoffman), Pugsley (Adam
Riegler) and Lurch (ZachatY
|ames) - than he is the enthusiastic patriarch who keePs
chaos at bay.
PHOTOS
Check out our

galleries of
the hottest shows

.--gn_Flgadry"y

. --

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