
The creepiest and kookiest family to ever haunt the television was recently reborn on the Broadway stage, making for a spooky, yet humorous night of theatre.
The Addams Family, which premiered in 2010, is a musical based on the original comic strip by Charles Addams. The musical, which is firmly planted in the macabre, features torture devices (the rack), a family reunion in a graveyard and magic potions.
The premise of the musical is simple: Wednesday Addams is all grown up (she's in her early 20s) and she wants to introduce her family to her boyfriend ... who just so happens to be normal. What follows is the Addamses trying to fake normalcy, with varying degrees of failure, and Wednesday showing up to the family dinner in a yellow dress in lieu of her Goth-tastic black dress.
Sara Gettelfinger, 34, who plays the role of Morticia — the mother, said the situation with Wednesday creates a boiling point between Morticia and her husband Gomez's relationship when it's found out that Gomez had prior knowledge of Wednesday's boyfriend.
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The Addams Family Wharton Center, East Lansing
Jan. 31-Feb. 5, show times at 1, 2, 6:30 7:30 and 8 p.m.
$70-$30
whartoncenter.com, (517) 432-2000
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"When the play begins Gomez is the only one that Wednesday confides in," Gettelfinger said. "In terms of Gomez and Morticia's relationship, this is a couple that is incredibly close, incredibly passionate and they don't keep secrets from one another. So as the play progresses, things get rather complicated because in this particular situation Gomez not only kept a secret from Morticia, but a pretty major secret."
Gettelfinger said she prepared for the iconic role of Morticia by blending what people expect from the character with her own sensibilities.
"I try to really work from my own blueprint as far as what I can bring to the role based on what my sensibilities are" she said. "It ended up being a really interesting process as far as exploring Morticia as being a very sexy, independent, unique woman but at the same time a mother and a wife who's just doing the best she can to have a successful family life."
When preparing for the musical the actors were told to study the vintage comic strips by Charles Addams, which appeared between 1938 and 1988 in The New Yorker.
"I think it was a really smart way to get us familiarized with the characters and see what a lot of their characteristics were, about who these people were without being influenced by another actor's performance," Gettelfinger said.
The Addams' eerilybeautiful house was another element that had to be introduced into the mix. The house needed to be elegant, yet look haunted.
"It is really beautiful and vast," Gettelfinger said. "And even though we use quite a bit of drops, the artwork and the coloring really gives you the impression of the grand old house."
With so many creative outlets for the Addams Family, it is little wonder that they've been able to amass quite a few dedicated fans. While some remember the original comic or the TV show, others saw the movies and played the video game. But have the die-hard fans been showing up for the musical?
"Absolutely," Gettelfinger said. "Especially around Halloween we had many people that would come to the theater and their families were dressed in costumes. We've been fortunate because there are a lot of people that are really big fans that have really enjoyed it. We've had a lot of enthusiasm and people have had a good time."
Pictured: Cortney Wolfson (Wednesday) and Patrick D. Kennedy (Pugsley) in THE ADDAMS FAMILY. (Photo by Jeremy Daniel)
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Other Theatre Events / By Nicole Rico
Romantic Fools
Holt & Dimondale Community Players, Holt / Feb. 2-4 & 10-11 / $8-$12 / hdcptheater.com
Mother Courage and Her Children
Fairchild Theatre, MSU Department of Theatre, East Lansing / Feb. 7-12 / $10-$13 / theatre.msu.edu
Robin Hood
Hannah Community Center, All-of-us Express Children's Theatre, East Lansing / Feb. 10-11 & 17-18 / $5-$7 / allofusexpress.org
I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change
Black Box Theatre, Lansing Community College, Lansing / Feb. 10-14 & 17-18 / $5-$10 / lcc.edu/cma/events
Smokey Joe's Café
Riverwalk Theatre, Lansing / Feb. 16-19 & 23-26 / riverwalktheatre.com
This Musical Revue of the Songs of Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller is the longest running musical revue in Broadway history. It showcases thirty-nine classics such as Love Potion Number Nine, Stand By Me, Hound Dog, and On Broadway.


