“The Addams Family, A Musical Comedy” brings spookiness and laughter to Ball State’s  Emens Auditorium 

“The Addams Family, A Musical Comedy” brings spookiness and laughter to Ball State’s  Emens Auditorium 

By: Kevin Vickery

It seems like The Addams Family has been around forever, right?  You may not know that it actually originated as a series of single-panel comics by American cartoonist, Charles Addams that ran in, “The New Yorker” starting in 1938.  The series celebrated a satirical viewpoint of an eccentric old-money clan who delighted in the grotesque and also seemed unaware that others found them bizarre or frightening.

In 1964 the concept was turned into the famous sit-com which ran on ABC through 1966 and delivered 64 episodes.  The series was spearheaded by David Levy, who created and developed it with Donald Saltzman in cooperation with cartoonist Addams, who took the unnamed characters from his gag cartoons and gave them names, backstories, and a household setting for the 30 minutes episodes shot in black-and white.

These were the episodes that I grew up watching after school during the 1970s-80’s after it had moved to daily runs through syndication. The series also gave us the famous opening theme, composed and sung by Vic Mizzy that we all sang along with from every “Duh, duh, duh dunt” to each double snap.

They’re creepy and they’re kooky, 

Mysterious and spooky.

They’re all together ooky.

The Addams Family.

Their house is a museum.

When people come to see ’em,

They really are a scream.

The Addams Family.

Neat, Sweet, Petite

So put a witch’s shawl on,

A broomstick you can crawl on.

We’re gonna pay a call on,

The Addams family.

They’re creepy and they’re kooky

Mysterious and spooky

They’re all together ooky

The Addams family.

Strange, Deranged, The Addams family.

Ahh yes, those were the days of  watching old black-and- white TV shows with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in one hand and a glass of chocolate milk in the other while avoiding working on your math homework… at least that’s what I was doing.

The beloved and delightfully weird characters  of The Addams Family continued to live on through a 1991 dark-comedy film of the same name starring Anjelica Huston, who was nominated for a Golden Globe for her performance as Morticia Addams, Raul Julia as Gomez Addams, and Christopher Lloyd as Fester Addams.  The film was a success earning seven times its $30 million production cost.

This film was followed by two more sequels, the equally successful “Addams Family Values” in 1991 which featured the same cast and a less popular “Addam’s Family Reunion” which was released straight to video in 1998 with cast many changes including Tim Curry taking over the roll of Gomez after the passing of Raul Julia.

There have been several other modern animated versions produced through the years like, “The Addams Family” from 2019 and, “The Addams Family 2” from 2021.

There have also been additional television series of the hit show including, “The New Addams Family” from 1998 and the popular Netflix series, “Wednesday” which premiered in 2022 and has just renewed for a third season. This series  focuses on daughter, Wednesday Adams life in the modern world and using her psychic abilities to solve murder-mysteries.

One thing’s for sure, America has loved The AddamsFamily for decades and their popularity has spanned several generations and various changes in multi-media formats.

With that in mind, it only seems logical that they would make their way to the stage for a musical, live show production.  After a tryout in Chicago in 2009, it then moved to Broadway in 2010 where it won several theatrical awards and received two Toni Award nominations.

Since then the show has been transformed into a traveling stage show that his been not only all over The US but additionally to locations throughout the globe including; Brazil, Sweden, Australia, Argentina, Finland, Peru, Italy, Getmany and many other countries.

Knowing that, I was glad they could find the time to make a stop at little ‘ole Muncie, Indiana at my beloved Alma Mater, Ball State University.  I am certainly no expert in musical stage show productions but I can say that I loved the performance.  I thought the cast did a fantastic job of bringing these characters I’ve known since I was a kid to the stage and telling a different side of their typical storylines.

“The Addams Family, A Musical Comedy” was presented by Big League Productions, Inc.” featuring a storyline from a book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice with music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa and all based off of Charles Addams’ original characters.  The stage show starred Rodrigo Aragon as Gomez Addams, Renee Kathleen Koher as Morticia Addams, Timothy Hearl as Uncle Fester, Shereen Hickman as Grandma, Melody Munitz as Wednesday Addams, Logan Clinger as Pugsley Addams, and Jackson Barnes as Lurch.

The show also features the Beineke family as a central part of the plot line and includes Tucker Boyles as Mal Beineke, Sarah MacKenzie Baron as Alice Beineke, and David Eldridge as Lucas Beineke.  An ensemble cast also makes up the Addams Ancestors who return from the grave, dressed in all white clothing and make-up and offer a major contribution to the music and dance numbers throughout the play. A nine piece orchestra hidden backstage brings the show’s songs to life.

In addition to all the gags and jokes you’d expect from the strange dark family we’ve grown to adore, the reoccurring theme of the play is love. This is shown both in the form of new love as Wednesday has fallen in love with the very normal young man, Lucas Beineke as well as in rekindling old love as Lucas” parents, Mal and Alice Beineke have reached a stagnant phase in their marriage which is revived over the course of events that take place during their overnight visit to the Addams creepy home, located in Central Park.

Gomez and Morticia Addams also have their love challenged as Wednesday confides hi her plan to marry Lucas to her father, Gomez which upsets Morticia knowing he’s keeping a secret from her. In the final scenes love prevails and all is right again when Morticia forgives Gomez, the Beinekes have rediscovered the love and attraction they had for each other when they were younger, and Wednesday and Lucas overcome some of their own difficulties as well with the whole show concluding with their wedding.  Even Uncle Fester gets in on the spirit when he professes that he has fallen in love with the moon.

As in any musical this story is told not only in the dialogue but also in the lyrics of songs performed like, “Two Things”, “Three Things”, and , “Four Things”, all performed by Rodrigo Aragon as Gomez as well as his other songs, “Wednesday’s Growing Up”, “Trapped”, and, “Happy/Sad” which all convey the message of watching his little girl become a young woman and simultaneously trying to keep the peace with his own wife, Morticia.

Melody Munitz also shows her vocal prowess as Wednesday when she sings, “Pulled” a song about her own struggles as she feels pulled in different directions by the two families. Renee Kathleen Koher offers songs, “Just Around the Corner” backed by the Ancestors and her duet, “Live Before We Die/Tango de Amor” accompanied by Aragon as Gomez.  Even Timothy Hearl brings Uncle Fester’s singing voice to the forefront with numbers such as, “But Love”, and “The Moon and Me”.  There were 25 song and dance routines in the two-and-a- half hour performance and I thought all the cast executed them fantastically.

The show had some meaningful themes but also was still a comedy, even offering a few seemingly out of place jokes about things like pandemic masks and universal healthcare that the audience enjoyed.  Of course a gratuitous reference to Ball State Cardinal football wasn’t wasted on the Muncie crowd and brought cheers throughout Emens Auditorium.

I was able to speak with fellow show goers, Jeff and Tracy Burke from Muncie who both said that they enjoyed the performance very much. Tracy admitted that she didn’t grow up watching the Addams FamilyTV series but Jeff said that he did and that’s what brought them there adding, “I always liked the show because it was funny and different – not like other shows like, “Leave it to Beaver and, “Happy Days”.

I would tend to agree with Jeff, not that I have anything against the Cleaver or Cunningham families but the members of the Addams family were then and still are today just as funny and different.

For more information about “The Addams Family, A Musical Comedy” find them on social media or visit their official website at theaddamsfamilytour.com

To learn about upcoming events scheduled at Ball State’s Emens Auditorium you can find them on all social media platforms as well as at the website bsu.edu/web/emens.