The Addams Family — In a way you wouldn’t expect!
When people think of the Addams Family, the first thought to mind is not a musical — however, the unexpected twist was surprisingly good. The Tacoma Musical Playhouse brought back almost the entire original cast from the 2016 season, except for the actor of Pugsley and seven of the ancestors, and during that year, that cast won many awards. For the national awards, they won: Best Production, Best Male Lead Role, Best Featured Role, Best Female Supporting Actress, Best Ensemble, Best Costumes, Best Set, Best Sound Design. That is eight awards, when at the national level, there are only 13 awards given in total. On the international scale, they won Best Technical Show Overall and Best Male Lead Actor Role. Knowing this information right before the musical even begins, audiences are prepared for a great show.
Like any musical, there’s some sort of main climax evolving and in the Addams Family Musical, it’s that Wednesday Addams has found love and is no longer the little Wednesday Addams she used to be — and everyone in the family has something to say about it. Some family members want her embrace this feeling of love like Gomez who wants Wednesday to experience love and Uncle Fester who fully supports love as a whole. some don’t like it one bit, such as Pugsley who is worried about his relationship with his sister and how it is going to change. Some have no idea that she is feeling this way, being Morticia who was being kept completely out of the loop but has a suspicion of something was going on.
The original Addams Family is not a musical, however, the songs that were featured in the play really show viewers who the characters are — if you haven’t seen the classic show — and if you did watch the originals, the actors portrayed them almost as if they were the original cast. In the originals, Gomez is all about making Morticia happy, Wednesday is a sad depressed girl who tortures her brother, Morticia is the boss of the house. In the musical they all really follow the original even Wednesday who is falling in love still has her moments putting her own little twist on how someone loves another. With the catchy songs and the great acting, there was so much humor going on. The audience was always laughing, which was a surprise at first, not thinking this musical was going to be a comedy. By the end of the show, viewers were left craving more. It was very enjoyable all around, however the best part was the actors in the play who really got into the characters — almost like they weren’t even acting at all.. Hopefully the Tacoma Musical Playhouse continues to bring back this musical annually, with as much of the original cast as possible, because it is worth the price of every ticket.
