MUSICAL COMEDY WITH A DELIGHTFULLY DARKER TWIST: THE ADDAMS FAMILY TOUR KICKS OFF AT WATERBURY'S PALACE THEATRE
By Kiersten Bjork (January 18, 2025)
The national tour of The Addams Family, which played at The Palace Theatre in Waterbury January 17-18, is an entertaining adaptation of the iconic cartoon, heading out on a well-timed tour following the success of the Netflix show, Wednesday. With a book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa, orchestrations by Larry Hochman, and based on the characters created by Charles Addams, the new national tour of The Addams Family has all the mischief, magic, and mayhem that we’ve come to know and love from this spectacularly spooky family. The score is a mix of strong pieces and a few more forgettable tunes, but featuring some real earworms like “Pulled,” “One Normal Night,” and “Crazier Than You.” Antoinette Dipietropolo directs and choreographs the current touring production, with associate director and choreographer Emilie Renier, and Thomas Fasnocht serves as music supervisor.
The Addams Family follows the dark and devilish family as their daughter, Wednesday, reveals to her father, Gomez, that she has fallen in love with a totally “normal” boy, Lucas Beineke. Not only does Wednesday ask Gomez to keep her love a secret from her mother, something that Gomez has never, and would never usually do, but she also begs her family to pretend to have “one normal night” when the Beineke family arrives at the Addams residence for a (shall we say doomed?) dinner party. All bets are off as family drama ensues, and we wonder if Wednesday and Lucas will ever get their happy ending. The Addams Family is silly, it’s kooky, it’s creepy, mysterious, and spooky, and despite a few slower moments, it’s an enjoyable production that should see great success on the road.
The national tour of The Addams Family, which played at The Palace Theatre in Waterbury January 17-18, is an entertaining adaptation of the iconic cartoon, heading out on a well-timed tour following the success of the Netflix show, Wednesday. With a book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa, orchestrations by Larry Hochman, and based on the characters created by Charles Addams, the new national tour of The Addams Family has all the mischief, magic, and mayhem that we’ve come to know and love from this spectacularly spooky family. The score is a mix of strong pieces and a few more forgettable tunes, but featuring some real earworms like “Pulled,” “One Normal Night,” and “Crazier Than You.” Antoinette Dipietropolo directs and choreographs the current touring production, with associate director and choreographer Emilie Renier, and Thomas Fasnocht serves as music supervisor.
The Addams Family follows the dark and devilish family as their daughter, Wednesday, reveals to her father, Gomez, that she has fallen in love with a totally “normal” boy, Lucas Beineke. Not only does Wednesday ask Gomez to keep her love a secret from her mother, something that Gomez has never, and would never usually do, but she also begs her family to pretend to have “one normal night” when the Beineke family arrives at the Addams residence for a (shall we say doomed?) dinner party. All bets are off as family drama ensues, and we wonder if Wednesday and Lucas will ever get their happy ending. The Addams Family is silly, it’s kooky, it’s creepy, mysterious, and spooky, and despite a few slower moments, it’s an enjoyable production that should see great success on the road.
The Addams Family (Pamela Raith Photography)
The Addams Family patriarch, Gomez, is played by Rodrigo Aragón. Aragón gives his role that dramatic, vibrant flair that suits Gomez well. He has an excellent dynamic with his Morticia, as well as Wednesday, and delivers his performance with much gusto.
Opposite Aragón as Morticia Addams is Renee Kathleen Koher. Each of these roles is iconic, but Koher really embodies the Morticia we know and love, right down to the hilarious attempt at laughter. Koher and Aragón are strong scene partners, and their back and forths once Morticia realizes that her husband has kept something a secret are fun to watch.
Wednesday Addams is portrayed by Melody Munitz, whose character seems intentionally more closely tied to the new TV version of Wednesday than past productions. Dubbed the “ultimate princess of darkness,” Munitz does a great job at playing both the dark and the light, giving us the Wednesday that tortures her brother for fun as well as playing up the side of her character that needs everything to go perfectly when the Beineke’s arrive for dinner. Munitz has a solid grasp of all facets of the role, and does well vocally too, with “Pulled” and “Crazier than You” as particular standouts.
Logan Clinger plays Wednesday’s younger brother, Pugsley. Poor Pugsley just wants to be tortured by his sister, but now she’s off gallivanting with her new boyfriend. Clinger makes Pugsley deviously adorable. He brings out both the mischief-making, pot-stirring, troublemaker that Pugsley can be, while also touching our hearts in the moments where you can see that this is a younger brother afraid of losing the older sister he looks up to and cares about. Like Munitz, Clinger balances the different sides of his character very well.
Grandma Addams is played by Shereen Hickman, in what is probably my favorite performance of the show. Hickman is absolutely hilarious, and the audience was in stitches practically every moment that she was on stage. Grandma has so many great one-liners and also a fantastic monologue during “Full Disclosure,” and Hickman nails it each and every time. She is so fun to watch and was a clear audience favorite.
Chris Carsten plays Uncle Fester, Gomez’s brother and a man in love with the moon. Odd you say? In a family of decidedly not normal individuals, Uncle Fester fits right in and Carsten gives a strong performance in the role. He has a great character voice that gives Uncle Fester an almost unhinged sweetness – a “let’s help Wednesday and Lucas succeed in love, but I’m going to trap the Addams Family ancestors here in this realm until we succeed” sort of sweetness. “But Love” and “The Moon and Me” have never been my favorite songs in the show, but Carsten does well with them, and I like the blocking choices for “The Moon and Me”.
The iconic Lurch is portrayed by Jackson Barnes. With the power of platform shoes and a killer makeup plot, Barnes becomes the towering zombie-like Lurch in all his glory. While you might think that the role doesn’t require much other than grunting and groaning, Barnes absolutely steals the scene in which he welcomes the Beineke’s to the Addams Family home, reenacting his entire life story with movement and vocalizations. It’s downright hilarious and is one of my favorite parts of the show. Across the board, Barnes works with what he has in a role that doesn’t offer much in terms of spoken lines, but captures the audience’s hearts, nonetheless.
Head of the “totally normal” Beineke family is John Adkison as Mal. While each character in the show has a definitive enough arc, the three members of the Beineke family have perhaps the best written ones. Adkison gives us the straight-laced, no-nonsense, what-am-I-doing-in-this-house-of-weirdos Mal right out of the gate, making us rather anti-Mal. However, as the story progresses, Adkison takes us on the journey, bringing Mal to a satisfying close that has us rooting for him in the end.
Opposite Adkison is Sarah Mackenzie Baron as Alice, who gives a truly standout performance. I had high hopes for this role going in, as Alice has some fantastic material in this show, and Baron absolutely nailed it. Early on she exudes that overzealous, chipper attitude that frustrates the other members of her family, and Baron really dives into this side of Alice, grinning ear-to-ear. Following the fateful game, Baron takes off like a shot, captivating our attention and drawing our eye in each and every moment thereafter. Her vocals are fantastic, and her presence is magnetic, holding the audience’s focus anytime she’s on stage. Baron is one of my favorite parts of the show, by far.
The Beineke’s son, Lucas, is played by David Eldridge. Eldridge is an excellent choice for the role, filling out both the normal and crazier sides of the boy that Wednesday falls in love with. I enjoyed the relationship that Eldrige and Munitz established over the course of the show, and by the time we hit “Crazier Than You,” the audience was clearly all fans of the two as well.
Rounding out the company are Dalton Bertolone, Sarah Coleman, John Cuozzo (Assistant Dance Captain), Max DeSantis, Lyndell Finger, Collin Hendley, Alyssa Jacqueline (Dance Captain), Samantha Parada, Alex Pletikapich, Sophie Rapiejko, Delaney Shea, and Gretchen Vosburgh, who make up the ensemble, and do a wonderful job as the Addams Family ancestors. Cuozzo and Vosburgh also serve as the swings for the production.
Opposite Aragón as Morticia Addams is Renee Kathleen Koher. Each of these roles is iconic, but Koher really embodies the Morticia we know and love, right down to the hilarious attempt at laughter. Koher and Aragón are strong scene partners, and their back and forths once Morticia realizes that her husband has kept something a secret are fun to watch.
Wednesday Addams is portrayed by Melody Munitz, whose character seems intentionally more closely tied to the new TV version of Wednesday than past productions. Dubbed the “ultimate princess of darkness,” Munitz does a great job at playing both the dark and the light, giving us the Wednesday that tortures her brother for fun as well as playing up the side of her character that needs everything to go perfectly when the Beineke’s arrive for dinner. Munitz has a solid grasp of all facets of the role, and does well vocally too, with “Pulled” and “Crazier than You” as particular standouts.
Logan Clinger plays Wednesday’s younger brother, Pugsley. Poor Pugsley just wants to be tortured by his sister, but now she’s off gallivanting with her new boyfriend. Clinger makes Pugsley deviously adorable. He brings out both the mischief-making, pot-stirring, troublemaker that Pugsley can be, while also touching our hearts in the moments where you can see that this is a younger brother afraid of losing the older sister he looks up to and cares about. Like Munitz, Clinger balances the different sides of his character very well.
Grandma Addams is played by Shereen Hickman, in what is probably my favorite performance of the show. Hickman is absolutely hilarious, and the audience was in stitches practically every moment that she was on stage. Grandma has so many great one-liners and also a fantastic monologue during “Full Disclosure,” and Hickman nails it each and every time. She is so fun to watch and was a clear audience favorite.
Chris Carsten plays Uncle Fester, Gomez’s brother and a man in love with the moon. Odd you say? In a family of decidedly not normal individuals, Uncle Fester fits right in and Carsten gives a strong performance in the role. He has a great character voice that gives Uncle Fester an almost unhinged sweetness – a “let’s help Wednesday and Lucas succeed in love, but I’m going to trap the Addams Family ancestors here in this realm until we succeed” sort of sweetness. “But Love” and “The Moon and Me” have never been my favorite songs in the show, but Carsten does well with them, and I like the blocking choices for “The Moon and Me”.
The iconic Lurch is portrayed by Jackson Barnes. With the power of platform shoes and a killer makeup plot, Barnes becomes the towering zombie-like Lurch in all his glory. While you might think that the role doesn’t require much other than grunting and groaning, Barnes absolutely steals the scene in which he welcomes the Beineke’s to the Addams Family home, reenacting his entire life story with movement and vocalizations. It’s downright hilarious and is one of my favorite parts of the show. Across the board, Barnes works with what he has in a role that doesn’t offer much in terms of spoken lines, but captures the audience’s hearts, nonetheless.
Head of the “totally normal” Beineke family is John Adkison as Mal. While each character in the show has a definitive enough arc, the three members of the Beineke family have perhaps the best written ones. Adkison gives us the straight-laced, no-nonsense, what-am-I-doing-in-this-house-of-weirdos Mal right out of the gate, making us rather anti-Mal. However, as the story progresses, Adkison takes us on the journey, bringing Mal to a satisfying close that has us rooting for him in the end.
Opposite Adkison is Sarah Mackenzie Baron as Alice, who gives a truly standout performance. I had high hopes for this role going in, as Alice has some fantastic material in this show, and Baron absolutely nailed it. Early on she exudes that overzealous, chipper attitude that frustrates the other members of her family, and Baron really dives into this side of Alice, grinning ear-to-ear. Following the fateful game, Baron takes off like a shot, captivating our attention and drawing our eye in each and every moment thereafter. Her vocals are fantastic, and her presence is magnetic, holding the audience’s focus anytime she’s on stage. Baron is one of my favorite parts of the show, by far.
The Beineke’s son, Lucas, is played by David Eldridge. Eldridge is an excellent choice for the role, filling out both the normal and crazier sides of the boy that Wednesday falls in love with. I enjoyed the relationship that Eldrige and Munitz established over the course of the show, and by the time we hit “Crazier Than You,” the audience was clearly all fans of the two as well.
Rounding out the company are Dalton Bertolone, Sarah Coleman, John Cuozzo (Assistant Dance Captain), Max DeSantis, Lyndell Finger, Collin Hendley, Alyssa Jacqueline (Dance Captain), Samantha Parada, Alex Pletikapich, Sophie Rapiejko, Delaney Shea, and Gretchen Vosburgh, who make up the ensemble, and do a wonderful job as the Addams Family ancestors. Cuozzo and Vosburgh also serve as the swings for the production.
The Addams Family (Pamela Raith Photography)
Scenic design by Randel Wright serves the production well. The Addams Family home is impressive, with a giant staircase that takes up the upstage wall for the entryway, a hilarious chandelier, appropriately spooky decor, and more. The massive tree that appears in the family graveyard and other scenes is also incredibly eye-catching. Different pieces are set and struck as needed to fill out the other locations, but all within the creepy, somewhat gothic style that pervades the entire show.
Lighting and video designer Charles Ford supports the creepy and kooky atmosphere with light and color, as well as the occasional videos used throughout the show. The videos feel cartoonish, which works in the sense of the original source material, but does sometimes feel different than the design concept for the rest of the show. Additionally, there were a few lighting cues that seemed out of the norm at the performance that I attended, from spot swinging oddly to pick up an actor, and an odd cut or two where the lighting didn’t seem to follow into the next cue quite as smoothly as it should have, but being that the tour just opened in this location, I’m sure there’s a few kinks still to be worked out.
Additional costume design by Tristan Raines, who also serves as the costume consultant, is stunning. This is a show with costumes that an audience is expecting to see, and the Addams Family members are dressed to impress, in that sense. The ancestors are actually my favorite costumes in the production though, as there is such a fun range of periods and styles in the ensemble to evoke the different eras that the ancestors live in. Hair and makeup coordinator Lisha Michel likewise does a great job filling out the looks of these iconic characters and their ghostly relatives.
Sound design by Anthony Lopez and Timothy Riggs is solid, though there were some microphone issues at the performance I attended. Again, fresh off of tech and just opening the tour, my guess is these will be fixed shortly, as they seemed to occur in moments that may have been cue-related, like when a character had one more line at the end of a scene and their mic went out too early. The overall design works well though, from effects to balancing.
The national tour of The Addams Family is a spooky romp that gives musical comedy a delightfully darker twist. If you enjoy The Addams Family in any form, don’t miss the musical adaptation as it heads off on tour, and even if you’ve never experienced the source material, The Addams Family is a comedy that will certainly give you some good laughs over the course of the evening. Experience the production for yourself – see the national tour of The Addams Family on their route later this year. Dates and venues can be found at theaddamsfamilytour.com/tour.
The Addams Family ran January 17-18, 2024, at The Palace Theatre in Waterbury, CT. Learn more about upcoming Palace events online at palacetheaterct.org or by calling the Box Office at (203) 346-2000.
Kiersten Bjork is a professional theatremaker, performer, and reviewer (Connecticut Critics Circle) from Branford, CT.
Lighting and video designer Charles Ford supports the creepy and kooky atmosphere with light and color, as well as the occasional videos used throughout the show. The videos feel cartoonish, which works in the sense of the original source material, but does sometimes feel different than the design concept for the rest of the show. Additionally, there were a few lighting cues that seemed out of the norm at the performance that I attended, from spot swinging oddly to pick up an actor, and an odd cut or two where the lighting didn’t seem to follow into the next cue quite as smoothly as it should have, but being that the tour just opened in this location, I’m sure there’s a few kinks still to be worked out.
Additional costume design by Tristan Raines, who also serves as the costume consultant, is stunning. This is a show with costumes that an audience is expecting to see, and the Addams Family members are dressed to impress, in that sense. The ancestors are actually my favorite costumes in the production though, as there is such a fun range of periods and styles in the ensemble to evoke the different eras that the ancestors live in. Hair and makeup coordinator Lisha Michel likewise does a great job filling out the looks of these iconic characters and their ghostly relatives.
Sound design by Anthony Lopez and Timothy Riggs is solid, though there were some microphone issues at the performance I attended. Again, fresh off of tech and just opening the tour, my guess is these will be fixed shortly, as they seemed to occur in moments that may have been cue-related, like when a character had one more line at the end of a scene and their mic went out too early. The overall design works well though, from effects to balancing.
The national tour of The Addams Family is a spooky romp that gives musical comedy a delightfully darker twist. If you enjoy The Addams Family in any form, don’t miss the musical adaptation as it heads off on tour, and even if you’ve never experienced the source material, The Addams Family is a comedy that will certainly give you some good laughs over the course of the evening. Experience the production for yourself – see the national tour of The Addams Family on their route later this year. Dates and venues can be found at theaddamsfamilytour.com/tour.
The Addams Family ran January 17-18, 2024, at The Palace Theatre in Waterbury, CT. Learn more about upcoming Palace events online at palacetheaterct.org or by calling the Box Office at (203) 346-2000.
Kiersten Bjork is a professional theatremaker, performer, and reviewer (Connecticut Critics Circle) from Branford, CT.