The Addams Family

A two-act musical, THE ADDAMS FAMILY
Book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice
Music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa
Character designs by Charles Addams
Text translated by Viktorija Streiča and Kristina Siurbytė
Premiere: 14 February 2017

The musical about the supernaturally mysterious and gently satanic Addams family is based on the book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice. Its music and lyrics were written by Andrew Lippa, a recipient of the American theatre Drama Desk Award. The first production of the musical was staged by four-time Tony Award-winning director Jerry Zaks, choreographer Sergio Trujillo, and Olivier Award-winning designers Phelim McDermont and Julian Crouch. It premiered in New York on Broadway on 8 April 2010. The show’s success led to new productions in Europe—first in Sweden in 2012, followed later by Finland, Italy, Germany, the Czech Republic and England. After travelling between continents, the musical took on new colours in Chicago in 2015.

The characters’ traits are drawn from the American family characters created by Charles Addams, given a wealth of vampiric, macabre details in their behaviour and appearance. This playful family parody has inspired comic books, animated works and a feature film, but did not find its way to the musical stage until 2010.

At the heart of this family story is every parent’s nightmare: their daughter grows up and falls in love—even if she is Wednesday Addams, the last princess of the Realm of Darkness—with a kind, intelligent young man from a respectable, well-regarded family. He has never met his beloved’s parents, with their macabre inclinations, or even laid eyes on them. And as if that were not enough, Wednesday confides her secret to her father and begs him not to tell her mother. Gomez Addams finds himself in a situation he has never faced before: keeping a secret from his wife, Morticia. What will happen when the entire Addams family gathers one fateful evening for the “normal” meeting Wednesday has arranged with her beloved and his parents?

But that is only the outward side of the story. On closer inspection, the “unusual” Addams family embodies the most important human values and speaks of eternal, unchanging things: family values, communication between generations, respect for the wisdom of ancestors, and the power of love, which even the highest forces cannot control. The libretto also vividly conveys the uniqueness of the unconventional Addams family and their relationship with so-called “normal” citizens, using a richly developed palette of humour. In today’s world, the problems of loneliness and not fitting in are becoming increasingly acute, so the Addams family’s unconventional view of the world offers thoughtful insight into how to adapt to an unfriendly environment, and shows that family is the main support in this relationship.