A classic slice of Americana is coming to the Long Beach Playhouse. The Addams Family: the Musical is set to open at the Long Beach Playhouse on June 29 and bring with it, all its spooky, and ghoulish fun.
The musical is another take on the famous family, that has already been depicted through comics, a television series, several movies and even some spinoffs that focus on certain characters. The endearment of the family to American culture and the versatility of the characters and story possibilities gives it a flexibility that other shows might not offer.
For example, in this version of the family, Wednesday, the daughter has grown into a young woman, who is set to marry a straight-laced young man from a “normal family.” But that is just the jumping off point.
“It’s a different take, but Pugsley is still a kid,” Director Greg Cohen said, during a recent phone interview.
Cohen has worked in theater for nearly 40 years and has been a part of several productions at Long Beach Playhouse. At the time of the interview, there was still more than three weeks until opening night, but Cohen said that they were already in the phase of fine-tuning the production. That has also allowed them to look for ways to adapt their take on the show.
One of the things that they have worked on is based on the layout of the stage. LBP has a long narrow stage that has audience seating on three sides, so the cast has added some things that work with the close proximity of the audience.
“We are having a lot more interaction with the audience,” Cohen said.
The regular characters are all there, Gomez and Morticia, Uncle Fester, Grandma and Lurch. As a musical, the show needed chorus singers, so the writers incorporated some of the Addams ancestors, going back quite some time. And in the spirit of the family, the characters are shown in the condition they were at the time of their demise. Some were trampled by a mastodon, while others might have been on the wrong side of an encounter with a saber-tooth tiger.
“Our costumer is having a ball,” Cohen said.
The costumes are just another way of having fun with the ghoulish nature of the family. And as a musical comedy, the cast and crew are definitely playing up the creepy, Cohen said. They have adopted the tagline: CreepyAF, with AF a reference to “Addam’s Family,” of course.
The show has its opening night scheduled for June 29, with a champagne gala included. There is also a half-priced preview on June 28. After the first weekend, the show runs every Friday through Sunday, until Aug. 4. Friday and Saturday shows are at 8 p.m. and Sunday’s are matinees at 2 p.m.
For tickets or more information, visit lbplayhouse.org, or call (562)-494-1014.
