Cain Park’s ‘The Addams Family Musical’ is scary good
“They’re creepy and they’re kooky, Mysterious and spooky...well...you know the rest. One of the most complex musicals has landed of all places at Cain Park. The show features music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa with book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice and based on The Addams Family characters created by Charles Addams. The show opened on Broadway in April 2010 closing on December 31, 2011 and was followed by a national tour.
Last night’s opening was delayed due to a power failure but city crews worked feverously near the Cain Park entrance and power was restored at 7:20 p.m. with the show opening only a few minutes late and not missing a beat.
The spooky Addams family have gathered at the family crypt for an ancestral gathering of the living, dead and undecided. Uncle Fester (David Turner) learns that Wednesday (Maddie Jones) is seeing Lucas (David Lenehan), a normal kid from a seemingly normal family. Being a romantic at heart he plans a dinner party for the two families. Fester enlists the help from the ancestors by not allowing them to return to their crypts until love triumphs.
The kids, meanwhile, have warned their families to act “normal” at what hopes to be a simple dinner with drinks. The Beinekes arrive having nearly gotten lost on the massive estate. Mal Beineke (Peter Seidl) is the more skeptical of the couple while wife Alice (Katie Rotuno) supports the young couple’s love. Gomez (Chris Richards) takes Mal to the basement (dungeon) to show off his extensive collection of torture devices while Morticia (Mariah Burks) shares the family album with Alice while talking about how secrets hurt a marriage. Unknown to her is the fact that Gomez has pinky sworn to Wednesday not to reveal that she and Lucas are in fact engaged.
Gomez meets with Wednesday and Lucas to discuss their engagement as Morticia enters and begins to suspect that Gomez is hiding something. Pugsley (Samuel Bartlett) fears that Wednesday will not be around to torture him but Grandma (Rosalyn Blystone) tells him not to worry and instead to use his time wisely. Pugsley steals a bottle of acrimonium that when drank causes a person to reveal their darkest truths. He plans to sneak it to Wednesday so her true nature is revealed to Lucas.
The dinner ends as Gomez and Morticia introduce “The Game” or “Obligacion de Revelar (Full Disclosure), cue lighting flash and thunder. Each person present drinks from the family chalice and reveals a secret. Gomez tells of a box of secrets never to be opened by he and his wife, Uncle Fester admits that he is in love with the moon and Grandma confesses to have wasted too much time.
At Wednesday’s turn Pugsley adds the acrimonium to the chalice but instead of Wednesday, Alice ends up drinking the drug. She drunkenly declares her marriage is a loveless mess and she is in misery and woe. A humiliated Mal tries to leave with his family but a huge storm conjured up by Uncle Fester with the help from the ancestors traps everyone in the mansion for the night.
Cain Park has pulled out all the stops for this production. There’s the two story elaborate set by Larry Heyman with double stair cases and all sorts of interesting nooks and crannies full of creepy items and show cases where Addams ancestors pose during the show. There is the over the top elaborate costuming and make-up by Inda Blatch-Geib that looks extremely authentic. There is the fabulous song and dance numbers coordinated by music director Felix Grittner with choreography by Jailyn Sherrell Harris that are superbly well rehearsed and flawless. Marcus Long handles the sound design with everyone mic’d and balanced while Carmella Somich designed the lighting that perfectly painted the stage with strategic illuminate placement. The show is expertly directed by Colin Anderson.
Lastly, there is the cast who throw themselves into their rolls with abandon. Everyone on stage looks like they are having a really fun time making it a true ensemble experience as everyone works off each other. While fine fare for kids this show has enough “naughty” to keep the adults interested. The only problem I saw with the show was it lasted nearly two and a half hours which is a bit of a long sit even with an intermission.
A special shout out to Dan the courtesy cart driver who was kind enough to pick me up on my walk back to the car as well as the rest of the great workers and volunteers at Cain Park who work so hard to make everyone happy (even grumps like me).
With the temps and humidity dropping it makes the Cain Park Alma Theater quite comfortable this time of year. This is a great show to bring the entire family. The nineteen cast members leave nothing on the stage as they romp their way through an excellent rendition of a fan favorite. Click-Click.
The Cain Park Production of “The Addams Family Musical” will be on stage in the Alma Theater through September 20, 2026. For more information and tickets go to https://cainpark.com/ or call (216) 371-3000.
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