'The Addams Family' at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre

Last Saturday was freezing cold in New York so we booked tickets for a matinee performance to keep out of the cold. The new hit show, 'Book Of Mormon' was sold out so we went for 'The Addams Family' on the basis that everyone grew up with them on TV and, if you didn't, then you loved the films. I did both. But, o dear.

I should've recognised the signs of a Saturday audience, with lots of bags of shopping, lots of kids on an outing, the buzz of chatter and people getting up and down on a regular basis. All very distracting. Anyway, the show.
'The Addams Family' opens with the classic TV music getting us in the mood and then we're introduced to the family we all know and love, all suitably costumed so there's no possibility of a mistake. The story is threefold: firstly, there's Wednesday who's now 18 and all grown up and has a boyfriend she wants to marry, so cue problems when the families meet and Wednesday and the boy have to fight for their love. Secondly we have Morticia who's now feeling old and unloved and middle aged, mistaking what Gomez says as digs about her until the end when she speaks French and all is right with the world. And finally we have the story of being yourself, your real self, with the boys' mother and father both discovering their freedom from social norms and deciding to start a fish tank business. So far so good, but it just didn't work for me.

I'm not sure why it didn't work - perhaps it was theatre-overload? the audience? I don't know. I wasn't engaged by the plot or by the acting. The songs seemed over-long and repetitious. Some of the jokes were current and targeted at an American audience so I didn't get them. I also got strangely weary of the number of front of stage songs with the curtain closed for a set change. It's clearly popular since the matinee was full but I just didn't get it despite wanting to. O well, can't win 'em all, I suppose.