In my experience, if you gather three generations of your kinfolk and talk them into attending an event together, someone is always unhappy. Me. I’m someone. When marketing folks tout something as “perfect for all ages,” it’s rarely true, but The Addams Family production at Bass Hall this weekend may be different — while Grandma may be aware of the original comic strip or have seen 1960s TV show, Little Suzy and Johnny Jr. no doubt know the popular Netflix spinoff.
The clan was created by cartoonist Charles Addams, who was fascinated with all things eccentric and macabre. The Addamses — father Gomez, mother Morticia, and their children Wednesday and Pugsley, plus Uncle Fester and Grandmama — made their debut in single-panel cartoons in The New Yorker in 1938. Their humor springs from the family’s bizarre tastes and those of their household staff — including the towering Lurch and the ever-handy Thing — as these characters navigate the world oblivious to just how peculiar they are.
Their appeal lies in their gleefully subversive spin on the “ideal” American family. Over the years, TheAddams Family has been reimagined countless times — from the TV series to the 1991 film with Anjelica Huston, Raúl Juliá, and Christina Ricci and the hit Broadway musical and 2019 animated film.
Big League Productions is bringing The Addams Family back to the stage, this time as a comedic musical. Courtesy Bass Performance Hall
And then there’s Wednesday.
With the second season of the massively popular Netflix series streaming now, actor Jenna Ortega brings a refreshing edge to the iconic character, engaging a whole new generation — including our film critic. Kristian Lin describes Ortega’s Wednesday as a polyglot, cello-playing, kung fu-kicking, colonialism-bashing goth girl who faces down the scariest monsters with expressionless sangfroid, then dances like nobody is watching.
“In the pantheon of sociopathic TV antiheroes, I’ll take her over Tony Soprano, Walter White, or Tommy Shelby,” Lin writes. “She’s less obsessed with money and power and consequently a lot more fun.”
Building on Wednesday’s success, Big League Productions brings The Addams Family back to the stage, this time as a comedic musical. Here, Wednesday is all grown up and in love with an honest, bright, “normal” young man — whom her parents have yet to meet. Wednesday confides in her dad, making him swear not to tell mom Morticia, and for the first time, Gomez must keep a secret from his beloved wife. It’s essentially Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner — but creepy and kooky.
The Addams Family
Thru Sun at Bass Performance Hall, 525 Commerce St, Fort Worth. $62 and up. 817-212-4280.
Courtesy Bass Performance HallThe Addams Family has been adapted into various forms of media over the years and has inspired many costume-wearers, including the Weekly’s Tony Diaz and wife Melissa Diaz. Courtesy Tony Diaz
