Addams Family brings season journey to final destination

We have reached the final destination in our season-long entertainment journey: the creepy, kooky, mysterious, and spooky Addams Family. These characters have taken many journeys since debuting in The New Yorker magazine in 1938. Their many adaptations prove their ongoing appeal and enduring legacy.

Created by cartoonist Charles Addams, the characters appeared in more than 150 cartoons, most of them in The New Yorker. Inspired by the ornate Victorian mansions in his Westfield, New Jersey, hometown, Addams created characters with a dark sense of humor and an interest in the macabre. He explained, “The house is a wreck, of course, but this is a house-proud family just the same, and every trap door is in good repair.” At the same time, they are a close-knit and caring family, with Morticia as the real head of the household.

Interestingly, with the exception of Morticia and Wednesday, the family didn’t receive official names until they made the leap to television in 1964. It was the TV series, with its catchy theme song, that likely placed the family firmly in the American consciousness.

Over the years, these kooky characters have had many incarnations, including the film series in the 1990s and, most recently, the popular Netflix series Wednesday.

Work on this musical began in 2007, with instructions from the Addams estate to create an original story using the characters rather than resurrect a plot from the TV show or one of the movies. When brainstorming the visual style of the show, the original production team asked themselves, “If Fester was going to do a Broadway show, what kind of Broadway show would he do?”

Starring Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth, the Broadway production was surprisingly not a major hit. The creative team did substantial rewrites before sending the production out on its first national tour, tightening the plot, fixing some issues, and dropping and adding songs. Fun fact: that’s why the Broadway soundtrack has several differences from the show you see performed today.

The changes worked, and The Addams Family tour was a success, going on to become one of the most popular shows among community and high school theatres all over the world. The appeal comes not only from these familiar characters and their wacky setting, but also from the charming story at the musical’s core. In fact, if you stripped away all the “Addams-ness,” you would have a very traditional coming-of-age romance with parents who don’t want those crazy kids to get together.

As we conclude our 2025–2026 Season journey, on behalf of everyone here at Theatre Lawrence, thank you for traveling to all of our season’s destinations. We look forward to celebrating our 50th anniversary season with you beginning in September!

Enjoy the show!

Jamie Ulmer