Wow! 12 hours of driving, now that's dedication. I live just 2 miles north of Edison Park, but it took me 3 hours of driving and searching for a free parking spot to make it downtown to the Oriental Theatre on Sun., 1/10/2010 for a 2:00 PM show. The Addams Family was sort of a mess back then but Lane and Hoffman did a lot of schtick (Hoffman did too much) to make it an entertaining show and, of course, Wesley Taylor was pretty cute back then. Tickets were rather pricey for an out-of-town tryout -- I paid less than half that amount when I saw a much improved Broadway version on Sun., 12/19/2010 at the Lunt-Fontanne (less schtick, funnier, more cohesive book). But what the hell, I'm a big fan of Lane and Neuwirth, and I found Lippa's score enjoyable (although not especially distinguished).
Best of all was the much revised local production I saw at Chicago's Mercury Theater on Sun., 2/22/2015 at 7:00 PM. The Tribune gave it a rave and (I believe) it won the Jeff Award for Best Musical Production (for its size) that season.
Did you enjoy the Chicago production? Was it worth the long drive? |
