This Week on Stage: 'The Addams Family' is a snap

Image Credit: Joan MarcusAfter a Chicago run that garnered mixed reviews, the much-ballyhooed Addams Family musical, starring Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth, finally opened on Broadway this past Thursday. EW’s Thom Geier thought it was worthy of a B grade—he both praised it, saying “the look is perfect, from the lavish set to the monochromatic makeup and costumes,” and poked a little fun at it, remarking that “if you have a high tolerance for corn on the macabre, this is the show for you.” Lane, it appears, knows how to milk a punchline.

Elsewhere in NYC, the Stanley Tucci-directed revival of Lend Me a Tenor—starring Anthony LaPaglia, Tony Shalhoub, and Justin Bartha—also opened and received a rave review from Tanner Stransky, who awarded it an A– and said that Tenor “feels like a throwback, in the vein of the physical laughs the Three Stooges conjured.” Simon Vozick-Levinson reviewed the Off Broadway musical Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, giving it an A and saying that the biographical show is “a complicated, contradictory tour-de-force whose true meaning could be debated for days. How Jacksonian.” Indeed!

If you’re looking for some live theater, check out the EW.com Stage hub for up-to-date news and reviews; or consult this handy guide, which includes links to all of our stage reviews of current shows. (Note: The reviews are typically of performances with the show’s original cast.)

BROADWAY

The Addams Family — Musical; opens 4/8/2010; EW grade: B

American Idiot — Musical; opens 4/20/2010

A Behanding in Spokane — Comedy starring Christopher Walken; opened 3/4/10; EW grade: B+

Billy Elliot — Musical; opened 11/13/08; EW grade: B+

La Cage aux Folles — Musical Revival starring Kelsey Grammer; opens 4/18/10

Chicago — Musical Revival; opened 11/14/1996; EW grade: A+

Collected Stories — Drama Revival starring Linda Lavin; opens 4/28/10

Come Fly Away — Musical created, choreographed, and directed by Twyla Tharp; opened 3/25/10; EW grade: A-

ENRON — Drama starring Norbert Leo Butz; opens 4/27/10

Everyday Rapture — Musical starring Sherie Rene Scott; opens 4/29/10 – 7/11/10

Fela! — Musical; opened 11/23/2009; EW grade: B+

Fences — Drama Revival starring Denzel Washington; opens 4/26/10 – 7/11/10

God of Carnage — Comedy starring Jeff Daniels and Lucy Liu; opened 3/22/2009 (original review); EW grade: A-

Hair — Musical Revival; opened 3/31/2009; EW grade: A-

In the Heights — Musical starring Corbin Bleu; opened 2/14/2009; EW grade: B+

Jersey Boys — Musical; opened 11/7/2005; EW grade: A

Lend Me a Tenor — Comedy Revival starring Anthony LaPaglia, Tony Shalhoub, and Justin Bartha; opens 4/4/10; EW grade: A–

The Lion King — Musical; opened 11/13/1997; EW grade: A+

A Little Night Music — Musical Revival starring Catherine Zeta-Jones and Angela Lansbury; opened 12/13/09; EW grade: B+

Looped — Drama starring Valerie Harper as Tallulah Bankhead; opened 3/14/10 – 4/11/10; EW grade: C-

Love Never Dies — Musical sequel to Phantom of the Opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber; opens spring 2011

Mamma Mia! — Musical; opened 10/18/2001; EW grade: B+

Mary Poppins — Musical; opened 11/16/2009; EW grade: A-

Memphis — Musical; opened 10/19/2009; EW grade: C+

Million Dollar Quartet — Musical; opens 4/11/10

Next Fall — Drama; opened 3/11/10; EW grade: A-

Next to Normal — Musical; opened 4/19/2009; EW grade: A

The Phantom of the Opera — Musical; opened 1/26/1988

Present Laughter — Comedy Revival starring Victor Garber; opened 1/21/2010 – 3/21/10; EW grade: B-

Promises, Promises — Musical Revival starring Sean Hayes and Kristin Chenoweth; opens 4/25/10

Race — Drama starring James Spader and Kerry Washington; opened 12/6/2009; EW grade: C

Red— Drama starring Alfred Molina; opens 4/1/10 – 6/13/10; EW grade: A-

Rock of Ages — Musical; opened 4/7/2009; EW grade: C+

Sondheim on Sondheim — Musical Revue; opens 4/22/10 – 6/13/10

South Pacific — Musical Revival; opened 4/3/2008; EW grade: A

Spider-Man, Turn Off the Dark — Musical starring Alan Cumming; opens 2010

A View From the Bridge — Drama Revival starring Liev Schreiber and Scarlett Johansson; opened 1/24/2010 – 4/4/2010; EW grade: B+

West Side Story — Musical Revival; opened 3/19/2009; EW grade: B

Wicked — Musical; opened 10/30/03; EW grade: B

OFF BROADWAY

Alfred Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps — Comedy; reopened 3/25/10; EW grade: B+

Avenue Q — Musical; reopened 10/21/2009; EW grade: A

Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson — Musical; opened 4/6/10 – 4/25/10; EW grade: A

Blue Man Group — Special Performance; opened 11/11/1991

The Fantasticks — Musical Revival; opened 6/16/2008; EW grade: B+

The Glass Menagerie — Drama revival; opened 3/24/10 – 6/13/10; EW grade: A

Love, Loss, and What I Wore — Drama; opened 10/1/2009; EW grade: B+

North Atlantic — Play starring Maura Tierney; opened 3/23/10 – 4/25/10; EW grade: B–

The Orphans’ Home Cycle, Part I — Drama; opened 11/20/2009 – 5/8/10; EW grade: A-

The Orphan’s Home Cycle, Part II —Drama; opened 12/17/09 – 5/8/10; EW grade: B+

The Orphan’s Home Cycle, Part III — Drama; opens 1/26/10 – 5/8/10; EW grade: A

The Scottsboro Boys — Musical starring John Cullum; opened 3/10/10 – 4/18/10; EW grade: B

Stomp — Special Performance; opened 2/27/1994

Stuffed and Unstrung — Comedy for adults featuring Henson puppets; opened 4/1/10; EW grade: A

When the Rain Stops Falling — Drama starring Victoria Clark and Mary Beth Hurt; opened 3/8/10; EW grade: B-

ELSEWHERE

The 101 Dalmatians Musical (National tour) — Musical; EW grade: B-

August: Osage County (National tour with Estelle Parsons) — Drama; EW grade: A

Brief Encounter (Minneapolis) — Drama With Music; 2/11/10 – 4/10/10; EW grade: A

Dreamgirls (National tour with Syesha Mercado) — Musical; EW grade: B+

Kà (Las Vegas) — Special Performance; opened November 2004; EW grade: A-

LOVE (Las Vegas) — Musical Revue; opened 8/24/2006; EW grade: A-

Love Never Dies (London) — Musical from Andrew Lloyd Webber; opened 3/9/10; EW grade: C

Mary Poppins (National tour) — Musical; EW grade: B

Mystere (Las Vegas) — Special Performance; opened 5/25/1993; EW grade: A

O (Las Vegas) — Special Performance; opened October 1998; EW grade: A-

Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Big Happy Family (National tour) — Drama with Music; opened 1/6/10; EW grade: B-

Zumanity (Las Vegas) — Special Performance; opened September 2003; EW grade: C

More Stage coverage from EW.com:

‘Phantom of the Opera’ sequel Broadway debut delayed due to Andrew Lloyd Webber’s health

Colin Redgrave dies