posted by therracat
They’re creepy and they’re kooky, mysterious and spooky, they’re all together ooky…and they’re headed to Broadway this week. The Addams family - first a darkly funny comic, then a fun and goofy gothic TV hit, then a movie franchise – is now a musical. Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth are set to goth it up as Gomez and Morticia Addams in The Addams Family Musical. The show spent some time in Chicago, previewing and working out the kinks. From the reviews written while there seems a lot of kinks needed working out before it was NYC-ready. We’ll see. I love the multi-talented Lane but it will take a lot for me to believe he wants to get under Morticia’s elegantly tiered skirt. Addams opens March 8th on the Lunt Fontaine theatre on Broadway.
http://www.theaddamsfamilymusical.com
The Addams Family, created by cartoonist Charles Addams (1912-1988)
Jeff Buckley (who was raised as Scotty Moorhead and is the son of timeless troubadour Tim Buckley) is gone but not forgotten. I’m not the rabid fan that many are, but I’ll give the gentle singer his due. The attention his only album, Grace, still garners is amazing to me. Jeff was lost to us in Memphis almost 13 years ago, but could have some of his music headed to Broadway. According to Rolling Stone online:
3/5/10, 12:03 pm EST
Jeff Buckley’s music may be joining the Who and Green Day on Broadway thanks to a new show that fuses his songs with William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. The Last Goodbye was first conceived three years ago by Michael Kimmel, a New York director and theater professor who started up the project when he noticed how uncannily well Buckley’s lyrics accented the Bard’s language. With approval from Buckley’s estate, Kimmel created a musical using “New Year’s Prayer,” “So Real” and “Eternal Life” and other songs from the singer-songwriter’s catalog to further the classic play’s tale of ill-fated love.
“Jeff’s music takes this idea of young emotion and passion to an entirely different level that we haven’t seen with the play before,” Kimmel explains. “What I love about the show is that it’s this great merging of a really strong writer and an amazing musician.” After well-received concert readings in New York last spring, Kimmel and his creative team are finalizing plans for a regional staging later this year. Interest from commercial producers has sparked hope for a Broadway transfer during the 2010-2011 season, but Kimmel isn’t planning too far ahead: “All the attention the piece has gotten has been really exciting, but for us, it’s about getting it right.”
Singer/songwriter Buckley, who drowned in 1997 but continues to gather fans from around the world.
If Jeff Buckley and The Addams Family aren’t heavy enough entertainment for you, know that a flying elephant could be hitting Broadway in the future and his name is Dumbo. Disney has enough golden material to mine for decades, and this beloved movie from 1941 may get its day(s) on the great white way. According to The New York Times Disney Theatrical Productions and the well-known (some say notorious) theatrical director Stephen Daldry are developing an adaptation for the stage. The word is that no creative team has yet been assigned.
