#TBT: Playbill: The Addams Family: May 2010

There would have been a full on riot if the Broadway show didn't start with the famous TV theme and finger snaps. Thank goodness, The Addams Family didn't make that mistake. And they had a killer cast full of Broadway Royalty, and a composer that was popular among the Rialto insiders. Bebe Neuwirth and Nathan Lane (and Jackie Hoffman in a small part) made the most of what they were given, and that's always a win. And there were two of my now-favorites making me love them. Yes, Wesley Taylor and Krysta Rodriguez killed it.

Still, it was a little disappointing. I mean, an octopus??!! Well, I actually enjoyed it - I didn't love it - but considering that the show opened 9 years ago this week, that I have vivid memories of four of the numbers that still make me smile (which counterbalances the stretches of blandness and those...tentacles). Right out of the gate, the show was a load of fun. The opening number, "When You're an Addams" really showed what the whole thing could have been. And I belly laughed at the big Uncle Fester (a fantastic Kevin Chamberlin) number "The Moon and Me." Ms. Rodriguez was darkly funny and the aptly titled "Pulled," where Wednesday had Pugsley on the stretching rack. But the most fun was when Gomez (Lane) and Morticia (Neuwirth) finally got to their signature tango.

A lot has happened for the entire cast in the intervening years, and that alone makes it worth taking a look back at this one.

The Addams Family
Lunt-Fontanne Theatre
35 previews, 722 performances
May 2010 Company: Nathan Lane, Bebe Neuwirth, Kevin Chamberlin, Terrence Mann, Carolee Carmello, Krysta Rodriguez, Wesley Taylor, Zachary James, Jackie Hoffman, Adam Riegler

If you wanted to see stars of the stage and screen, this was a great time to get your fill! In addition, to the all-star cast of The Addams Family, virtually every show had a star above the title. If you planned carefully, you could see TV's James Spader, David Alan Grier, Kerry Washington, Richard Thomas, Sean Hayes, Kelsey Grammer, Tom Wopat, Matthew Settle, Linda Lavin, Sarah Paulson, Lucy Liu and Anthony LaPaglia. Big screen stars included Catherine Zeta-Jones, Christopher Walken, Alfred Molina, Eddie Redmayne (now, anyway), Justin Bartha, Denzel Washington and Viola Davis. Beloved stage stars included Tony Shalhoub, Janet McTeer, Sherie Rene Scott, Vanessa Williams, and two Broadway legends, Barbara Cook and Angela Lansbury. And nine years ago and today, you could have seen Nathan Lane, Corbin Bleu and Jeff Daniels. Bonus: two stars of Fosse/Verdon were on the boards then, too: Norbert Leo Butz and "Fosse" himself, Sam Rockwell. That's 30!

Here's some production photos to take you back.

The Addams Family - Snap! Snap!

Gomez and Morticia - Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth

Tony nominee Kevin Chamberlin

Adam Riegler, Krysta Rodriguez, Wesley Taylor

The Company

#2051

The New Tony Nominations Rule: What If...?

You've probably read about the new rule adopted by the Tony Awards Administration Committee regarding the number of nominees in the four major categories.  Simply, it states that if nine or more eligible shows in the Best Play, Best Musical, Best Revival of a Play or Best Revival of a Musical categories open in a season, the committee may choose to nominate up to five shows in those categories.  Also, if there are five or fewer eligible nominees for those categories, the committee may choose to nominate only three shows.  These new rules will come into play as soon as this season.

There are some unknowns at this point:

• Hedwig and the Angry Inch: New musical or revival?
• Violet: New musical or revival?
• Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill: Play or musical? New or Revival?
• The Cripple of Inishmaan: New play or revival?

Even not including any of those in any category, at least 12 new musicals, 10 new plays, and 12 play revivals will have opened.  No matter how these unknowns work out, there won't have been enough musical revivals to add a nominee beyond the typical four.

So, in the last five seasons, who would you have picked for the 5th nominee?  My choices are below.  Write in or Tweet me with your choices!

Best Revival of a Play: All My Sons

Best Musical: [title of show]

NOMINEES/WINNER	POSSIBLE 5TH NOMINEE/MY CHOICE FOR 5TH NOMINEE
2008 – 2009
BEST PLAY	Only 8 eligible new plays opened, so new rule wouldn't apply.
BEST MUSICAL	10 eligible new musicals opened.
Billy Elliot	9 to 5	A Tale of Two Cities
Next to Normal	13	[title of show]
Rock of Ages	The Story of My Life	White Christmas
Shrek: The Musical
BEST PLAY REVIVAL	15 eligible play revivals opened.
Joe Turner’s Come and Gone	Accent on Youth	Equus	The Philanthropist
Mary Stuart	All My Sons	Exit the King	The Seagull
The Norman Conquests	Blithe Spirit	Hedda Gabler	Speed-the- Plow
Waiting for Godot	Desire Under the Elms	A Man for All Seasons
BEST MUSICAL REVIVAL	Only 4 eligible musical revivals opened, so new rule wouldn't apply.

Best Play: Superior Donuts

Best Musical: Come Fly Away

NOMINEES/WINNER	POSSIBLE 5TH NOMINEE/MY CHOICE FOR 5TH NOMINEE
2009 - 2010
BEST PLAY	11 eligible new plays opened.
In the Next Room	After Miss Julie	Race
Next Fall	A Behanding in Spokane	A Steady Rain
Red	Enron	Superior Donuts
Time Stands Still	Looped
BEST MUSICAL	9 eligible new musicals opened.
American Idiot	The Addams Family	Everyday Rapture
Fela!	All About  Me	Sondheim on Sondheim
Memphis	Come Fly Away
Million Dollar Quartet
BEST PLAY REVIVAL	9 eligible play revivals opened.
Fences	Collected Stories	Oleanna
Lend Me a Tenor	Hamlet	Present Laughter
The Royal Family	The Miracle Worker
A View from the Bridge
BEST MUSICAL REVIVAL	Only 6 eligible musical revivals opened, so the rule wouldn't apply.

Best Musical: Priscilla Queen of the Desert

Best Play: Brief Encounter

NOMINEES/WINNER	POSSIBLE 5TH NOMINEE/MY CHOICE FOR 5TH NOMINEE
2010 – 2011
BEST PLAY	13 eligible new plays opened, so new rule wouldn't apply.
Good People	Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo	Elling		High
Jerusalem	Brief Encounter	A Free Man of Color		Lombardi
The Motherfucker with the Hat	Colin Quinn: Long Story Short	Ghetto Klown		The Pee-Wee Herman Show
War Horse
BEST MUSICAL	12 eligible new musicals opened.
The Book of Mormon	Baby It’s You!		The People in the Picture		Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
Catch Me If You Can	Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson		Priscilla Queen of the Desert		Wonderland
The Scottsboro Boys	Elf		Rain
Sister Act
BEST PLAY REVIVAL	11 eligible play revivals opened.
Arcadia	Born Yesterday		A Life in the Theatre
The Importance of Being Earnest	Driving Miss Daisy		Mrs. Warren’s Profession
The Merchant of Venice	The House of Blue Leaves		That Championship Season
The Normal Heart	La Bete
BEST MUSICAL REVIVAL	Only 2 eligible musical revivals opened, so the new rule wouldn't apply.

Best Play: One Man, Two Guvnors

NOMINEES/WINNER	POSSIBLE 5TH NOMINEE/MY CHOICE FOR 5TH NOMINEE
2011 - 2012
BEST PLAY	15 eligible new plays opened.
Clybourne Park	Chinglish	The Lyons	Relatively Speaking
Other Desert Cities	The Columnist	Magic/Bird	Seminar
Peter and the Starcatcher	Don’t Dress for Dinner	The Mountaintop	Stick Fly
Venus in Fur	End of the Rainbow	One Man, Two Guvnors
BEST MUSICAL	Only 8 eligible new musicals opened, so new rule wouldn't apply.
BEST PLAY REVIVAL	Only 7 eligible play revivals opened, so new rule wouldn't apply.
BEST MUSICAL REVIVAL	Only 6 eligible musical revivals opened, so the rule wouldn't apply.

(Left) Best Revival of a Play: Harvey

(Right) Best Play: The Nance

NOMINEES/WINNER	POSSIBLE 5TH NOMINEE/MY CHOICE FOR 5TH NOMINEE
2012 - 2013
BEST PLAY	12 eligible new plays opened.
The Assembled Parties	The Anarchist	Dead Accounts	The Nance
Lucky Guy	Ann	Grace	The Other Place
The Testament of Mary	Breakfast at Tiffany’s	I’ll Eat You Last
Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike
BEST MUSICAL	Only 8 eligible new musicals opened, so new rule wouldn't apply.
BEST PLAY REVIVAL	12 eligible play revivals opened.
Golden Boy	The Big Knife	An Enemy of the People	The Heiress
Orphans	Cat on a Hot Tin Roof	Glengarry Glen Ross	Macbeth
The Trip to Bountiful	Cyrano de Bergerac	Harvey	Picnic
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
BEST MUSICAL REVIVAL	Only 6 eligible musical revivals opened, so the rule wouldn't apply.

Jeff

5.120