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Charles Addam's New York

THE ADDAMS FAMILY: A NEW MUSICAL

Opened Friday, the 13th of November 2009 in Chicago for out-of-town tryouts. The show continued in Chicago at the Oriental Theatre through 10 January 2010 when it moved to the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre in New York City with performances through 31 December 2011. A revised national tour ran through the spring of 2014. Worldwide performances continue with the most recent United Kingdom tour scheduled for an April 2017 opening in Edinburgh. Non-equity performances commenced in 2014 and continue globally under the auspices of Theatrical Rights Worldwide. The Educational Theatre Association announced that the show is the most-produced musical in America’s high schools for both 2014-2015 and 2015-2016.

In a prolific career spanning six decades, Charles Addams created several thousand paintings and drawings, many of which were famously published in The New Yorker.  But it was his creation of characters that came to be known as The Addams Family that brought Addams his greatest acclaim.  With a unique style that combined the ghoulish, macabre and just plain weird with charm, wit and enchantment, Addams’ drawings of Gomez, Morticia, Fester, Wednesday, Pugsley, Grandma, Lurch and Thing have entertained millions worldwide and served as the inspiration for multiple television series and motion pictures.

Based on the cartoons and sketches of the characters created by Charles Addams, this marks the first time Addams’ work has served as the basis for a stage production. Elephant Eye Theatrical (EET), the Chicago-headquartered theatrical development and production company formed by Stuart Oken, Michael Leavitt and Five Cent Productions in late 2005, were granted the rights to The Addams Family characters in 2006. EET is dedicated to the creation of new book musicals for Broadway.  The company’s mission is to find and initiate projects, fund their genesis and ongoing development, and serve as lead producer when projects are fully staged. “It’s both an extraordinary privilege as well as a daunting responsibility being entrusted with Charles Addams’ most beloved creations,” says Elephant Eye producer Stuart Oken, “though I’m confident this outstanding creative team is re-imagining the work for the stage in a way that would have made Charlie proud.”

Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, writers of the 2006 Tony Award-winning Best Musical, Jersey Boys, are the librettists while Drama Desk Award-winning composer/lyricist Andrew Lippa (The Wild Party) has written the score.  Improbable Theater founders Phelim McDermott and Julian Crouch (Shockheaded Peter) are jointly the directors and designers of the production.