The Addams Family National Tour

   If I may dedicate this post to the often forgotten alternate topic of the listed subject matter of my blog, Broadway, I should like to discuss the national touring production of Broadway's late production of The Addams Family. This new musical makes its debut in Oklahoma City this evening, and I shall be witnessing it tomorrow evening at the Civic Center Music Hall in Oklahoma City. The tour is welcomed and presented by Celebrity Attractions, which is responsible for much of the theatrical productions of high quality in my state. Through the generosity of the organization, and in conjunction with their desire to increase their social media identity, they hold a contest for their shows that allow their followers on Twitter to witness a performance in exchange for sharing their experience through the means of Twitter. Along with a few other grateful patrons, I won a pair of tickets on Friday to this Tuesday's performance. The only requirement for the tickets is that you tweet about the performance at least four times during the evening, which I shall readily do.

   The people responsible for this show's creation are Andrew Lippa (John and Jen), who composed the music, Michael Brickman and Rick Elice (Jersey Boys), who wrote the book, Sergio Trujillo (Jersey Boys) choreographed the production, and Phelim McDermott, who is also the director of the Metropolitan Opera's new production of The Enchanted Island, and Julian Crouch directed and designed the staging. This production opened on Broadway at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on April 8, 2010, and the show continued there until its close on New Year's Eve of 2011 for a total of 725 performances. In its original incarnation it starred Nathan Lane, Bebe Neuwirth, Jackie Hoffman, Kevin Chamberlain, Carolee Carmello, Krysta Rodriguez, Wesley Taylor, Adam Riegler, and Zachary James. A notable and surprising cast change that occurred later was that of Brooke Shields replacing Neuwirth, and Shields stayed with the production until its closure. The national tour began on September 25, 2010, and it has finally made its way into my city, and its next stop is Tulsa, Oklahoma.

   The musical based on the beloved characters from the stories by Charles Addams and the television series these spawned introduces an entirely maiden story to the collection in which Wednesday Addams, the family's daughter for those such as I who are unfamiliar with the background of the characters and their story, finds a boy, Lucas Beinike, she likes. However, a problem presents itself in the fact that this young man who has become the object of her affections is entirely normal. This "delightfully macabre" musical chronicles the journey of the family's adventures as they struggle to accept the thought of Wednesday's new beau and his and his family's being normal.

   This production opens tomorrow evening, and it plays until Sunday, January 22, 2012, at the Civic Center Music Hall in Oklahoma City, which is located at 201 North Walker Avenue in Downtown Oklahoma City.

   Thank you for perusing my post, and I hope that the new year has remained kind and leisurely for all of you. May God pour His blessings upon you.

-Tyler.