Addams Family Funniest Show This Season!

Yesterday, Missie and I went to see the Addams Family musical at Playhouse Square. From start to finish, the show was a blast!

Other theatergoers had described the musical comedy as either, "like the movies" or as "taken more from the Charles Addams cartoons." In my experience, the show is neither. It certainly pays homage to the dry humor of the New Yorker cartoons and equal homage to the more slapstick TV series and its film adaptations, but this theater experience is unique unto itself. Calling it "like" anything is doing it a disservice.

And I have nothing but hearty recommendations for this show! It is definitely the funniest show I have seen in a long time; it is by far the best cast and most extensively choreographed in this season's slate of Broadway shows brought to Playhouse Square. It was truly a delight of sight and sound. The leads, Douglas Sills and Sara Gettlefinger, as Gomez and Morticia Addams, were outstanding. And the rest of the primary cast, Blake Hammond as Uncle fester, Patrick Kennedy as young Pugsley, Pippa Pearthree as Grandma ("My mother? I thought she was your mother!"), Tom Corbeil as the laconic Lurch, Martin Vidnovic and Victoria Huston-Elem as the potential in-laws, Mal and Alice Beineke -- ALL gave superior performers. I deliberately left out Cortney Wolfson and Brian Justin Crum as Wednesday Addams and her betrothed, Lucas Beineke, so that I could pay a special compliment to their tuneful, enthusiastic performances. Bravo!

Even the "chorus," in this case the white-pancaked Addams Ancestors, were superb! Their performances displayed a delightful and infectious verve that thrilled the audience at the matinee we attended.

After the performance, the cast took to the lobby to collect donations for Broadway Cares and for the price of a Jackson, I scored a program signed by the entire cast and had the chance to meet the delightful Tom Corbeil (Lurch) and compliment his performance personally.

Sitting at Bricco sipping cocktails after the show, where bartenders Matt and Josh took especially good care of us, we raved to patrons about how magnificent the show was. Little did we know that just down the bar from us, several cast members were scarfing down their lunch before hurrying back to the theater for their next performance. One of the cast members, Victoria Huston-Elem, the understudy in the role of Alice Beineke who performed in our matinee, took the time to thank us for talking up their show. She chatted for a few minutes while we praised her performance and when she spotted my signed program on the bar, thanked me for supporting their charity. She was just a lovely, kind-hearted woman!

I give Addams Family two thumbs up. If I had a third hand (where is Thing when you need him... er, it?) it would be three thumbs up! If you live in or near Cleveland, see this show for its limited engagement or catch it elsewhere on tour. You won't be sorry!

Titanic Still Inspires Chills, Tears

My friend Kiehl and I went to the opening of Titanic 3-D last night. I was a huge fan of James Cameron's masterpiece during its initial release and subsequent VHS offering. I believe I stopped counting after two dozen viewings, an embarrassingly large number in crowded theaters. Titanic brought me to tears every time.

Last night was no less cathartic. Cameron has been talking up his 3-D conversion in the media and I figured the man who created Avatar should know a thing or three about it. I wasn't wrong. Some of the ship vistas were breathtaking. The conversion was particularly effective in perspective shots. When Rose climbed over the rail, intent on jumping, the shot down to the ocean from her perspective was dizzying. The added depth was very noticeable in dialogue scenes. Unlike most 3-D movies marketed currently, this film was definitely enhanced by the conversion.

Having said that, I was a bit disappointed by the "modern day" underwater scenes. Perhaps because of the low light levels, these scenes seemed to benefit very little from the conversion to 3-D, which is a pity because they were so groundbreaking when the film was released.

Still, everything I loved about Titanic was back on the big screen. I had forgotten how cute Leo was and how stunning Kate could be. I'd forgotten what a marvelous villain Billy Zane could be. And I had forgotten how much I enjoyed the actors in smaller roles, notably Irishman Jason Barry as Tommy Ryan and Bill Paxton as Brock Lovett and Danny Nucci as Fabrizio.

My love affair with Titanic continues unabated. And yes, I cried again. Not abject weeping, like I did back in the day, especially when Jack's lifeless body slipped into the Atlantic's cold embrace. No, just a welling of tears in the last scene, when Rose, who, as Jack predicted, dies, "...an old lady, warm in her bed," rejoins the lost souls on the doomed ship and is reunited with her first true love.

"He saved me, you see," Rose explained, "in every way that a person can be saved."