Gomez, Morticia, Wednesday and the gang of The Addams Family have made their way onto the Broadway stage. Everyone has seen probably at least once in their life, an episode of the early 60s Television program, “The Addams Family,” or has seen one of the movies that feature this creepy clan.

Audiences know their story, they are a family who have supernatural abilities and enjoy the thought of death and surround themselves with morbid objects. People know the characters; Lurch, Uncle Fester, and Cousin It. But now the tale has been twisted into a musical and the play has some famous faces.

Nathan Laneis definitely the shining star of the show, playing the classic Gomez Addams. He is positively hilarious, his comedic timing is something of perfection and his singing voice was nothing short of amazing. It was no surprise that he got a standing ovation at the final bows.

His on stage wife, Bebe Neuwirth, was an exceptional Morticia, following all the rightful paths of the actresses who played the classic mother and wife before her.

Aside from the two biggest names of Lane and Neuwirth, the rest of the cast is just as incredible, showing their strong singing voices and wonderful acting and comedic abilities. One of the background characters that truly stood out was Grandmama played by Jackie Hoffman. Her jokes about the children of today’s generation about reading a book instead of texting definitely got some big laughs from older members of the audience.

The entire plot of the play is truly focused around Wednesday’s desire to be normal and she does so by inviting her ‘normal, human’ boyfriend, Lucas, over for dinner with his normal parents. The Addams are obviously skeptical about this and don’t know how they feel about Wednesday dating someone so different from them.

The idea of Wednesday growing up and planning to marry someone who is different than the Addams scares all of them. Morticia and Gomez are sad that their daughter is growing up so fast and Pugsley doesn’t want Wednesday to leave him, in fear that she’ll start being nice to him instead of torturing him every chance she gets.

Because of their family differences, Lucas and Wednesday break up mid play; only to get back together a few scenes later.

Throughout the night that Lucas and his parents stay at the Addams scary home, weird and strange things happen, as expected, and the ‘normal’ family wants nothing to do with the crazy Addams but in the end, all is well and everyone realizes that love conquers all; that deep inside, all parents want the best for their children.

The comedy and music of the play fell sort of flat. Aside from a few hearty jokes, the audience didn’t respond in laughter too often. The songs featured in the play paired up with the plot line nicely but wasn’t a classic Addams family tone. It wasn’t a musical many people would probably go back and see. And once Nathan Lane leaves the role of Gomez in March, the star power he brings to the table will be lost.

Also, some hardcore Addams fanatics will be disappointed that Cousin It and the Thing made only small cameos.

It did end nicely though, with the original snapping theme song playing in the background as the actors, still dressed in character, took their final bows.