Opinion > Star Staff
The Flipside: Keeping Up With The Addams Family
The Addams Family kooks visits Fair Park beginning Tuesday. Photo courtesy of Tim Carroll.
By Tim Carroll
There was a time when kids were forced to make tough decisions, to boldly show their colors and risk the ridicule of their peers. I am speaking of a time when The Addams Family and The Munsters ran against each other in the New York City TV market.
Channel 11 was The Munsters' territory, pulling in the audience which had tuned in to the Three Stooges and were too lazy to turn the channel. Channel 5 sought the more sophisticated viewers with a lineup of F-Troop, followed by The Addams Family.
The two shows followed a similar theme but were quite different. The Munsters relied more on slapstick and visual gags, while the Addams Family used its characters and a fast-paced script to keep the adults in the room. One reason could be that the series producer, Nat Perrin, was a writer of several Marx Brothers films and rewrote every script.
I was an Addams Family fan, although The Munsters lunchboxes showed that most kids preferred Herman to Lurch. But almost 50 years later it appears as though The Addams Family has finally won the battle.
The show's characters, which were based on a popular cartoon series by Charles Addams, have been revived through a hit Broadway Musical appropriately called The Addams Family.
The musical opened on Broadway in 2010 and was an immediate hit, due in part to a cast that included Nathan Lane as Gomez and Bebe Neuwirth as Morticia. The show closed in New York in 2011 with Roger Rees and Brooke Shields in those roles, but has since taken to the road. The musical tour stops in Dallas on Oct. 2 as the premier State Fair of Texas show for the Dallas Summer Musical series.
The Broadway version failed to win any major awards, and reviews were mixed, but the show held its popularity with audiences, possibly because of memories of the 1960's TV series or 1990's movies. This is not a television show or movie, however, and it follows a conventional stage musical format with catchy songs and a simple story line.
The musical features an original but familiar story as Gomez discovers that Wednesday Addams, the ultimate princess of darkness, has grown up and fallen in love with a sweet, smart young man from a respectable family. As if that weren't upsetting enough, she confides in her father and begs him not to tell her mother. Gomez Addams is forced to do something he's never done before - keep a secret from his beloved wife, Morticia. Everything changes on the fateful night they host a dinner for Wednesday's "normal" boyfriend and his parents.
The show runs during the State Fair from Oct. 2-21 at the Fair Park Music Hall. Ticket prices range from $15 to $75, and are available at The Box Office, 5959 Royal Lane, Suite 542 in the Preston Royal Shopping Center in Dallas. Tickets are also available at all Ticketmaster outlets. Tickets to the musical also count as admission to the State Fair, so arrive early for a corn dog and a peek at the new cars before the show. For more information about the show visit www.theaddamsfamilytour.com or www.dallassummermusicals.org.
As for the Munster and Addams families, it wasn't competition that killed them - it was color television. Both shows were shot in black and white and the new full color Batman television show kapowed them off the air in 1966.
Tim Carroll is director of public information for the Allen ISD. Reach him at tim_carroll@allenisd.org.
Channel 11 was The Munsters' territory, pulling in the audience which had tuned in to the Three Stooges and were too lazy to turn the channel. Channel 5 sought the more sophisticated viewers with a lineup of F-Troop, followed by The Addams Family.
The two shows followed a similar theme but were quite different. The Munsters relied more on slapstick and visual gags, while the Addams Family used its characters and a fast-paced script to keep the adults in the room. One reason could be that the series producer, Nat Perrin, was a writer of several Marx Brothers films and rewrote every script.
I was an Addams Family fan, although The Munsters lunchboxes showed that most kids preferred Herman to Lurch. But almost 50 years later it appears as though The Addams Family has finally won the battle.
The show's characters, which were based on a popular cartoon series by Charles Addams, have been revived through a hit Broadway Musical appropriately called The Addams Family.
The musical opened on Broadway in 2010 and was an immediate hit, due in part to a cast that included Nathan Lane as Gomez and Bebe Neuwirth as Morticia. The show closed in New York in 2011 with Roger Rees and Brooke Shields in those roles, but has since taken to the road. The musical tour stops in Dallas on Oct. 2 as the premier State Fair of Texas show for the Dallas Summer Musical series.
The Broadway version failed to win any major awards, and reviews were mixed, but the show held its popularity with audiences, possibly because of memories of the 1960's TV series or 1990's movies. This is not a television show or movie, however, and it follows a conventional stage musical format with catchy songs and a simple story line.
The musical features an original but familiar story as Gomez discovers that Wednesday Addams, the ultimate princess of darkness, has grown up and fallen in love with a sweet, smart young man from a respectable family. As if that weren't upsetting enough, she confides in her father and begs him not to tell her mother. Gomez Addams is forced to do something he's never done before - keep a secret from his beloved wife, Morticia. Everything changes on the fateful night they host a dinner for Wednesday's "normal" boyfriend and his parents.
The show runs during the State Fair from Oct. 2-21 at the Fair Park Music Hall. Ticket prices range from $15 to $75, and are available at The Box Office, 5959 Royal Lane, Suite 542 in the Preston Royal Shopping Center in Dallas. Tickets are also available at all Ticketmaster outlets. Tickets to the musical also count as admission to the State Fair, so arrive early for a corn dog and a peek at the new cars before the show. For more information about the show visit www.theaddamsfamilytour.com or www.dallassummermusicals.org.
As for the Munster and Addams families, it wasn't competition that killed them - it was color television. Both shows were shot in black and white and the new full color Batman television show kapowed them off the air in 1966.
Tim Carroll is director of public information for the Allen ISD. Reach him at tim_carroll@allenisd.org.
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