Nathan Lane & Bebe Neuwirth
To Star In Broadway's "The Addams Family"

Musical To Be Co-Produced By Boston's Citi Performing Arts Center
As A Member of Five Cent Productions

Two-time Tony Award winners Nathan Lane ("The Producers," "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum") and Bebe Neuwirth ("Chicago," "Sweet Charity") are set to star as Gomez and Morticia in "The Addams Family," a new musical based on the bizarre and beloved family of characters created by legendary cartoonist Charles Addams. 

Produced by Stuart Oken, Roy Furman, Michael Leavitt and Five Cent Productions (of which Boston's own Citi Performing Arts Center is a member), by special arrangement with Elephant Eye Theatrical, "The Addams Family" will open on Broadway on April 8, 2010, at a theatre to be announced.  Previews will begin Thursday, March 4, 2010, following a pre-Broadway engagement at the Ford Center for the Performing Arts in Chicago this fall.

 "The Addams Family" has already been immortalized on television as well as in film. Now, in this new stage musical, storm clouds are gathering over the Addams Family manse. Daughter Wednesday, now 18, is experiencing a sensation that surprises and disgusts her – caring about another person. Young Pugsley, jealous of his sister's attention, begs her to keep torturing him, severely, while  mother Morticia, conflicted over her daughter’s lurch into womanhood, fears being upstaged and discarded . . . like yesterday’s road kill. All the while, father Gomez – master of the revels, mischievous and oblivious as ever – would prefer everything and everyone remain as it is.   But when outsiders come to dinner, the events of one night will change forever this famously macabre family – a family so very different from your own...or maybe not. 

Joining Lane and Neuwirth in the cast of "The Addams Family" are two-time Tony Award nominee Terrence Mann ("Beauty and the Beast," "Les Miserables") as Mal Beineke, two-time Tony Award nominee Carolee Carmello ("Parade," "Lestat") as Alice Beineke, two-time Tony Award nominee, Kevin Chamberlin ("Seussical," "Dirty Blonde") as Uncle Fester,  Jackie Hoffman ("Hairspray," "Xanadu") as Grandmama, Zachary James ("South Pacific") as Lurch, Adam Riegler as Pugsley,  Krysta Rodriguez ("In the Heights") as Wednesday, and Wesley Taylor (Outer Critics’ Circle nominee this year for "Rock of Ages") as Lucas Beineke. 

"The Addams Family" will feature an original book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice (librettists of the 2006 Tony Award-winning Best Musical, "Jersey Boys"), music and lyrics by Drama Desk Award-winning composer/lyricist Andrew Lippa ("The Wild Party"), direction and design by Phelim McDermott and Julian Crouch ("Shockheaded Peter," the Metropolitan Opera’s recent acclaimed production of Philip Glass’s "Satyagraha"), choreography by Sergio Trujillo ("Jersey Boys"), lighting by Tony Award winner Natasha Katz ("The Coast of Utopia," "Aida"), sound by Acme Sound Partners, puppetry by Basil Twist,  musical direction by Mary-Mitchell Campbell ("Company") and orchestrations by Larry Hochman.

Josiah Spaulding, President & CEO of Citi Performing Arts Center, commented, “We formed Five Cent Productions in 2006 and invested in Elephant Eye to take a pro-active role in the creation of exciting new musicals for Broadway and stages around the world, so it’s especially gratifying to have the first one, "The Addams Family," come to fruition with a brilliant and exciting cast and creative team.”

In a prolific career spanning six decades, Charles Addams created several thousand cartoons, sketches and drawings, many of which were 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 twisted, macabre and just plain weird with charm, wit and enchantment, Addams’ drawings of Gomez, Morticia, Fester, Wednesday, Pugsley, Grandmama, Lurch and Thing have entertained millions worldwide and served as the inspiration for multiple television series and motion pictures.

Five Cent Productions is a consortium of five nationally renowned performing arts centers that have joined forces to take a proactive role in the development of new theatrical material. The five performing arts centers include: The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts of Hartford, CT; The Citi Performing Arts Center of Boston, MA; The Ordway Center for the Performing Arts of St. Paul, MN; The Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts of Philadelphia, PA; and The Pittsburgh CLO and the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust (shared) of Pittsburgh, PA.

Tickets will be placed on sale to the general public through Ticketmaster later this year.

-- OnStage Boston