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64 • June 2010 • Lighting&Sound America

THEATRE

current Broadwayshow has beenmore anticipatedthan The AddamsFamily, especiallygiven the felicitouscasting of Nathan

Lane and Bebe Neuwirth asAmerica’s favorite ghouls, Gomez andMorticia Addams. As the productionheaded to Chicago for its out-of-towntryout, its level of audienceawareness was off the charts—aproducer’s dream.Be careful what you wish for: The

publicity turned into scrutiny whenthe Chicago notices were mixed.Under pressure, the company went towork: Marshall Brickman and RickElice tweaked the libretto, AndrewLippa replaced songs, and Jerry Zakswas named “creative consultant.”And, as it arrived at Broadway’s

Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, The AddamsFamily continued to defy expecta-tions. Despite chilly New York notices,it continues to post spectacular boxoffice numbers, surpassed only bythose long-running institutions,Wicked and The Lion King. TheAddams Family appears to be thatextremely rare thing: a critic-proof hit.Never underestimate the power of

a beloved cultural institution. Thecartoons of Charles Addams werepart of The New Yorker in its postwarheyday. Especially popular were thosefeaturing an unnamed family of ghoulswhose cozy domestic life alwaysfeatured a macabre twist. (One classicdepicts the family, on the mansardroof of their Victorian home, preparingto drop boiling oil on a group ofChristmas carolers below.) Themembers of the so-called AddamsFamily were given names for thetelevision series, which, despite arelatively short run (1964-66), probablydid more to embed Addams’ humorinto the American mind than anythingelse. A pair of films released in the

early ‘90s kept the characters alive fora new generation.As Stuart Oken, the new musical’s

lead producer, told the ChicagoTribune, the creative team drew theirinspiration almost entirely from the150 drawings that feature theAddams Family, aiming to capturetheir atmosphere of grandiose decayand slyly inverted values. For plotpurposes, the authors made onemajor change: Wednesday Addams,previously a spooky little girl, is now ayoung adult, and is in love with LucasBeineke, a nice young man fromOhio; the action is set in motion whenLucas and his parents show up at theAddams home—located in CentralPark—for a pre-nuptial get-together.Naturally, everything that can gowrong, does; a dinner-table gamecalled Full Disclosure sets off crises inboth families, with Lucas’ parentsmaking especially shocking personaldiscoveries. (The structure is similarto Kaufman and Hart’s You Can’t TakeIt with You.)Whatever one thinks of The

Addams Family, the physicalproduction, beyond question,captures the style and spirit ofAddams’ work. Like the cartoons, it isfull of subtle wit; the longer you stareat it, the funnier the joke becomes.This may be in part because it wasdeveloped in an unusual set ofcircumstances: How many musicalscan you name where the directorsand designers are the same people?

House of horrorsPhelim McDermott and Julian Crouch,who designed and staged TheAddams Family, came to the projectwith a unique set of credentials. AsU.K.- based theatre artists, they werebest known in this country forShockheaded Peter, a Grand Guignolentertainment based on a mid-19th-century German book written toterrorize children into behaving

properly.With itsseedy Victorianatmosphere, pitchblack-humor, andgrotesque cast ofcharacters (most of whomcome to untimely ends),Shockheaded Peter certainlydemonstrated that McDermott andCrouch had an Addams-like sensi-bility.The show marks the Broadway

debuts of McDermott and Crouch,who have their own company,Improbable Theatre, in London. TheBroadway experience led to manyironies. For one thing, says Crouch,“They call Broadway a big canvas,but, when you’re there, you’reworking on some of the smalleststages in the world. We started onThe Addams Family at the same timewe started working at theMetropolitan Opera [on Philip Glass’Satyagraha and John Adams’ DoctorAtomic], and, in each case, I felt likean anthropologist, dealing withdifferent tribes. On Broadway, youhave lots of technical time; at theMet, you have no time, and you haveno previews; you do seven shows,and it’s over.” This was in contrast toThe Addams Family’s long stay inChicago for revisions.Crouch entered this Broadway

project with his eyes open, however.“The big thing that governed thedesign was, it’s a big musical,” hesays. “You know it’s going tochange—a lot. Therefore, you can’tdesign it so that it’s fixed in any way.”Instead, he notes, they wentmodular: “We designed a kit ofparts—items like shutters and stair-cases—so we could invent newlocations, if necessary, which itwas. Obviously, you’re dealing withThe Addams Family’s house, andpeople know what it is, so you’re tied

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into certain parameters. But we triedto design something that allowed usto go from scene to scene very fast.”In addition, there was the issue of

authenticity. “We had the rights to allof Addams’ work, up to the beginningof the TV series,” adds Crouch. “Wehad to tread carefully around certainthings made famous by television andthe films. On a physical level, theseries didn’t look like the drawings—they had to light them more brightly inthose days. Also, the house in theseries is more furnished. In thecartoons, they basically live in aderelict home with little furniture.Addams wanted you to look at thecartoon and see the joke; he doesn’tdistract with extraneous details.”The action of the show never

leaves the house and surroundingarea, but there are many locations,including the family graveyard;Morticia’s room; Gomez’s “grotto;” asmall chamber where Wednesdaytortures her brother, Pugsley; andseveral in-one locations. The elegantred show curtain, a glorious Victoriandrapery featuring gold tassels andtrim, is the first of Crouch’s kit ofparts; rather than simply going up, itprowls up, down, and around theproscenium in different configura-tions, framing different locations inand around the house. “I like playingwith old-fashioned design tools in aset,” he says. “I have a kind ofromantic outlook about old theatricaldevices, like curtains and front cloths.I’m not a filmic designer; why pretendwe’re not in a theatre?”According to Jennifer Tankleff, of I.

Weiss, the company that providedthem, the curtains consist of onetabbing curtain with fringe, trim, andropes; the latter feature 32'' goldtassels, about which more later. Thereis also a Venetian contour curtain,with multiple lift lines to create avariety of openings. Both drapesconsist of a 20oz velour, with 100%fullness. “We set up ¼'' scale modelsin our shop for the design team towork with before making the full

stage goods,” says Tankleff. “Thatwas a big help in determining thecorrect lift lines.”Indeed, the way scenery is

revealed is unusually important here.The curtains rise for the openingnumber, “When You’re an Addams,”set in the family cemetery. Thislocation, when first seen, is fronted bya towering pair of wrought-iron gates.The effect is that of a double reveal.The cemetery, in many ways, consti-tutes the show’s design thesis, as itestablishes many of the key visualideas. It strikes the right comic-gothicnote, and also establishes theprevailing mood of stylization. It alsointroduces an enormous moon, whichwill prove to be a big plot point. (Acrypt also provides a point of entryfor the “the ancestors,” the chorus ofdeceased Addams relatives who addzing to some of the numbers.) “Thething is to show your hand at thebeginning of the show, what yourlanguage is going to be,” saysCrouch. “Addams never drew agraveyard, but I was keen to play withthe idea of gates as curtains. Thecurtains open up, then a gate opensup for you to see the characters.”The designers came up with an

approach that allows for fast scenechanges: a triptych arrangement ofwalls. Those at stage left and right areheavily louvered, making them suitablefor both interior and exterior scenes.The middle wall can be replaced todenote different locations—a bigstaircase for the great hall and a pipeorgan for the grotto. The side wallspivot up and down; the middle wallflies in and out.“What we tried to do in the first

half is use the curtains to show littlesnippets and not the whole set,” addsCrouch. “The fun of it is to see thewhole thing when the Beinekes arrive.We see them in Central Park, whichwe do in a vaudeville way, with cut-out trees and a small-scale version ofthe Addams house. Then you go intothe great hall for dinner, and thegrotto, which has criss-crossing stair-

cases, like an M. C. Escher print.”The transition from the park to the

interior of the house is one of theshow’s biggest scenic moments. “Thelittle house falls over, following a clapof thunder,” says Crouch. “TheAddamses are standing behind it. Asthey walk forward, the little house ispulled up. The staircases come onand almost crash in the middle of thestage; they become a bridge inCentral Park for the Beinekes tocross. Then the stairs are pushedupstage, the portraits fly in before thewalls do—we thought that would befun—and the walls are pulled up intoplace. We see the ancestors push thestairs to the side, and the chandelierarrives just a little too late, as theBeinekes ring the doorbell. It’s as ifthe house is being created before theaudience’s eyes, but a little bit late.”The show’s scenery was built byHudson Scenic Studios, ShowmanFabricators, and Chicago ScenicStudios, with automation by Hudson.Rose Brand supplied precision-cutEncore fabric for the foliage on theCentral Park trees.One of the show’s biggest talking

points is the Act II number “The Moonand Me,” in which Uncle Festerprofesses his undying love for thatlunar body. Again eschewing fancytechnology, the number is staged infront of a black drop, with puppets—including a variety of aviancreatures—being manipulated byactors, who are unseen because theyare draped in black. “It’s another old-fashioned vaudeville element,” saysCrouch, who drew inspiration fromthe silent film director, George Méliès,whose 1898 mini-epic, A Trip to theMoon, featured a production designthat was, even for its time, blatantlytheatrical.“In the early stages, we improvised

with Kevin Chamberlin [who playsFester],” says Crouch, “and, whenAndrew Lippa defined the song, webrought in Basil Twist.” Twist is acelebrated American puppeteer,probably best-known for the


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Toppphoto:Sara

Krulwich/TheNewYorkTimes;Centerleftphoto:JoanMarcus;Drawings:CourtesyofJulianCrouch

Top: The first-act finale, “Full Disclosure,”takes place in the great hall, with a chan-delier and paintings of the Addamsancestors. Left: Morticia’s room; thedesigners stuck to Addams’ vision of agrand, but dilapidated and sparsely fur-nished house. Below: A series of thumb-nail sketches by Crouch show how thelayout for each location took shape.


he notes, he strove to give the rightAddams touch. For example in thedinner scene, there’s an electricstorm, with bursts of lightningcourtesy of the lighting rig. Then, saysMeeh, “we dump in burst of fogs andplenty of dead leaves.” However, headds, “This is the Addams Family, sothey have to be dark brown and greenleaves. Also, we have fans under thetable, for the moment when the windblows the tablecloth up.” The scenealso features Lurch, the butler,fighting to close the door in the wind.Other amusing touches include amoment when Wednesday, armedwith a bow and arrow, shoots anapple off of Lucas’ head, and thelightbulb that glows when placed inUncle Fester’s mouth.As you might imagine, fog makes

more than one appearance, and inmore than one form. “We have chilledglycol fog from Ultratec’s LSGmachines,” Meeh says. “And, foratmospherics in the air, we use LookSolutions Vipers, as well as a bunchtheir Tiny foggers, for the chimneys inthe tango scene.” (He’s referring to“Tango de Amor,” in which Gomez andMorticia recover their marital mojo.)The most amusing smoke-relatedeffect occurs when we see UncleFester rocketing toward the moon,with a vapor trail behind him. First,however, we see Kevin Chamberlinpreparing for flight. “He has acornstarch powder cigar to light therocket,” says Meeh. “It’s got a littleburner in it, with a high-powercigarette lighter. A fuse sputters andsmokes; inside the rocket, we have aliquid CO2 burst gag, like a small fireextinguisher.” He heads offstage, takesoff, and a prominent smoke ringappears from the wings and crossesthe stage. It’s but one example of theway traditional theatre techniques areused add fun to the House of Addams.

The moon and herIn stories such as these, it’s fairlytypical for members of the designteam to say nice things about each

other. In the case of The AddamsFamily, Julian Crouch finds himselfwryly apologizing to the lightingdesigner, Natasha Katz. “We gave hera very hard task. There are little bitsof the set that pop open, with lightingin them. Also, the show needs lots ofside lighting, in order to get thatatmosphere.” But because the wallspivot down, such positions are oftenobscured. Furthermore, he adds,“The great challenge for her is, it’ssupposed to be dark and spooky—but it’s a comedy, and people have tolaugh. She managed to give the showits beauty and atmosphere, and youcan always see the stars’ faces.”When told of Crouch’s remarks,

Katz, laughing, says, “I’m very happyto hear that. I had to twist myself intoa pretzel on this one.”Elaborating, Katz, who is known

for her ability to deal with unusual,

even bizarre, challenges, lists “thefour hard things” about theproduction: 1) “No sidelight, for amusical with dance;” 2) “Very hightrims, so there’s no way to get insideof those walls and sculpt the people;3) “The color of the walls;” and 4)“Lighting the puppetry with thepositions we had.”On the subject of sidelight, she

adds, “The curtain cuts off thesidelight in one. The two pivotingwalls start essentially in two, sothere’s no sidelight there. We dosneak some in, depending on wherethe curtains are,” but this proved tobe a constant effort.Regarding the trims, which go as

high as 40', she says, “Every singleoverhead unit is a moving light. Thereare so few positions, and I needed tobe able to do a lot with those units.”Twenty-eight of the movers, she


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downtown shows SymphonieFantastique and Arias with a Twist. Hesays that the chorus members in thissequence are draped in black cowlsthat cover their bodies. “We madeblack velvet Snuggies for them,” hesays, amused. “They’re more like bigchoir robes that fit over their wigs.Some of them also have nice blackvelvet pantsuits. We would do thenumber, and I would say, ‘I can seesomeone’s shoe.’ So we had to makelittle booties.” The performers effec-tively disappear against the blackvelvet drop; the lighting is carefullyplotted to only pick out the puppetsin their hands.During the number, Fester appears

to float in the air. “He’s walking up asmall set of stairs,” says Twist. “It’san awkward physical moment for him,which is why the ladies of the chorusare in front of him with parasols.There’s an astounding amount oflighting attention paid to this scene.At first, even Julian and Phelimthought it would be all right if we sawthe puppeteers, but I like to havethem hidden all the time. There is aton of people onstage in that scene,

and you can’t see them.”One big challenge for Twist is the

fact that the puppets are manipulatedby chorus people, who had to learn anew technique for the show. Thisproved to be especially challengingwhen dealing with the giant squid,which rises up out of the grotto andkidnaps—and, it is stronglysuggested, ravishes—Mal Beineke,Lucas’ uptight father. The effectrequires “the entire ensemble, all 11 ofthem, including an understudy forPugsley,” says Twist. “Everyonehandles a tentacle, each of which isdifferent. Three of them—the biggestones—are also on lines that lift thebulk of their weight. The others arebasically built like vertebrae, withcables in them. Each bends to oneside, and then you pull the other cableand it bends to the other side. Thetentacles are strapped to their belliesin the same way a drum is attached todrummer’s body in a marching band.You pull the wires with your arms; it’slike cross-country skiing.”Twist, who notes that the squid

effect was even more elaborate out oftown, adds, “There was a learning

curve” for the cast. However, he says,“We took it to such an extreme levelin Chicago that now it’s easier forthem. Because everyone wasfrightened by the idea, I providedgear in rehearsals that would givethem a sense of what they weredoing; I brought in harnesses andsmaller tentacles to give them theexperience of climbing into somethingand going with it. When I work withpuppeteers in a workshop, there’s adifferent level of what they’recomfortable with.”In any case, it’s fair to say the

Addams household is riddled withpuppets. In another talked-aboutmoment, a golden tassel breaks freefrom the red curtain and takes on alife of its own. The tassel, says Twist,has “a U-shaped piece that extendsfrom the tassel like a handle with acontrol on it.” This idea was initiallydismissed, he adds, “because thecurtain makes all those fancy movesand they didn’t want it traveling witha giant piece of hardware on it. Imocked up something in Chicago, weran the curtain through its paces, andit didn’t foul up. Now there’s a weldedstructure on the tassel, behind thecurtain; it travels with the curtain. Atthe right moment, the puppeteergrabs the handle,” and the tasselcomes to life.Other puppet effects include a

Venus flytrap, which is fed a mouseby Morticia; a flower tentacle thatextends itself amorously towards MalBeineke; a monster that appears fromunder Pugsley’s bed, and a tiny UncleFester, who rockets toward to themoon. Speaking of Pugsley’smonster, Twist says, “Liz Ramos, thedance captain, has what most profes-sional puppeteers have; they’regame. She’s willing to be squishedunder the bed, with weird things onher feet, using all of her limbs tomake it happen. And she’s reallyhappy! She also does the tassel. It’s adelight to find people like that.”Gregory Meeh adds to the show’s

store of special effects, all of which,The design is packed with subtle gags; note the skull in the wine rack next to Pugsley.That’s Wednesday and her fiancé, Lucas, at right.

These renderings by Crouch establish several of the design’s key ideas, including theuse of a gate for a grand reveal, the statues in the family cemetery, and the Central Parksetting for the house.

Photo:JoanMarcus

Illustrations:CourtesyofJulianCrouch


the pivoting walls. Our approach, interms of distributing the sound, wasno-holds-barred.”He adds, “We did a tremendous

amount of homework with the setdesign and lighting design teams toshare space effectively. We prettymuch exhausted all the places wecould put speakers. We started onthis project very early, and we arrivedat a system design that approachedwhat we imagined. We never ran intoa situation where we neededsomething and didn’t have it. Ofcourse, it did help that the scenicdesigners and directors were thesame people.”In contrast, the main hang,

Steinberg notes, “is pretty light from areinforcement point of view. There areno line arrays on the proscenium. Infact, the only array consists of twocenter clusters, and they’rehorizontal.” The center clusters aremade up of L-Acoustics ARCS unitsand Meyer JM-1Ps. The latter unit, headds, is “designed to be hung eitherhorizontally or vertically; it’s tightlypacked, with very narrow coverage inone plane and smooth coverage in theother.” These boxes are largely aimedat the theatre’s mezzanine; the L-Acoustics units, he says, “areasymmetrical in dispersion of the highfrequencies, and are used for the mainfloor.” He also notes that the Lunt-Fontanne, with its long shoeboxconfiguration, “is very narrow, with alot of hard, parallel surfaces. It’sdifficult in terms of signal-to-noisemanagement. There are manyunwanted reflections around andbehind you that can be confusing.”On the sides of the proscenium,

the Acme team placed Meyer UPQ-1Ps for the main floor and MeyerCQ-2s for the mezzanine. Providingadditional fill are UPM-1Ps. For theunderbalcony area, two sets of d&baudiotechnik E3s are used, and, onthe mid-house lighting truss, oneUPQ-1 and two UPQ-2s providecoverage for the rear mezzanine. Inaddition, two Meyer UPJs handle

the extreme sides, and, on the maintruss for additional orchestrareinforcement, are UPQ-1s andUPQ-2s. The surround systemconsists of EAW UB12sBut that’s not all. “Onstage,” says

Steinberg, “we get a little nutty.“Because of the way the pivoting wallscenery moves, we have foldback onthe walls on two levels, for both theopen and closed positions, inside andbehind the walls, in the wings, andalso in the lighting ladders. All areaddressable for sound effects; theonstage system is a kind of hybrid,used for both foldback and effects.”To give you an idea of how complex itgets, he adds, “We have a four-frameMeyer Matrix 3 system thatdistributes 75 outputs just to handlethat distribution system. That’s notspeakers; it’s just outputs. We haveover 80 loudspeakers on stage.”For example, he says, “We have

d&b E3s providing front fill. We canreturn the Matrix 3 to the individualsix front fills or the surround systemto multiple zones in the house, or themain PA, or to the 80 loudspeakerson stage.” In the footlight troughs onstage are Meyer MM-4XPs, EAW JF-60s, EAW UB12s, and Galaxy AudioHot Spots and Micro Spots, foradditional foldback. Built into thewalls, are Meyer UPJuniors, and, intosome scenic pieces, UPM-1Ps.“The Matrix 3,” Steinberg adds “is

also running Wild Tracks, so it’sdriving sound effects playback anddistributing foldback, as well asreturning effects playback to the mainPA. It serves as a supplementarydistribution method for the wholesound system.” (The sound effectsinclude explosions, thunder, thesquid, screams, and gunshots.)The main reinforcement console is

the DiGiCo SD7T, the company’slatest product for the theatre. (It’sdesigned to supersede the D5T.) “Wegot it new for the Chicago tryout lastfall,” says Steinberg. “It improves onthe D5T both in terms of systemrobustness and reliability. This is agreat step forward for Digico.”Mic placement is a fairly straight-

forward affair on the show, as thereare few hats, and even fewer costumechanges. “There are a few tricky micplacements,” notes Steinberg. “Forone thing, Uncle Fester is iconicallybald; therefore, we worked to get twoor three mics in places where wecould get a good sound from himwithout interrupting his baldness.” Butwhat happens the chorus membersdon their black Snuggies for thepuppet scenes? “The faces of theSnuggies are designed with mesh, sosound gets through pretty well,”Steinberg says. Of course, there’s theissue of getting the Snuggies on andoff; the sound tech has to make surethe mics are off during these transi-


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adds, are Vari*Lite VL5Bs, chosen fortheir incandescent light source. “Ireally believe that, when lightingactors, we’re not at the point wheremoving lights are completely compli-mentary to incandescent sources,”she comments. However, lighting thechorus was a challenge: “In Chicago,they were in black, and, in New York,they’re in white. The question was,are these white costumes going to betoo present all the time? Fortunately,they weren’t, and what in Chicagowas a recessive element becamesomething I could really light.”As for lighting the set, which is a

virtually indescribable gray-black-brown, Katz says, “Originally, thethought was to keep it more blackand white. But, as we evolved inChicago and into New York, itbecame really clear that the wallsneeded color—and the show neededmore variety of color.” However, “Avery small palette works on the set—let’s say six colors. Some colors,which are within the tonal range ofthe set, require fewer lights, andsome require a lot of lights. You needmany units to put blue on those

brown walls—but blue looks good, asdoes orange and ochre and yellow.Cyan looks great. The grotto is whiteand blue-ish. Morticia’s boudoir is avibrant yellow. The great hall isbasically the color of the set. Theexteriors are something different—itall takes place at night, and, well,‘chilly’ is not a bad word to use whenyou think of the Addams Family.”Overall, she adds, the addition ofcolor “gave it a kind of depth that itdidn’t have before.”As for lighting the puppet gags

and “The Moon and Me,” Katz says,again laughing, “It’s all precisionlighting. NASA can’t compare to whatwe did.” Indeed, each unit in thesescenes must be carefully focused tokeep light on the puppets and off thechorus people in their Snuggies. Herethe designers’ complement of 28Vari*Lite VL3500Qs, with theirshuttering capabilities, really cameinto play, she says, adding that eacheffect is “a true marriage ofpuppeteer and lighting. If he or shemoves an arm an inch too far, theillusion is lost.” Twist calls the lightingof these scenes “a game of

millimeters,” and notes Katz’s skill indealing with extreme obstacles.Overall, Katz notes, “We

brightened the show when we cameto New York,” a decision that addedmore gear to the front-of-housepositions. These include a set of CityTheatrical VSFX wheels to createclouds for Fester’s trip to the moon.The lighting rig, from PRG, includes20 VL1000 AS units, 24 VL2000 Washunits, six Martin MAC 2000Performances, 380 ETC Source Foursand PARs, 40 Altman 65Q Fresnels,10 PAR 46 units, 180 MR16 birdies,24 Altman Micro Ellipse MR16s, 13Philips Color Kinetics ColorBlaze 72s,five ColorBlaze 48s, five ColorBlast12s, 16 High End Systems DataflashAF1000 strobes, 100 WybronColoram scrollers, four Lycian M2followspots, two MDG Atmospherehazers, six Martin Jem AF-1 fans, CityTheatrical’s SHoW DMX wirelesssystem, five ETC 96 x 2.4kW dimmerracks, and 12 Leprecon ULD-360-HDdimmer packs. The lighting iscontrolled by an ETC Obsession IIconsole, for the conventional gear,linked to a PRG V676 console, for theautomated units.Overall, Katz burnishes the

scenery with many pleasing splashesof color. She also adds depth to thestage pictures while highlighting thestars, giving them distinct touches ofghoulish glamour. One imaginesAddams looking down—or up— onthe Lunt-Fontanne in admiration.

Monster sound challengesJust as Crouch, anticipating changesto the show out of town, had hisscenic kit of parts, the sound designteam Acme Sound Partners adheredto a similar be-prepared philosophy.“In our initial design approach, wewanted to be ready for anything,”says Nevin Steinberg, speaking forhis colleagues, Tom Clark, MarkMenard, and Sten Severson. “The keywas making sure we had the ability inthe system to make sound come fromanywhere you can imagine—even in

Natasha Katz notes that the ancestors were costumed in black during the Chicago try-out, then changed to white for New York, which made them easier to light.

Most of the cast members wear DPA 4061 mics with Sennheiser wireless systems. Photos:JoanMarcus


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tions to minimize distracting noises.The entire cast wears DPA 4061

capsules, except for Bebe Neuwirth,who sports a Sennheiser MKE1.“She sounds better on theSennheiser,” Steinberg says, notingthat such differences happen, forreasons that often remain myste-rious. The MKE1’s tiny form factor isanother plus, since Neuwirth’scharacter, Morticia, has what thedesigner calls “the most severehairline on Broadway.” All mics arecombined with Sennheiser SK-5012and EM-3532 wireless systems. Gearwas supplied by Masque Sound.The deployment of the complex

loudspeaker system allows for thevoices to sit comfortably on themusic from the 17-piece orchestra,and allows the sound effects to landwith precision and punch.

When you’re an AddamsMany others were involved inbringing The Addams Family tostage life. These include FrankMcCullough (associate scenicdesigner); Yael Lubetzky (associatelighting designer); Jason Crystal(associate sound designer); JeremyChernick (associate special effectsdesigner), Ceili Clemens (associatepuppetry designer); AlandHenderson (automated lightingprogrammer); Paul T. Wimmer(production carpenter); MikeHyman (head electrician); DavidGotwald (production sound);Lauren Alvarez, Jeffrery Hinchee,Christine Peters, and Rob Thirtle(associate scenic designers); JoelShier (assistant lighting designer);Meredith Miller (assistant inpuppetry); Jeremy Wahlers

(assistant electrician); Bill Partello(assistant carpenter/ automation);Scott Silvian (assistant sound);Darin Stillman (advance sound);Stephen R. Long (lead followspot);Bryan S. Davis (flyman); Denise J.Grillo (production props); andKevin Crawford (assistant props).Everyone agrees that the

production benefitted from a solidplanning process and the presenceof designers as directors. “Therewas a sense of inclusion from thebeginning,” says Steinberg. “I wasin the rehearsal room from WeekOne; we created a lot of soundsthere in collaboration with thedirectors. That’s our firstexperience with that.” That prepwork will be useful when TheAddams Family takes to the roadin 2011.

The family gathers in the cemetery for the finale: Note the projection of Uncle Fester’s face on the moon.

Photo:JoanMarcus

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