Review: ‘Addams Family’ at Bass Hall brings out the weird and normal in us all

In 1938, Charles Addams created an original cartoon in The New Yorker magazine that struck a chord with the strange part of minds everywhere. It still is, and that little masterpiece of the macabre isn’t so little anymore.

In fact, the Addams Family has become one of the most-known pieces of pop culture on the planet, entertaining young and old alike with their, shall we say, peculiar ways that under ordinary circumstances, might frighten off most folks. But there has never been anything ordinary about the Addams family.

Thank goodness that remains true today.

Charles Addams left this world in 1988, years after seeing his creation become a successful TV series (1964-66). But that was only the beginning, as the world’s creepiest family continues to find new ways to grow in popularity with each generation of fans —such as the many who love the Netflix series “Wednesday” (including me).

There’s a simple reason for the family’s longevity. Amidst their weirdness is a loving and loyal family completely comfortable in the dark world that is perfectly natural to them.

But what if their normal is about to be joined with what many others perceive as normal?

Wednesday, the ‘princess of darkness’

That’s the setting for “The Addams Family” musical at Bass Hall. It’s the latest in the Performing Arts Broadway at the Bass Series Presented by PNC Bank and is running through Sunday, Oct. 26.

Whereas in the original “Addams Family,” Wednesday was a little girl and a supporting role, she has become the focal point of the story in more modern times. The show bills her as the “ultimate princess of darkness,” the poster girl for all the sinister and disturbing qualities of her family.

But it is true that there is someone for everyone in this world. Wednesday (played by Melody Munitz) is 18 and has fallen in love with a sweet young man named Lucas Beineke (David Eldridge) from a “normal” family.

Suddenly, all the “ooky” things that seemed ordinary to her and her family become uneasy when the time arrives for the families to meet. She’s concerned what reaction her fiancé — and his parents — might have upon meeting her father, the ever-eccentric Gomez (Rodrigo Aragon); her mother, the otherworldly Morticia (Renee Kathleen Koher), the zombie-like butler Lurch (Jackson Barnes); along with the bizarreness of Uncle Fester (Timothy Hearl), Cousin Itt, and a crawling hand (Thing).

Not exactly your typical Sunday brunch. That is, unless you have a taste for broiled eye of newt, yak or sometimes even live or moving food, washed down by concoctions such as cyanide lemonade or hemlock tea.

All that Wednesday fears surfaces once Lucas and his parents Mal (Tucker Boyes) and Alice (Allie Tamburello) arrive. Known for wearing nothing but black, Wednesday even finds herself trying to be something different as she pops onstage in bubbly fashion wearing a bright yellow dress, prompting Gomez to tell her: “You look like a crime scene!”

That’s one of many lines that keep the pace flowing like — as the Addams might say — blood under a full moon. There are also some clever swipes at today’s popularities, such as when Grandma (a scene-stealing Shereen Hickman) tells Pugsley (Logan Clinger) to “Stop with the damn TikTok and pick up a book once in a while!”

The reason for the get-together is for Lucas and Wednesday to tell their families about their engagement. Sounds simple enough, but is anything simple when the evening includes your uncle professing he’s in love with the moon and your brother accidentally slipping a truth serum to your soon-to-be mother-in-law that results in her announcing her marriage is failing?

But then, can you blame Pugsley? After all, he’s concerned his beloved sister won’t be around to torture him anymore.

Ooky, spooky and adorably abnormal

Could sorting this out get any weirder? Yes, it could, and it does.

Chemistry and timing have been a consistent success throughout all the years for the Addams family. It starts with the delightfully over-the-top passion of Gomez and Morticia, pulled off with panache by Aragon and Koher.

From there, it filters throughout the cast. The humor connects with the eeriness. Each character seems to have something adorably abnormal to call their own.

Munitz answers the challenge of taking Wednesday in a direction we’ve never seen her go. She maintains her somber style just enough, but reveals her happy confusion with experiencing love for the first time, as exemplified in the song “Pulled.”

Perhaps the quirkiest scene of the night — and maybe ever on the Bass Hall stage — is Uncle Fester’s love ballad to the moon (”The Moon and Me”). It’s one of those “What did I just see?” moments that remind us never to lose our imagination because it contains anything and everything.

Through it all is the question of what exactly is normal? Or perhaps more appropriate, is anything really normal?

Gomez, like any father, while happy his daughter has found love, is sad that she is growing up, which he shares in the song “Happy/Sad.” Morticia is, pardon the pun, mortified that Gomez would keep a secret from her and has to come to grips with Wednesday’s pending marriage being a sign she herself is aging — a moment that includes high-stepping with the Grim Reaper in “Just Around the Corner.”

Mal and Alice, as do many couples, simply need to rekindle a love buried in a life that has become mundane. An evening with the Addams proves just the remedy.

In the end, “The Addams Family” reminds us that there is no escaping who we really are — and nor should we.

“The Addams Family” at Bass Hall

525 Commerce St., Fort Worth

Oct. 24-26

Tickets: basshall.com