Review: The Addams Family by Magnolia Musical Theatre
by David Glen Robinson

It was all about Lurch. Played by Ismael Soto III,  Lurch, the standout monster in a tidal pool of Cthulhu creepy-crawlies transformed into musical theatre characters, is the monster we all need. Impeccably made up in his fashionably black but dusty and cob-webbed suit, he lacked only the bolt-neck of his Hollywood Karlovian progenitor to nail the Frankenstein vibe. He still sparked the frisson of horror from deep inside our childhoods. 

 

The Addams Family, produced by Magnolia Musical Theatre, has just opened at the Hill Country Galleria in Bee Cave, Texas. This is the musical theatre interpretation of the horror genre monument that premiered as a TV series September 18, 1964. The TV show ran for only two seasons, until April 8, 1966 (Wikipedia). Yes, you are correct, sir! That is 62 years iago, and it was based on Charles Addams’ earlier single panel cartoons in The New Yorker magazine.

 

The musical rises fresh from its crypt of black and white TV static, colorful and popular with those not yet born when it was on TV (when the distinctive opening jingle composed by Vic Mizzy sounded, many in the audience, including me, reflexively made the accent finger clicks in time with the music). The book for the musical was written by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, the music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa. 

 

The musical theatre version is wildly popular. CTXLiveTheatre records 18 productions of it in Central Texas since 2015. This 19th production will be followed by two more, in San Antonio and Corpus Christi.

 

Joey Banks directed the current Bee Cave production. Susan Finnigan directed music with choreography by Kaitlyn Miller. The title family and its ancestor ghosts retain the topsy-turvy values of the TV series, all obsessed with torture, death, and pain; and all the tropes of the horror genre are present. A slight kink in the aesthetic was needed to asure the wider audience appeal necessary for expensive touring musicals. Brickman, Elice, and team solved the problem by adding love and impending marriage. 

 

 

 

So, The Addams Family is torture, death, pain, love, and marriage. This stuff does not mix, but the producers and cast skip through all the contradictions and aesthetic mismatches anyway, all for the sake of entertainment. Wednesday Addams (Stella Frye-Ginsberg) falls in love with a "normal," Lucas Beineke (Matthew Lietz), and the central plot swirls around the lovers' attempts to “sell” a prospective marriage to two families, one normal, one 'way abnormal. The rest of the named cast, portraying the principals from the TV series plus the Beinekes, show and tell and sing their back stories and front stories, too. This makes for a longish show, overwritten though very well by Brickman and Elice. The audience option to sit on blankets and bring extra cushions is highly recommended. An intermission with Amy’s Ice Cream one block away fortified everyone through the end of the show. 

 

 

The engagement dinner, naturally chaotic, was followed by a game of (shudder) Full Disclosure, watched over by Lurch the butler. Earlier in the action, Pugsley Addams (Talya Hammerman), angry with Wednesday for wanting to leave the family by marrying, stole a potion from Grandma Addams (Robyn Conner). The potion makes everyone’s ugly insides come out. Pugsley's aim is to expose Wednesday as unmarriageable. 

 

In an example of hand manipulation and plot twisting as ancient as classical opera, the potion misses Wednesday and is swallowed instead by Alice Beineke (Lydia Margitza), young Lucas’s mother. Alice boils over and reveals her frustration as a housewife and comes out to liberation and a life of lust, passion, and no housework. Her song takes her along the feast table, kicking over tableware and ends with her plastering her front against Lurch’s chest and gazing straight up into his face. Lurch appears seven feet tall ashe slowly looks straight down into her face. Does he remain impassive or does he smile slightly? 

 

So, Lurch. His rocklike immensity, asymmetric eyes (from injury?), incomprehensible voice, and blue-gray complexion (from radiation?) establish his otherness, making most folks reluctant to approach. His sluggishness may result from the presence of a nuclear reactor in his head emitting powers so strong that Thing on his shoulders moves disembodied fingers faster than Lurch can. But that slowness contains within itself points of stillness-- reflective, wise, and meditative. Somehow his deliberate movement reveals itself instead as tenderness when Lurch attends Morticia (Leslie Holllingsworth) as she prepares to depart on her hejira. The backstory here could write itself as a love story and run to volumes. 

 

The cast is experienced, highly talented and well trained. Apart from those mentioned, it includes Paul Sanchez, Scott Shipman, and Matt Connely. The ghost ancestors and dancers responsible for dance in production numbers and in changing sets between scenes are Isaac Arrieta, Zola Feasel, Araya Feeney, Matthew Graves, Lily Holmes, Jake Jordan, Kara Moy, and Joshua Quidilla. 

 

It’s not a musical unless there's music. The program lists fourteen songs in the first act, most with production numbers, and eight songs in the second. Credit to Music Director Susan Finnigan and her musicians for this large body of work. 

 

The Addams Family runs until August 15th, 2026, at the Hill Country Galleria outdoors in Bee Cave, Texas. It is highly recommended for all, especially families. Show dates and times and additional credits and information about the show can be found on the Magnolia Musical Theatre website. Admission is free, but if you arrive late, you're likely to find it as jammed as a sold-out performance. 

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The Addams Family
by Lippa, Brickman, and Elice
Magnolia Musical Theatre

July 15 - August 15, 2026

Hill Country Galleria, Bee Cave\

The Central Lawn and Pavilion

Hill Country Galleria, 12700 Hill Country Blvd, Bee Cave, TX 78738

Show Dates & Times

• Run: July 15 - August 15, 2026
• Schedule: Wednesday through Saturday nights
• Time: All performances begin at 8:00 PM

Admission: FREEI

In keeping with our mission to bring professional-grade musical theatre to the community, admission is completely free. No tickets are required-just bring your family, your friends, and your sense of humor.