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Review of The Addams Family (Marc Shaiman)

1991 Capitol

2014 La-La Land

FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:

Buy it... if you appreciate Marc Shaiman's distinct sense of humor and ability to combine the legacy of this concept's music with a smart parody score led by a memorably romantic waltz.

Avoid it... if your tolerance of zany, thematically haphazard cartoon music cannot sustain your interest in even the more whimsically dramatic highlights of Shaiman's work.

FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:

The Addams Family: (Marc Shaiman) Despite enduring popularity of the original "Addams Family" print cartoon and the 1960's television spin-off, a live-action movie continuing the concept took decades to develop. Even the production of 1991's The Addams Family, once underway, was hit with a series of odd medical maladies with its crew and was feared to be a flop, spurring its studio to sell the property halfway through. The intent of the adaptation was to return to the tone, story, and look of the original print cartoon, nodding to the television show a few times along the way. There was at one point the intent to play up the macabre elements, especially as Tim Burton was originally approached to direct. But with Barry Sonnenfeld taking the helm instead, The Addams Family remained faithful to the concept and relied on the romance and suspense of its story rather than pure comedy. The famed family of morbid obsessions deals with the identity crisis of Uncle Fester in this tale, a swindler placing his adopted monster in Fester's place as part of a scheme to steal the Addams' fortune. Despite popular dissatisfaction with this storyline, the movie was an immense financial success and spurred Paramount to produce a better-received sequel two years later that took a darker and funnier route to, ironically, lesser success. While widespread expectations postulated that Danny Elfman was destined to score The Addams Family, the assignment went to an ascendant Marc Shaiman, who had a few major features already to his name and was perfect for this assignment due to his Broadway sensibilities. The music of this franchise has always been a combination of slapstick orchestral comedy, Eastern European romance, and outright bizarre song and dance. This blend was natural for Shaiman's sense of humor, and his music for both this film and the sequel are fondly admired. Some of the song placements in these films are original compositions, and in the case of The Addams Family, they're insufferable but serve their purpose. The movies also inspired some of the worst mainstream album-headlining songs of the 1990's; in this first movie, that disgraceful performance was by MC Hammer for the awful "Addams Groove." Thankfully, the bulk of Shaiman's instrumentals for his The Addams Family scores bypass those horrendous diversions.

Shaiman spreads the credit for his triumph on The Addams Family to his stage and pop influences, as well as his team of orchestrators that, perhaps not surprisingly, included a few regular Elfman collaborators. Listeners can expect the tone of the score to remain fairly consistent in its lightly affable nature, but the execution of each theme, as well as the source-like applications, keep the whole totally unpredictable. The nimble symphonic sound is eerily similar to a vintage Elfman work in several passages, though Shaiman does take the humor far closer to Carl Stalling cartoon traditions. Vitally, the composer also credits Vic Mizzy's theme for the 1960's show for much of his success, Shaiman incorporating the idea into just a few cues but maximizing the impact from those placements. Most listeners will remember Shaiman's music for his gorgeously enticing and absolutely perfect waltz leading the themes for the score. That main theme is largely for Morticia Addams and the romance between her and Gomez Addams, though the composer also supplies a number of other themes for the picture. Along with the main waltz, Shaiman offers an idea for the family as a whole, a melancholy identity for the Addams daughter, Wednesday, a mysterious motif for Uncle Fester, a brotherly love theme of sorts for Fester and Gomez, and an underutilized tango for Gomez himself. Lesser motifs for fright and humor recur as well, though these moments are mostly confined to stinger status. The main waltz is the primary attraction, though, introduced directly after the Mizzy theme in "Main Title" and developing further in the middle of "Morning." The waltz continues briefly at the start of "Bermuda Love/Fester Snoops," turns ominous early in "Take It Off/Family Plotz" as suspicion builds, becoming agonized for effect, and flows romantically at 1:36 into "Evening" as it builds to a big flourish, a definite highlight of the score. It opens "A Party... For Me?" darkly as a variant for suspicions about Fester, its solo violin version returning at 0:50 and shifting into full dance mode. The waltz caps off "Finding Wednesday" with relief, becomes tentative in the first minute of "The Rescue" (chopped to fragments in later action but adapted very well through the emotions of the cue), and closes out "Finale" with style and Broadway-appropriate flair. The main waltz may get the most attention, but Shaiman's other themes do much of the score's heavy lifting, including the family theme that may be a bit elusive for some listeners, as it goes through the most variation in the work.

The family's theme by Shaiman for The Addams Family remains prickly throughout "Morning," opening the cue with brisk plucking and returning at 0:43 and 2:18 before achieving some pomp at the end of the cue. It's boldly announced at 0:26 into "Tully's Entrance/For Fester," runs through several tones in "Open & Enter Vault/Fester Sees Gold/Gold Gliss," shifts to melodrama at 1:56 into "Take It Off/Family Plotz," and enjoys several pretty renditions in the first half of "Evening." The family theme opens "Pugsley Platter" delicately, becoming triumphant late, and is applied in fragments throughout "Trio Bungled/Pep Talk." It becomes frantic in action mode in the middle of "The Rescue" and provides a playful interlude at 1:32 into "Finale." Perhaps even more obscure is the theme of sadness for Wednesday, heard very briefly at 0:54 into "Bermuda Love/Fester Snoops" and hinted early in "Thing at Door" before transitioning to optimism at the start of "Finale." Joining these ideas is a synthetically eerie Fester motif for his potentially murky intentions, heard at 0:14 into "Morning," 2:19 into "Tully & Fester," and 6:12 into "The Rescue." A lighter, downbeat waltz identity for Fester, one connected to his relationship with Gomez, debuts at 2:44 into "Family Plotz" and prances through the middle of "A Party... For Me?" before being boiled down to pretty woodwinds late in that cue. This brotherly love theme is carried by violin and clarinet with sorrow throughout "Fester Exposed" and achieves peace at 0:49 into "Finale." The Gomez tango theme is sadly diminished by Shaiman, its use in "Chess" and at 1:07 into "Seances and Swordfights" with more zeal being the only major appearances of the idea; the composer used the main waltz melody rather than this theme for the famous tango scene in The Addams Family Values. That sequel makes the most use of the three main themes (waltz, family, and Wednesday), and the two scores should ideally be combined into one listening experience. They are joined more frequently by the Mizzy theme in the sequel, too, whereas here it is relegated to three cues, including its wonderfully full treatment in "Finale." (Shaiman uses the melody in almost identical fashion to close out both films.) Overall, The Addams Family is a highly likeable parody-influenced score. Some of the source-like material is extremely challenging; the klezmer and circus attitude of "Mamushka" is brilliant but unlistenable. The "Playmates" song is not as brilliant but equally unlistenable. But the waltz will win your heart, and a limited, expanded La-La Land Records album from 2014 provides the best narrative and includes the waltz's humorous prancing through the second half of "Addams Family Theatrical Trailer." Shaiman endures with Mizzy as the musical voice of the concept.  ****

TRACK LISTINGS:

1991 Capitol Album:
Total Time: 40:48

• 1. Deck the Halls/Main Title* (2:19) • 2. Morning (2:54) • 3. Seances and Swordfights (1:38) • 4. Playmates - performed by The Kipper Kids (0:25) • 5. Family Plotz (3:54) • 6. The Mooche - written by Duke Ellington and Irving Mills (3:31) • 7. Evening (3:12) • 8. A Party... For Me? (5:21) • 9. Mamushka - performed by Raul Julia and Christopher Lloyd (3:30) • 10. Thing Gets Work (0:56) • 11. Fester Exposed (2:05) • 12. The Rescue* (8:04) • 13. Finale* (2:59)

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2014 La-La Land Album:
Total Time: 70:23

• 1. Carol of the Bells*/The Fa-La-La Song**/Deck the Halls** (1:08) • 2. Main Title*** (1:50) • 3. Morning (2:55) • 4. Chess* (1:02) • 5. Tully's Entrance*/For Fester* (1:01) • 6. Seances and Swordfights** (1:43) • 7. The Tully Crawl*/Gone With the Wind*/Tully & Fester* (2:48) • 8. Bermuda Love*/Fester Snoops* (1:15) • 9. Thing at Door* (1:39) • 10. Playmates - performed by The Kipper Kids (0:25) • 11. Open & Enter Vault*/Fester Sees Gold*/Gold Gliss* (1:40) • 12. The Mooche - written by Duke Ellington and Irving Mills (3:32) • 13. Take It Off*/Family Plotz (4:15) • 14. Evening (3:14) • 15. A Party... For Me? (5:21) • 16. Pre-Mamushka Violin* (0:32) • 17. Mamushka** - performed by Raul Julia and Christopher Lloyd (3:35) • 18. Pugsley Platter*/Search*/Finding Wednesday* (1:48) • 19. I Am That Fool!* (Unused) (0:19) • 20. Fester Exposed (2:05) • 21. Trio Bungled*/Pep Talk* (1:15) • 22. Thing Gets to Work* (Film Version) (0:37) • 23. The Rescue**/*** (8:45) • 24. Finale**/*** (3:22) Bonus Tracks: (13:40) • 25. Pre-Seance*/Seance Music* (2:03) • 26. Playmates* (Instrumental) (0:25) • 27. Thing Gets to Work (Album Version) (0:58) • 28. Addams Family Theatrical Trailer* (1:11) • 29. Mamushka* (Instrumental and Choir) (3:35) • 30. Waltz Potpourri* (Themes Demo) (4:54)

NOTES & QUOTES:

The insert of the 1991 Capitol album includes no extra information about the score or film. That of the 2014 La-La Land album offers extensive information about both.

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The reviews and other textual content contained on the filmtracks.com site may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Christian Clemmensen at Filmtracks Publications. All artwork and sound clips from The Addams Family are Copyright © 1991, 2014, Capitol Records, La-La Land Records and cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 3/4/22 (and not updated significantly since).