'Addams Family' headed to B'way in 2010

NEW YORK, July 23 (UPI) -- "The Addams Family," a new stage musical starring Bebe Neuwirth and Nathan Lane, is scheduled to open on Broadway next April, show representatives said.

Based on the bizarre and beloved family of characters created by cartoonist Charles Addams, the musical is set to open April 8 at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre in Manhattan.

Previews are to begin March 4, following a pre-Broadway engagement at the Ford Center for the Performing Arts, Oriental Theatre in Chicago, which begins Nov. 13.

Neuwirth and Lane will play leads Morticia and Gomez Addams. The "Addams Family" cast also includes Terrence Mann, Carolee Carmello, Kevin Chamberlin, Jackie Hoffman, Zachary James, Adam Riegler, Wesley Taylor and Krysta Rodriguez.

The show features a book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice; music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa; direction and design by Phelim McDermott and Julian Crouch; and choreography by Sergio Trujillo.

"In this original story, the famously macabre Addams Family is put to the test when outsiders come to dinner, hurling Gomez, Morticia, Wednesday, Pugsley, Fester, Grandmama and Lurch headlong into a night that will change the family forever," representatives of the show said in a release.