When You're An Addams
Encyclopedia
"When You're an Addams" is the opening number of The Addams Family
musical. The music and lyrics are written by Andrew Lippa
. The last lines are reprised in the curtain call
.
, as the curtain rises on a graveyard where the Addams family has gathered. Gomez
explains that they are there to honor the cycle of life and death, and also to celebrate what it means when you're an Addams. The music has started at this point, and Gomez is eventually joined by his wife Morticia
, and after a few more stanzas, the entire family is singing. They then call upon their ancestors to join them in this celebration, which involves line dancing, the bunny hop
, the twist
, and rigor mortis
. The last lines, which are among the most well known from the musical, are as follows:
It's family first, and family last,
And family by and by!
When you're an Addams,
The standard answers don't apply!
When you're an Addams,
You do what Addams do or die!
saying that "When You're an Addams" "is more lighthearted and generic", and Stephen Rader's review saying that it "presents all of the family members to us as we know and love them from the TV series and subsequent movies." The song was nominated for a Broadway.com Audience Award for Favorite New Broadway Song.
The Addams Family (musical)
The Addams Family is a musical comedy with music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa and a book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice. The show is based upon The Addams Family characters created by Charles Addams in his single-panel gag cartoons, which depict a ghoulish American family with an affinity for...
musical. The music and lyrics are written by Andrew Lippa
Andrew Lippa
Andrew Lippa is an American composer, lyricist, book writer, performer, and producer. He is a resident artist at the Ars Nova Theater in New York City.-Biography:...
. The last lines are reprised in the curtain call
Curtain call
A curtain call occurs at the end of a performance when individuals return to the stage to be recognized by the audience for their performance. In musical theater, the performers typically recognize the orchestra and its conductor at the end of the curtain call...
.
Plot
When you're an Addams takes place immediately after the overtureOverture
Overture in music is the term originally applied to the instrumental introduction to an opera...
, as the curtain rises on a graveyard where the Addams family has gathered. Gomez
Gomez Addams
Gomez Addams is the fictional patriarch of The Addams Family, created by cartoonist Charles Addams for The New Yorker magazine in the 1930s....
explains that they are there to honor the cycle of life and death, and also to celebrate what it means when you're an Addams. The music has started at this point, and Gomez is eventually joined by his wife Morticia
Morticia Addams
Morticia A. Addams is the fictional matriarch of "The Addams Family", created by cartoonist Charles Addams and based on his first wife Barbara .Morticia is the wife of Gomez Addams and mother of Wednesday Addams and Pugsley Addams...
, and after a few more stanzas, the entire family is singing. They then call upon their ancestors to join them in this celebration, which involves line dancing, the bunny hop
Bunny hop (dance)
The bunny hop is a novelty dance that was created at Balboa High School of San Francisco in 1952. It is a social mixer dance, sometimes also referred to as a "party" or "dance party" dance....
, the twist
Twist (dance)
The Twist was a dance inspired by rock and roll music. It became the first worldwide dance craze in the early 1960s, enjoying immense popularity among young people and drawing fire from critics who felt it was too provocative. It inspired dances such as the Jerk, the Pony, the Watusi, the Mashed...
, and rigor mortis
Rigor mortis
Rigor mortis is one of the recognizable signs of death that is caused by a chemical change in the muscles after death, causing the limbs of the corpse to become stiff and difficult to move or manipulate...
. The last lines, which are among the most well known from the musical, are as follows:
It's family first, and family last,
And family by and by!
When you're an Addams,
The standard answers don't apply!
When you're an Addams,
You do what Addams do or die!
Reception
Overall, the song was better well-received than the original opening number, Clandango, with Patrick Healy of The New York TimesThe New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
saying that "When You're an Addams" "is more lighthearted and generic", and Stephen Rader's review saying that it "presents all of the family members to us as we know and love them from the TV series and subsequent movies." The song was nominated for a Broadway.com Audience Award for Favorite New Broadway Song.