Surely the decision took all of two seconds: Whom to cast as Morticia in the new musical The Addams Family? Who else but pale, raven-haired, two-time Tony Award–winner Bebe Neuwirth? The musical-theater vet stars opposite Nathan Lane in the musical based on the Charles Addams cartoons, which, after premiering in Chicago, will make its Broadway debut in March. Neuwirth recently called before a day of tech rehearsal.
Time Out Chicago: I was at a drag show last night, and the very first performer was Morticia Addams. You must realize your Morticia will inspire drag queens for years to come.
Bebe Neuwirth: [Laughs] Morticia is archetypal, so I’m not at all surprised somebody’s doing her. She’s—somebody said something about being goth, but I thought, Well, she’s goth before there was goth. People expect me to wear black nail polish, but that’s more what goth has become. That’s a little bit too obvious.
TOC: Well, I’m sure you’ll at least be a much more attractive Morticia than this guy was.
BN: Oh, I don’t know. I’ve seen some very beautiful drag queens.
TOC: It did raise a larger question: What’s it like to create a character who’s already so deeply etched in the popular imagination?
If you’re gonna play an archetype, you have to make her specific for you: What specific qualities are there for you to play?
TOC: So how do you answer that question here?
BN: Well, that’s a question I would prefer not to answer. [Laughs]
TOC: Why’s that?
BN: Because when you’re working on a character, there are aspects that, for me as an actress, I prefer not to talk about with anyone because it dissipates the energy and the focus…. I actually haven’t told my husband anything about the show because—
TOC: Your own husband?
BN: Yeah. That’s really hard.
TOC: You’re that private about it.
BN: Well, it’s not that I’m—it’s not the privacy—well, yeah, I am. But I want it to be a surprise for him; it’s so beautiful, and the directors’ vision is so great.
TOC: So when he asks, “How was your day, honey?” what do you say?
BN: I say, “There’s a moment when something happens, and this person says something, and I was having trouble saying this—something—in response.” [Laughs]
TOC: I read you guys got married just this year—how’d you cross paths?
BN: I was invited by my acting teacher who’s now a friend, a woman I’d known for 30 years, she invited me to her daughter’s art-show opening. So I was chatting with a cute guy there, you know, like you do. We were both very shy, so we just sort of parted ways. As I was leaving, my friend said, “I’d like you to meet my stepson.” And it was the guy.
TOC: Your Morticia gets to show off her gams. After dancing since age five, how’s dancing at age 50?
BN: Dancing at 50 is really great. I have two titanium-steel hips now. If I hadn’t had hip replacements, I probably wouldn’t be able to dance. I can’t kick my face anymore, but…
TOC: What happened to your hips?
BN: Arthritis. And I probably would’ve had it anyway. When I was born, they put casts on my legs ’cause I had some kind of dysplasia or something. My legs were all messed up.
TOC: It’s hard to believe just looking at you. Which reminds me of that Will & Grace episode when Jack says to you, “You’ve got the body of a 14-year-old Korean gymnast.”
BN: And I say, “Yeah, I get that a lot!”
TOC: In that scene, Jack and Karen can’t believe you’re anyone but Lilith Sternin-Crane. Were you concerned playing Morticia would strengthen people’s perception of you as this ice-queen Lilith-like figure?
BN: No, no, no, that’s their problem. They’re different characters. You know, I played Velma in Chicago, and I came off the stage and some woman said, “I didn’t know Lilith could dance.” So, you know, what are you gonna do about that? I’m playing a vaudevillian who kills her sister and her husband with an ice pick, and a woman says, “I didn’t know Lilith could dance”!
TOC: And now someone will say, “I didn’t know Lilith was a goth chick.”
BN: [Laughs] I don’t know. All I can do is make this character the best I can, as truthfully as possible, and hope the audience has a good time. There’s always one person who can’t get past something, but people like that are in the minority. Also, you know, I’m a pretty good actress.
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