'Addams Family' a batty good time

" The Addams Family," which premiered Wednesday at the Ford Center/Oriental Theatre, is a snappy salute to the '60s TV series and '90s movies about a blissfully macabre clan. It ain't Shakespeare, but it's a devilishly good time.

Nathan Lane gives the genial, tango-loving Gomez a sexy Latin twist and Bebe Neuwirth fleshes out the chilly Morticia with human insecurities. All parents can relate when the couple's beloved "bundle of malice" -- daughter Wednesday -- turns 18 and yearns to fly the belfry.

All the classic gags surface in the three-hour, Broadway-bound musical: the undead butler; the foghorn doorbell; helping hand Thing. Familiarity breeds no contempt. When the cast "assumes the position" -- ringing Morticia's trademark wicker peacock chair -- the crowd howled.

Director-designers Phelim McDermott and Julian Crouch pay homage to Charles Addams' sweetly

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