It has literally been a stretch for Tom Corbeil, an accomplished opera star making his first foray into musical comedy in the national tour of the musical, "The Addams Family" now playing though Sunday, February 26, at the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts in Hartford.
Corbeil plays Lurch, the Addams' formidable, hulking butler whose character is not required to break into an aria in the middle of the Andrew Lippa score and Marshall Brickman & Rick Elice book, but rather grunt or moan at opportune moments. Instead, the 6 foot, 6 inch veteran of such roles as Leporello in Don Giovanni, Colline in La Boheme, and Don Basilio in The Barber of Seville, was looking for an opportunity to branch out. Friends in the Broadway theater, including one who works as choreographer, informed him of auditions for role of Lurch and encouraged him to try out. Corbeil states that once he had a chance to look over the music and book of the show, he was hooked.
But once Corbeil landed the role, he found that would need to stretch again. His 6' 6" frame was a little too short for what the director expected of Lurch. So for the first time in his tall life, Corbeil was fitted with lifts in his shoes to enable him to really tower over his cast mates at 6 11". (Perhaps regular first nighter Jim Calhoun will miss opening night this week!)
Corbeil has now been on his new adventure for about six months. "It's different from opera in that instead of settling down in a community for six weeks of rehearsals followed by a set of performances," he explains, "this tour takes us to a new city each week or two weeks, giving little time to settle into a locality. But you get to see a variety of cities and play eight times a week before enthusiastic audiences."
"It's been really fantastic so far," he adds, "We've had very good houses on each stop of the tour. "The whole Addams Family thing sort of permeates American culture. Even though I was born too late for the television series and was busy in college when the movies came out, it was hard not to be aware of the Addams family, going back to Charles Addams' highly original, mind-original cartoons in the New Yorker."
"Somehow the family has become ingrained into popular culture," he continues. "At the same time, audience are invested in the characters and can relate to them from the moment that the curtain goes up. "
To prepare for the role of Lurch, Corbeil went back and studied the Charles Addams originals from the 50's, 60's and 70's. "Addams was extremely clever," Corbeil mentions. "His cartoons maintain a wonderful balance between the macabre and the charming. He pulls off a mix of the dark humor with the cute, in order to tell the story of an obviously loving family. That's quite a tightrope to walk on for so many years."
He cites in particular the very clear love between Gomez and Morticia, which can progress from a merry tango to something quite sensuous and genuine. At the same time, though Pugsley and Wednesdayoften play practical jokes on each other, there's a real brother-sister bond there.
Although Corbeil doesn't get the opportunity to demonstrate his bass-baritone, he does get to stretch his acting and dancing abilities alongside some established musical theater stars. "Their resumes are incredible," he says of his co-stars who include the famously-flamboyant leading man Douglas Sills (The Scarlet Pumpernickel), Sara Gettelfinger (Dirty Rottten Scoundrels), Christa Moore (Big), Broadway veteran Martin Vidnovic (Baby, A Grand Night for Singing) and Pippa Pearthree (Taking Steps, The Magic Show tour). "Their stage experience is unparalled," he relates. "As a Broadway novice, it's exciting to watch the energy they pour into each scene and see how they bounce and balance off each other to create their scenes."
The touring production has been changed slightly from the New York version, in part to accommodate the needs of the tour and to clarify some plot points. Three new songs have been added, while three from the Broadway version have been jettisoned. But not to worry: renown puppeteer Basil Twist's outlandish, clever creations remain an important part of the show, though some will come as a surprise to folks who saw the show in New York.
Similarly, Corbeil indicates, set designer Julian Crouch, known for his affinity for the Gothic, has adapted the sets for a tour, in some ways recapturing the sinister two-dimensional nature of the original Addams cartoons.
The musician in Corbeil admits great admiration of the work's score. "It runs the gamut from pop to the tango--Gomez's favorite dance--to the Latin sounds of Gomez's ancestors. Uncle Fester's music is filled with whimsy and echoes classic vaudeville songs, for that's where Fester got his start in show business. It's great how the music mirrors the personalities."
Corbeil hopes that his Lurch will come across as an original creation, not merely as a mirror image of what people are used to from either the television series or the films, something each of the actors has attempted. "Lurch is such an iconic character," he states, "that you must respect the original yet be creative enough to offer some surprise and enjoyment to the audience."
Taking on new challenges seems built into Corbeil's blood. A native of San Diego, Corbiel majored in statistics in undergrad school and later obtained a Master's in Old Testament Studies. He started out as a tax accountant and data analyst, but continued singing in church choir something he had done as a child. Toward the end of graduate school, wanted to improve upon his singing ability, he went to a voice coach, herself an opera singer. She recognized his opera-quality voice and was the first to hand him the Leporello role from Don Giovanni to learn. That experience encouraged him to try his hand in opera which he did initially in California and later with opera companies across North America.
He envisions a return to opera on a regular basis in the future, as there is not a a great demand for bass-baritones in Broadway musicals. But at the same time, this 34-year old Broadway baby is going to continue to look for opportunities outside of his comfort zone. "Ten years ago," he says, "if you had said I'd be an opera singer, I would have laughed in your face. After three years dealing with budgets, data management and programming, who'd have thought I'd be singing. And while I was in opera, who thought I'd be on a Broadway tour. Once I left the security of a full-time job and a retirement plan, I learned to make the leap and now, the sky's the limit."
Corbeil can be seen as Lurch in "The Addams Family" the musical playing Tuesday, February 21 through Sunday, February 26 at the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts in Hartford. Visit the Bushnell website at www.bushnell.org or call (860) for the exact schedule and to purchase tickets.
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