Wednesday Addams has come home to Philadelphia for Halloween season, and she is played by a 17-year-old from Malvern making her debut on one of the oldest stages in America. The Addams Family: The Musical opened Walnut Street Theatre's 218th Mainstage season, running through November 1.
According to Walnut Street Theatre, previews began September 22 and the show officially opened September 30. The Philadelphia staging stars Damon Bonetti as Gomez Addams and Lindsey Bliven as Morticia Addams, with Malvern high school student Abbie Parker stepping into the lead role of Wednesday Addams for her Walnut Street Theatre debut, as reported by Billy Penn. PHL17 also introduced the production's stars in its own coverage of the show's arrival, noting the production is available to see live now.
Parker has stage experience at Salt Performing Arts in Chester Springs despite her age. She won a 2024 Philadelphia Barrymore Award for Outstanding Leading Performance in a Musical for her performance in Fun Home, credentials that now precede her as she takes on one of musical theater's most recognizable goth teenagers.
A Creative Team With Deep Walnut Street Roots
The production is helmed by returning director and choreographer Richard Stafford, with music direction by Chris Burcheri and costume design by Mary Folino, according to Walnut Street Theatre. Stafford previously directed Jersey Boys and Mamma Mia at the venue, giving this staging continuity with the theater's recent Mainstage history.
The Addams Family kicks off a five-show 2026–2027 Mainstage lineup at Walnut Street Theatre that also includes Disney's Frozen: The Broadway Musical, David Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross, Noël Coward's Present Laughter, and Come From Away, the theater notes. The season marks Producing Artistic Director Bernard Havard's 44th season at the helm.
From New Yorker Cartoons to the Lunt-Fontanne Stage
The musical traces back to single-panel cartoons created in 1938 by Charles Addams for The New Yorker, with the stage adaptation's book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice and music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa, per Walnut Street Theatre. It marked the first stage adaptation of the cartoon franchise.
The original Broadway production opened at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre in April 2010 starring Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth, running for 722 performances before closing in December 2011 and earning two Tony Award nominations, according to Playbill's account of the show's history. That production grossed over $62 million during its original run.
Staging a Broadway Hit Inside a National Historic Landmark
Part of the appeal of catching this production locally is the building itself. Founded in 1808 as an equestrian circus before opening in 1809, Walnut Street Theatre is recognized as America's oldest continuously operating theater, a National Historic Landmark, and the Official State Theatre of Pennsylvania, according to Global Philadelphia.
More than two centuries later, Walnut Street Theatre remains a working theater.
For Philadelphia-area theatergoers, the run offers a chance to see a familiar commercial title reimagined with hometown talent at a theater founded in 1808. With performances continuing through November 1, there's still time before the kooky, spooky run packs up its graveyard for the season.
