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‘Addams Family’ and ‘Addams Family Values’ scores by Marc Shaiman—listen now

Chris Well

“Marc Shaiman graced it with his wonderfully lush and wacky score…”

The Addams Family, created by cartoonist Charles Addams in 1938, were adapted into a pair of movies directed by Barry Sonnenfeld in the early 1990s. The Addams Family was released in 1991, and Addams Family Values in 1993. The cast included Anjelica Huston (Morticia), Raul Julia (Gomez), Christopher Lloyd (Uncle Fester), Christina Ricci (Wednesday), Jimmy Workman (Pugsley), Judith Malina (Grandmama), and Carel Struycken (Lurch).

The video playlist below includes the score for both films, written by Marc Shaiman. The Addams Family: Soundtrack also included music by Duke Ellington, Irving Mills, and Saxie Dowell.

“The 1991 film, directed by Barry Sonnenfeld of Men in Black fame, is a morbidly bizarre, but wonderfully funny, nod to the grim humor of one Charles Addams, a cartoonist for The New Yorker and other publications,” notes reviewer John Herzog at Soundtrack.Net. “His was a classic sense of the odd, which Sonnenfeld captured perfectly. Of course, the film would not have been nearly as enjoyable had Marc Shaiman not graced it with his wonderfully lush and wacky score to accompany the likes of Morticia, Gomez, Fester, Wednesday, Pugsley, Thing, and Lurch.”

Watch Addams Family on Amazon

Watch Addams Family Values on Amazon

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Addams Family OST

The Addams Family originally appeared in single-panel cartoons, published in The New Yorker over decades. The family has also appeared on television (including both live action and cartoons), in other films (also including animation), in video games, comic books, a stage musical, and more.

Composer Shaiman has written music for lots of films, including musicals Mary Poppins Returns and Hairspray, and films like When Harry Met Sally, City Slickers, and Heart and Souls.

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