Brooke Shields on Stepping into Bebe Neuwirth’s Addams Family Shoes: ‘I Will Never Try to Replace Her!’

Stage and screen darling Brooke Shields will soon be making a return to Broadway in The Addams Family, stepping into the inky, slinky wardrobe of matriarch Morticia Addams. No easy feat, considering the role was created by two-time Tony winner Bebe Neuwirth. Broadway.com caught up with the statuesque Shields on the opening night red carpet of Sister Act to chat about the preparing to fill those big Broadway shoes on June 28.

“I will never try to replace her!” Shields exclaimed. “Whenever you go in as a replacement, you really can’t try to do what the other person did. They’re so unique and made the part what it is.” Shields knows what she's talking about: in her Broadway career she’s taken over iconic roles like Sally Bowles in Cabaret, Ruth Sherwood in Wonderful Town, Roxie Hart in Chicago and Rizzo in Grease. “We’re just trying to keep the show going,” she laughed.

How is Shields preparing for the role? “I’m just trying to stay in shape and be ready,” she confessed, “I’ve already been emailing [Neuwirth] daily saying, ‘What about the wig? What about this, what about that?’” So has Neuwirth been sharing the secrets of Morticia Addams with Shields? “Only some of them,” Shields joked, “but they’re secrets, so…sorry!”