Let's Not Talk About Anything Else But Love (Reprise) Lyrics — Addams Family, The

Song Overview

Review and Highlights

Quick summary

• What it is: A 50-second comic button that snaps the Act II argument about love into a punchline.
• Where it sits: Immediately after "Let us Not Talk About Anything Else But Love," before "In the Arms."
• Who performs it on the 2010 cast album: Jackie Hoffman, Nathan Lane, Kevin Chamberlin.
• Cast album anchor: Released June 8, 2010, with the recording session reported for April 19, 2010.
• Why it matters: It resets the room - then the show can pivot to Mal and Alice without dragging the prior scene's heat.

The Addams Family (2010) - stage musical - non-diegetic. Act II, the grotto. The men have just tried to bully Mal into admitting affection, and the reprise arrives like a stagehand with a broom: sweep, sweep, sweep. It is short on purpose. The laugh is not dessert, it is a palate cleanser.

The best theater buttons do not beg for attention. They take it. This one is a quick flare of Grandma energy - a reminder that the Addams household treats intimacy as a sport, and propriety as a rumor. The prior number argues about love like it is policy. The reprise answers: no, it is a compulsion. That shift is the joke.

Key takeaways

• It turns a debate scene into something with a clean exit line.
• It keeps Act II pace brisk by refusing to linger.
• It frames "In the Arms" as relief rather than a sudden mood swing.

Creation History

According to Playbill, the original Broadway cast recording was released June 8, 2010, and the same outlet reported the cast headed into the studio on April 19. That matters because a tiny reprise like this is the kind of thing a team often sharpens late - it is easy to add, easy to trim, and hard to get exactly right. Wikipedia even notes this reprise was not listed on the original production playbill, which fits the way small scene-tags sometimes appear as a run settles into its rhythm.

Song Meaning and Annotations

Plot

Act II is the night after the dinner blowup. Wednesday and Lucas prove their trust, then the show moves to Mal and Alice. The grotto scene pushes Mal to stop treating affection like a weakness. Right when the argument has done its job, the reprise pops in, punctures the seriousness, and tees up the next turn: Mal and Alice head into "In the Arms" with the pressure released.

Song Meaning

The reprise is the musical winking at its own premise. If the full song is a comedy of denial, the reprise is denial getting tackled by the house itself. Grandma is the wild card: she hears the forbidden word and pounces. In a show where secrets fuel the plot, the reprise is the smallest possible confession - love keeps leaking out, no matter how sternly anyone tries to change the subject.

Annotations

No user annotations were provided, so these notes focus on how the lyric works onstage and on record.

Did I just hear the word love?

That is not curiosity, it is a bell. The line tells the audience the topic is not settled - it is contagious. Onstage, it can be tossed off as a bark, but it still reads as a theme statement.

But love - but love - nothing but love.

The repetition is the device and the punchline. After Mal tries to intellectualize, the reprise reduces everything to a single fixation. It is the Addams method: take a polite concept, make it obsessive, and call that honesty.

Style and rhythm

Even without a long melody to develop, the reprise borrows the swing-tilted feel of the larger number. The phrasing is clipped and quick - a tag, not a verse. Think vaudeville timing: arrive late, leave early, and let the audience do the rest.

What it tells us about character

Grandma does not soften the scene, she sharpens it. She treats the word like a trigger, which is funny, but it also exposes the Beineke rulebook. In this family, emotion is not embarrassing - it is ammunition.

Technical Information (Quick Facts)

• Artist: Jackie Hoffman, Nathan Lane, Kevin Chamberlin
• Featured: Cast orchestra
• Composer: Andrew Lippa
• Producer: Andrew Lippa (cast album)
• Release Date: June 8, 2010
• Genre: Musical theatre; stage and screen
• Instruments: Voices; orchestra
• Label: Decca Broadway
• Mood: Quick; sly; comic button
• Length: 0:50
• Track #: 17 (Original Broadway Cast Recording)
• Language: English
• Album (if any): The Addams Family - Original Broadway Cast Recording
• Music style: Swing-tag reprise designed as a scene exit
• Poetic meter: Speech-led phrasing with repeated hook

Frequently Asked Questions

Who sings the reprise on the cast album?

Major track listings credit Jackie Hoffman with Nathan Lane and Kevin Chamberlin on the 50-second track.

How long is it?

Fifty seconds - it is designed as a tag, not a full number.

Where does it go in Act II?

Right after the trio "Let us Not Talk About Anything Else But Love," before "In the Arms."

What is its job in the story?

To puncture the argument and clear the air so the next relationship scene can land without strain.

Is it different from the touring versions?

Yes. A widely used synopsis notes the national tour reworked Act II substantially and cut the main Act II trio, shifting some lyric material into Act I.

Why is Grandma associated with this reprise?

A Broadway musical-numbers listing attributes the reprise to Grandma alongside Gomez and Fester, matching its function as a comic interruption.

Was it on the original production playbill list?

A reference listing notes it was not included on the original show playbill, which suggests it functioned as a later-added tag or a change in documentation.

When did the cast album come out?

Playbill reports the original Broadway cast recording release date as June 8, 2010.

Awards and Chart Positions

The reprise itself is not tracked as a charting single, but the show and its recording left public footprints. As stated on the Tony Awards site, The Addams Family was a 2010 nominee for Original Musical Score (music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa). And a Billboard Top Cast Albums recap published by BroadwayWorld lists the Original Broadway Cast Recording at number 2 for the week ending June 19, 2010.

Additional Info

Here is a small theater truth I have seen play out in rehearsal rooms: a tag only survives if it earns its keep. This one does, because it solves a practical problem. Act II needs to glide from a loud, argumentative trio into a more intimate reconciliation. A 50-second rupture - funny, blunt, slightly unruly - makes that glide possible.

It is also a reminder that "normal" in this musical is not the Beineke standard. It is the Addams standard: speak the uncomfortable thing out loud, then laugh because you dared to name it. Andrew Lippa's official audio page for the score lists the reprise right in sequence with the surrounding tracks, reinforcing how deliberately the album preserves that pacing.

Key Contributors

Sources

Sources: Playbill news: Addams Family Cast Album Released June 8; Playbill news: Addams Family Troupers Will Record Cast Album April 19; Wikipedia: The Addams Family (musical) (Act II synopsis, musical numbers list, note about the reprise listing); IBDB: The Addams Family (Broadway) (opening date and awards record); Tony Awards nominees page (2010 Original Musical Score); BroadwayWorld recap of Billboard Top Cast Albums (week ending June 19, 2010); YouTube audio upload S1T7I_yK6eo; AndrewLippa.com audio track list; cede.de track listing (track number and duration)