Wednesday

Wednesday is an arrangement of the “Main Titles” music of the Netflix TV series, written by Danny Elfman (see below) in 2022. This arrangement was written by Carol Brittin Chambers (see also below) in 2024.

Wednesday is an American supernatural mystery comedy television series based on the character Wednesday Addams from the Addams Family by Charles Addams. Created by Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, it stars Jenna Ortega as the titular character. The series premiered on November 16, 2022 to predominantly positive reviews. Within three weeks of release, it became the second-most watched English-language Netflix series. It received two Golden Globe nominations: Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy and Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy for Ortega. It also won four Primetime Emmy Awards, for Original Main Theme Music, Contemporary Makeup (Non-prosthetic), Contemporary Costume and Production Design. In January 2023, the series was renewed for a second season, which is scheduled to premiere in 2025.

The show’s premise: Wednesday Addams is expelled from her school after dumping live piranhas into the school's pool in retaliation for the boys' water polo team bullying her brother, Pugsley. Consequently, her parents Gomez and Morticia Addams enroll her at their high school alma mater Nevermore Academy, a private school for monstrous outcasts, in the town of Jericho, Vermont. Wednesday's cold, emotionless personality and her defiant nature make it difficult for her to connect with her schoolmates and cause her to run afoul of the school's principal. However, she discovers she has inherited her mother's psychic abilities, which allow her to solve a local murder mystery.

Four of the first seasons’ episodes were directed by Tim Burton. In December 2021, it was reported that longtime Burton collaborator Danny Elfman joined the series to compose the original theme and co-compose its score with Chris Bacon. In addition to the Primetime Emmy, the theme music was nominated for Best Main Title Theme for a TV Show/Limited Series by the Hollywood Music in Media Award in 2022, but lost to the theme music for the American thriller drama Yellowjackets.

Daniel (Danny) Robert Elfman (b. 1953) is an American film composer, singer, songwriter, and musician. He came to prominence as the lead vocalist and primary songwriter for the new wave band Oingo Boingo in the early 1980s. Since scoring his first studio film in 1985, Elfman has garnered international recognition for composing over 100 feature film scores, as well as compositions for television, stage productions, and the concert hall.

Elfman has frequently worked with directors Tim Burton, Sam Raimi, and Gus Van Sant, contributing music to nearly 20 Burton projects, including Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, Beetlejuice, Batman, Edward Scissorhands, Batman Returns, Mars Attacks!, Sleepy Hollow, Big Fish and Alice in Wonderland, as well as scoring Raimi’s Darkman, A Simple Plan, Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2, Oz the Great and Powerful, and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and Van Sant’s Academy Award-winning films Good Will Hunting and Milk. He wrote music for all of the Men in Black and Fifty Shades of Grey franchise films, the songs and score for Henry Selick's animated musical The Nightmare Before Christmas, and the themes for the popular television series Desperate Housewives and The Simpsons.

Among his honors are four Oscar nominations, three Emmy Awards, a Grammy, seven Saturn Awards for Best Music, the 2002 Richard Kirk Award, the 2015 Disney Legend Award, the Max Steiner Film Music Achievement Award in 2017, and the Society of Composers & Lyricists Lifetime Achievement Award in 2022.

Arranger Carol Brittin Chambers (b. 1970) received a Bachelor of Music Education degree from Texas Tech University and a Master of Music degree in trumpet performance from Northwestern University. She studied under Vincent Cichowicz, Will Strieder, John Paynter, Arnold Jacobs, and James Sudduth.

She is on the music faculty at Texas Lutheran University, teaching composition and serving as Composer in Residence. Before coming to TLU, Chambers taught band for many years in the North East Independent School District, in San Antonio, Texas. She was an assistant band director at Ed White Middle School, Lee High School, and Bush Middle School.

Chambers is the composer and owner of Aspenwood Music, LLC. She is commissioned each year to compose and arrange works for concert band, marching band, orchestra, and various other ensembles. Her concert works have been selected to the J.W. Pepper Editor’s Choice List and the Bandworld Top 100 and have been performed at state educator conferences across the country, including the Midwest Clinic in Chicago. She has arranged and orchestrated marching shows for numerous high school and college bands across the country, as well as The Crossmen Drum Corps.

Ms. Chambers was named the winner of the 2019 WBDI (Women Band Directors International) Composition Competition.

The music for Wednesday was purchased for The Gateway Concert Band by

Justin and Lisa Jones in honor of Carmen Jones.