THEATRE: Neil Simon Theatre, New York
DATE: 10-05-2011
TIME: 20:00
WITH: Aaron Tveit, Norbert Leo Butz, Tom Wopat, Rachel de Benedet, Linda Hart, Nick Wyman, Rachelle Rak, Angie Schworer
DIRECTOR: Jack O’Brien
CHOREOGRAPHER: Jerry Mitchell
“Catch Me If You Can,” the entertaining 13 million dollar musical from the team behind “Hairspray,” closed yesterday on Broadway. It received mixed reviews and failed to generate a big enough audience to turn a profit. In the end it only played for 32 previews and 170 regular performances. This despite starring rising musical star Aaron Tveit, being Tony-nominated for Best Musical and landing Norbert Leo Butz the Best Actor Tony. Its early demise is a shame, because there is a lot to like in this amazing real-life tale of the ultimate con-teen: Frank Abagnale Jr.
Abagnale’s life story was first turned into a jazzy film by Steven Spielberg and starred Leonardo DiCaprio as Frank and Tom Hanks as FBI agent Frank Hanratty, who chases him across the globe. By the age of 21 Frank had already forged millions of dollars in checks and pretended to be a pilot, doctor and lawyer. His attraction to uniforms was not addressed in the film, but is in the musical’s book by Terrence McNally (Ragtime, Kiss of the Spider-Woman) and Brian Yorkey (Next To Normal). This is incidentally one of the weaknesses of the book. It tries to explain a bit too much in pop-psychology terms. Frank would probably have worked better as a character with a bit more mystery about him.
Aaron Tveit as Frank Abagnale Jr.
The show starts at an airport where Frank (Aaron Tveit) is about to be arrested by the FBI. Just then he freezes the proceedings and starts to tell his life story as if on a TV variety show of the 1960s. Everything that follows hereon in adheres to this concept, from David Rockwell’s set (that has the band on stage) to Jerry Mitchell’s choreography. As Ben Brantley pointed out in the New York Times this conceptual framing is not unlike the musical Chicago’s use of vaudeville. The concept fit Chicago’s story much better though.
‘Live in Living color' sings the unreliable narrator ‘sit back and let me be your tv-guide’. This conceptual framing might have sounded great on paper, but it has kind of limited the creativity of the show. As it turns out the style of variety show music is not the most theatrical and has not inspired Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman to write their best score. Jack O’Brien’s slick production and the songs are often at their strongest when deviating from the concept.
Norbert Leo Butz as Carl Hanratty with his FBI posse
Catch Me would be d.o.a. without a great Abagnale and fortunately Aaron Tveit, who was also sensational in Next To Normal, rises to the occasion. With great charm, incredible energy, and vocal agility he brings to life a master chameleon. His character’s fate is torn between the two men in his life - his n’er-do-well dad (a solid Tom Wopat) and agent Hanratty (Norbert Leo Butz) - who are at opposite ends of the law. The show makes this theme of fathers and sons crystal clear.
Father and son Abagnale: Tveit & Tom Wopat
In the end Tveit was able to move me during one of the best songs of the score, ‘Goodbye,’ in which he sheds his fake skins and for the first time faces a future as himself. Here the score totally ignores the concept of ‘60s variety show music and immediately carries much more dramatic weight than most of the other songs.
The other great song – ‘Don’t Break The Rules’ - is sucker punched by Norbert Leo Butz. His creation of obsessive agent Carl Hanratty is a work of art. Most of the show he moves around – in bad suits and leading with his belly – as if gravity is pulling at him hard. In the song mentioned, however, as he gets to explain his m.o. Butz sings and dances as if there’s no tomorrow. It has inspired Jerry Mitchell’s choreography to great heights and has Butz jumping, stomping and shaking his hips (in character) which brings down the house. Finally, I know what it is like to experience a showstopper (which I’ve only read about in the past)! Butz also has great chemistry with Tveit, which really works to the show’s advantage as Hanratty is supposed to be a sort of surrogate father in the end.
Norbert Leo Butz stopping the show with 'Don't Break the Rules'
The first act finale takes a courageous stand, for a big commercial show, by ending on a subtle note instead of with a big bang (like for example Defying Gravity in Wicked). It definitely pays off dramatically. It’s Christmas and the bond between chaser and chased is cemented when Frank calls Carl at work out of loneliness. As they cynically sing ‘Christmas is My Favorite Time of Year’ the two discover they have a lot in common and Hanratty also finally realises that the master criminal he is chasing is: a kid!
There is not a lot of room for other characters besides the three males. Rachel de Benedet, however, makes a strong impression as Frank’s glamorous French mother, but Kerry Butler (who was so great in Xanadu) is wasted in the underdeveloped role of Frank’s love interest in the second act. This love story, which takes place when Frank is pretending to be a doctor, has no great music to give it weight and actually slows down the pacing of act 2. Perhaps it would have worked better if Butler’s role had been introduced earlier in the show. In any case the story only really works when the focus is on the bromance between Abaganale and Hanratty. The chorus is A-okay and has lots of great leggy dames, like Rachelle Rak and Angie Schworer (who was a great Ula in The Producers), to support the many production numbers.
Tveit & Kerry Butler
Despite a couple of crucial flaws I enjoyed Catch Me a lot. O’Brien’s production moves along winningly and I enjoyed the great performances by the likes of Butz, Wopat and Tveit. It is far from a perfect show, but it deserved a longer run. This is incidentally the second big O’Brien helmed musical to close in close succession, the other being the Phantom sequel Love Never Dies in London. A sign of (economic) times or were the shows just not good enough?
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