My original plan for last night was to come home, fold laundry, and write. Instead I found myself in the cool interior of the 5th Avenue theatre watching the second ever performance of Catch Me If You Can.
The new musical from Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman (Hairspray) is based on the movie that starred Leonardo Dicaprio and Tom Hanks. The book of the musical is by Terence Mann and is about the true story of Frank Abangnale Jr. Before the age of 20, Abangale had forged over $2 million dollars in phony checks, and posed as a PanAm pilot, pediatrician and lawyer.
Being the second performance ever, the show does need some work. Currently it runs almost three hours, but I’m sure that will get trimmed down significantly as the weeks pass. The set is fantastic!. My sister almost stood to applaud just for the the little tiny cartoon airplane that flew across a LCD screen that is the full width of the stage. Bob Mackie designed the costumes that showcased the best of ’60’s fashion.
There are a few huh? moments in the show. The sing-along during “Bury Me Beside the One I Love” and the bump and grind the nurses perform in “Doctor’s Orders.” My brother-in-law, who is a nurse, was a little affronted by this number. And they try to squish a lot of information in the last ten minutes of the show. If they have a three minute song about a check book, then they can do a little bit of a better job about explaining what happened to Abagnale after he was caught.
The cast are all seasoned Broadway performers; Norbert Leo Buts (Wicked, Dirty Rotten Scoundrel), Aaron Tveit (Next to Normal), Tom Wopat (Bo Duke anyone? Chicago), Kerry Butler (Hairspray) just to name a few. All of the performances were excellent, especially when you knew that they had all learned and relearned the material in only the last few weeks. Felicia Finley had the best song with “Fly, Fly Away,” which comes near the end of the show. That is the only disappointing thing about “Fly, Fly Away.”. It’s a fantastic song, only it’s near the end and doesn’t quite flow with the rest of the show. But it’s a really great song.
I love the fact that Seattle is earning a reputation for theatre appreciation. Now we are seeing more and more shows preimiering here first, before making the trek to Broadway. The Wedding Singer, Memphis, Hairspray, Shrek, and even Next to Normal all had their beginnings in the Emerald City.
Long live the theatre!
Catch Me If You Can is running from now until August 16.