Catch me if you Can Preview Thread- Page 6

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 3/18/11 at 12:54pm

Sounds like a lot of people are disappointed in this show. If this show lacks excitement and suspense, I can't imagine how dull it would be considering this is a show about a chase. There's so much they could have done in terms of design for this show too. I'm sad they just chose an onstage orchestra. It will be interesting to see what the reviews are like.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 3/18/11 at 1:54pm

I liked his use of the aisles and stuff, but that was only used for the opening and closing scenes. There honestly was no sense of a "chase" happening, other than the fact that the two leads were narrating and telling us that a chase was happening.

[maguli]

Posted: 3/18/11 at 1:57pm

I agree that the use of the aisles was an interesting concept, but I was sitting in the 4th row of the mezzanine and I couldn't see any of it. So that means that a whole chunk of the opening and closing numbers of the show was lost to half of the audience.

Another fail.

[choitoy]

Posted: 3/18/11 at 2:02pm

So I hear that "50 Checks" and "You Gotta Pay For Love" is cut, but is that stupid rehash from Broadway Bares, "Dr.s' Orders" still in the show? I thought that number totally did not mesh at all with the rest of the show (even more so than "Bury Me Beside The One I Love") back when I saw it in Seattle.

[Blockhead24]

Posted: 3/18/11 at 2:04pm

Yes, it is still in it.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 3/18/11 at 2:04pm

Yeah, it opens Act 2. It's not a horrible song in it of itself, but it doesn't really seem of the time period. It has a lot of heavy belting and whatnot.

Also, do we think Frank Jr. would really be riffing? I don't know. Just struck me as false.

[ReggieonBway]

Posted: 3/18/11 at 6:02pm

Yeah, I doubt that Frank Jr. riffs in real life.

[themysteriousgrowl]

Posted: 3/18/11 at 6:07pm

"I liked his use of the aisles and stuff, but that was only used for the opening and closing scenes. There honestly was no sense of a "chase" happening, other than the fact that the two leads were narrating and telling us that a chase was happening."

That... is a REALLY significant problem.

My interest in this show is rapidly going from like 60% to 15%.

[yournamehere]

Posted: 3/18/11 at 7:56pm

This may not be the appropriate place bu I am just curious. I know before demos of certain songs came out, no? I was wondering if any of them were around still.

Was Goodbye one of them?

[kyl3fong2]

Posted: 3/18/11 at 8:38pm

I have all the demo tracks. However the Goodbye demo track is not sung by Aaron Tveit.

[ReggieonBway]

Posted: 3/18/11 at 9:02pm

It's sung by David Campbell... who, quite frankly, sucks.

[yournamehere]

Posted: 3/18/11 at 10:08pm

That's sad. I wanted to hear it as sung by Tveit. It seems like people are very polarized on whether they like it or not. I haven't seen anyone in the middle.

[nuckyblue]

Posted: 3/18/11 at 10:25pm

Add me to the camp of folks who enjoyed the show. I thought it was high-energy, great dancing (I spent a good chunk of the group numbers watching one of the male dancers who I recognized from "Women on the Verge"; adorable!) and very enjoyable. I do agree that a solid 5-10 minutes needs to be lopped off of each act, but it was a great night out in my eyes. I was 4th row orchestra center.

My date said that Norbert was the highlight. I think Aaron, but our age difference is 30 years. Norbert was fabulous, though, and got the loudest ovation of the night for his song in Act 1, "Don't Break The Rules".

[RippedMan]

Posted: 3/18/11 at 11:40pm

See, my problem was the amount of production numbers. The whole concept made it so that every number was a big production number, so to me, the choreography got tiresome. I mean, I can only take so many show girls showing their legs and beveling.

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 3/19/11 at 2:55am

My interest in this show is rapidly going from like 60% to 15%.

Me too. I was actually very interested in seeing this, but after reading about the show, it just does not appeal to me. The whole variety show thing kind of bothers me and I just can't see it working for this show. This may sound silly, but the onstage orchestra just makes me not want to see it. A show like this has an exciting story and needs exciting staging, and it sounds like the design really limits this.

[kyl3fong2]

Posted: 3/19/11 at 3:40am

Can somebody please explain to me how this whole "variety show" thing works? I don't quite understand that concept...

[ILCamper18]

Posted: 3/19/11 at 9:10am

MAYBE SPOILERS AHEAD

The show begins in the airport with Frank getting caught by Hanratty, NLB's character. Before he gets arrested he asks if he can have some last words but Hanratty is worried that he's going to trick everyone again and "put on a show". These words trigger something in Frank's imagination and sees his life as a TV Variety special. He strikes a deal with Hanratty that if he lets him tell his story, he will tell him how he passes the bar in Louisiana, something that Hanratty still couldn't figure out. He agrees and through his imagination, Frank create the TV special and the big band appears and he introduces all the characters of the show including the ensemble or "The Frank Abagnale Jr. Singers and Dancers". Throughout the show, he and Hanratty (and Brenda, only once) refer back to the concept but introducing numbers and characters as they enter and even introducing sponsors, in this case, the sponsors are the devices that Frank used to con his way through (ACT 1 - ink, glue, swiss army knife). The Big Band, dressed in white, is onstage for the entire show with a couple of numbers block by a black drop or in the beginning airport scene. Depending on the number, the band moves up and down towards the audience. At the end of the show, when Frank tells Brenda to meet him at the Miami Airport, the first scene is repeated with him being caught again and seeing his life flash before his eyes through a show. He then sings "Goodbye" about the show being over and Hanratty handcuffs them together. Then we get the lackluster finale, a slight disappointment that goes back to the Variety show theme.

I really enjoyed the show but did find that the concept had some inconsistency. Maybe I'm not doing a good job explaining it to myself!

[buddy 11432]

Posted: 3/19/11 at 10:49am

There are some good things in the show, especially Norbert Leo Butz. Right now Aaron Tveit is not giving a star performance.
He did prove himself in N2N. And his 11 o'clock number here ("Good-Bye") is very good.

Tveit is not projecting much charm as a con man, which seems to me a requirement of the role. To be fair, he's in almost every scene so the charm may come once he settles in. It took Streisand a while to get "Funny Girl" right. However, Streisnad had a much better score than Tveit.

[steven22]

Posted: 3/19/11 at 10:56am

I'd love to "hear" the show before I see it in April....if anyone has it pm me

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 3/19/11 at 11:31am

PM me as well if you don't mind. If anyone has it that is.

[ReggieonBway]

Posted: 3/19/11 at 12:13pm

Actually, if there are any recordings at all I'd be interested as well - I loved the show, and I'd like to hear a recorded Goodbye that doesn't suck.

And to those of you who may not go to see the show because of some bad reviews; go see it before you judge it. I and everyone with and around me enjoyed it. As we were leaving I heard talk from other audience members like "It's gonna be a hit" "My god, the VOICES" and "It's so nice to see another great jazzy show." Now, I don't know if it'll be a hit, but I give it two or three years - it was definitely worth the ticket price and I'm definitely going to see it again in April.

Point is, everyone has different opinions. next to normal and In The Heights both got ripped on by the people here when they opened on Broadway, but they were both magnificent shows.

[VernonGersch]

Posted: 3/19/11 at 12:20pm

ReggieonBway - thats a really good point and thank you bringing that up

I was feeling a bit discouraged after reading the countless negative postings about the show on this site...but you have a really strong arguement and its a great reminder...

[h6p8gv]

Posted: 3/19/11 at 2:13pm

Can you Pm it to me as well.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 3/19/11 at 2:47pm

I very much enjoyed it, and thought Tveit gave a star-making performance, essentially carrying the show.

[kyl3fong2]

Posted: 3/19/11 at 4:15pm

I have a demo recording of all the tracks from the Seattle version of the show. I also have a live version recording of Aaron Tveit singing "Goodbye". PM me if you would like the tracks :)