The Young Review: Catch Me If You Can

Let me start off by saying: I hate movie musicals.

I mean to me, they degrade what the whole purpose of theatre is. Film can do some many incredible things that theatre can only dream about. So then who thinks it's a good idea to take a movie and turn it into a musical?

Oddly enough, sometimes it works. After thinking on it for some time, I can't say with any confidence that "Catch Me If You Can" the musical does a good job of telling Frank Abagnale Jr's story the way the movie did. But take away the movie, and you actually have a pretty good show. Sure, the music was a little repetitive in style. And sure, they made a little too much of the script direct address for my personal tastes. But the show had a great number of positive aspects.

For starters, I believe this show is exactly what the laymen would expect broadway to be. The story was pretty easy to follow, the music upbeat and exciting, the dance excellent, and the lighting and costumes outstanding. It was a lot of glitz and glamour, with a little bit of heart to boot. One of the high points of the show was the end of the first act, where Frank Jr. (Played by Aaron Tveit) has his Christmas phone call with Agent Hanratty (Played by Norbert Leo Butz), and the heart of the story gets to show a little.

But aside from the brief moments of depth, the musical is about the big show stopping numbers where they sing about nothing which the dancers come out and back up the excellent vocals. Only two songs (Little Boy, be a Man and Someone Else's Skin), has the characters explore any sort of depth and work their way through a problem. I do have to say, though, the Agent Hanratty's big dance/song number (Don't Break the Rules) was one of the most impressive soft shoe-jives I've ever seen.

Again, all that is not to say it is a bad show. I really enjoyed myself, and definitely felt it was worth my money. But the artist in me will always long for something more out of a show, especially after seeing a piece like "The Normal Heart". But, like all Broadway shows, its goal is to make money and when you have a glamorous, fast-paced, and family friendly show like "Catch Me If You Can", you have the makings of a Broadway success. My rating is **** out of *****