I haven't been to New York in a while so I haven't seen a musical called Catch Me If You Can, which opened at the Neil Simon Theatre on April 10. And if I ever do see it, I probably won't see it there since it's closing September 4th after 32 preview and 170 regular performances. A national tour has been announced for late next year.
I'm a bit surprised from afar that its run was so short. It got fairly poor reviews but so did The Addams Family, which is still running sans Nathan Lane. Catch Me If You Can was based on a popular movie, had good people behind it (most of those who did Hairspray) and a pretty sexy ad campaign. Here's the commercial they've been running…
That alone wouldn't necessarily drive me into the theater but it would make me seriously consider buying a ticket. So has one particular musical number — "Don't Break the Rules" — which got raves even from reviewers who hated everything else. Co-star Norbert Leo Butz and the troupe performed it on the Tony Awards and I thought it plus Mr. Butz's win for Best Actor in a Musical would fill a lot of seats. Here's that presentation…
Isn't that terrific, even with the awkward bleep for a line about screwing someone's wife? And I note that the show has been pretty consistently playing at 80-85% capacity, which is usually enough to stay open…but I guess not in this case.
At the first performance after Butz won the Tony, he gave a rather wonderful curtain speech that also makes me wish I could see the show, at least with him in it. My friend Shelly Goldstein, whose tastes I trust and who did see Catch Me If You Can on Broadway, said I wouldn't like it; that apart from the above number and the fine work by Butz, it is not a great show. Maybe not…but I sure like me some Norbert Leo Butz…