Weird clowns and old chorus girls

Catch Me If You Can
Neil Simon Theatre
June 11, 2pm performance

With the Tonys coming up, I panicked because I hadn't yet seen all the nominated musicals.  So Friday afternoon on a whim, I entered a discount code for CMIYC and scored tenth row center orchestra tickets for Saturday's matinee.  So much for paying premium ticket prices.  Suckers! 

Well, CMIYC is a slick, well constructed, well directed, and solidly performed new musical.  So why did it leave me cold?  There was something distancing about the lead character that prevented me from connecting with him on a personal level.  Sure, Aaron Tveit sings and acts exceptionally well (and incidentally looks great without a shirt), but his character, Frank Abagnale, Jr., is sort of an asshole. 

Yes, we learn about Frank Junior's daddy issues and cheating mom early on, but so what?  Who doesn't have a challenging childhood?  With no real audience sympathy for the main character, the writers have created an impossible hurdle to overcome.  You can't have a musical where you root for the supporting character instead of the lead.  The more fascinating take might have been turning the tables and making the police officer, Hanratty, the main character, with Frank as his muse.

Speaking of Hanratty, Norbert Leo Butz is incredible in the role.  He earned and deserves the Tony.  The excerpt on the telecast doesn't really do justice to his performance.  Then again, can any two-minute excerpt taken out of context really do justice to a performance or show?

Unlike many of my fellow bloggers, the framing device (presenting Frank's life as a variety show), didn't really bother me.  The score, by the gentlemen who brought us the infectious Hairspray, is period authentic.  Maybe too authentic, because it all sounds like something we've heard before. 

And now for my pet peeve of the season.  Why do choreographers these days feel the need to choreograph every single moment of every single song?  This seems to be a general industry trend that just makes for busy, unfocused scene work.  How can an audience concentrate on an important scene when there's a gaggle of hot chorus boys and girls hip-popping and step-touching behind them (as well as around them and sometimes through them)? 

I'm not saying this movement-based directing can't work (Michael Bennett and Tommy Tune have done it expertly), but there needs to be a purpose, an impetus for the movement.  That said, the ensemble numbers are clean and tight with no "matinee marking" as far as I could tell. 

And now for my bitchy queen comment of the day.  The chorus girls in this show are fierce dancers with fantastic bodies, incredible legs and luxurious wigs, but their faces, yikes.  They have the bodies of 25-year-olds but the faces of - how can I say this nicely - much older women.  I know, I'm an asshole, but I'm just keeping it real.  I'm all for casting mature dancers (I actually love the contained, controlled energy of a more experienced dancer), but CMIYC's female ensemble could be a PSA warning people about the harmful effects of UV ray.  There - I've said it and I'm sure I'll regret it later.

Zarkana
Radio City Music Hall
June 16, 8:00 pm performance

Last night Trish and I caught our third Cirque du Soleil show, Zarkana, at the mother of all theatres, Radio City.  Like the other Cirque shows, Zarkana is visually stunning but lacking the cohesive throughline (and heart) of both Kooza and Ovo.  I know it's just a friggin' circus, but the other shows - especially Ovo - had characters you cared about and a story - albeit a simple one - that was easy to follow and held your interest.  The angry magician/MC of Zarkana just didn't do it for me.  But then again, how do you top Ovo's lovelorn lady bug?

Maybe distance had something to do with it.  In that gargantuan hall, we were probably at least a football field away from the stage.  With the thrust stage of the circus tent, it seems you are always right in the thick of the action.  At Radio City, even with my glasses I couldn't really make out any facial features.  Also, at the circus tent on Randall's Island there was a carnival-like excitement due to the location, the views and well, that huge circus tent.  In Radio City, all the plush red velvet seemed to dampen that excitement a bit and you completely lost the circus feel being in "the theatuh."

Oh well, there were still some nifty acts.  My faves included the lady who draws with sand, the guys on the giant hampster wheel thingy, the freaky contortionist in white and the team of acrobats that close the show.  Oddly, all these performers were in the second act.  In fact, I'd have been satisfied with cutting the magician/MC character (completely uncharismatic with a gravely, out-of-tune voice) and just presenting the last act. 

On a side note, even with hundreds of empty seats in the house, at 8:00 PM the house lights went down.  Throughout the first 15 minutes of the show there was a constant stream of audience members shuffling across aisles to find their seats in the dark.  The stage manager at Radio City is not playing games.  We could use him over at LaGuardia or at the MTA.