Catch it before it closes

Catch Me If You Can. I may not have mentioned it yet, but I absolutely love this show. As of recently, I have scene it six times. SIX. And I must admit, it should be seven. Because I had gotten selected for Catch Me's blogger night on the 18th- a small contest for two free tickets to the show. I, however, was going to be on a plane at the time, so I couldn't go.

Still, the last times I saw the phenomenal show, I had the pleasure of seeing it with the understudy for Brenda, Alex Ellis, and Carl Hanratty, Joe Cassidy. Both amazing.

Joe Cassidy.
Let's just say Joe Cassidy really has some big shoes to fill. Norbert Leo Butz is a bit of a legend (to put it lightly) and won a Tony for this role, I'd be a nervous wreck if I were Joe- not to mention I saw him his first night on as Agent Hanratty. He was an absolutely wonderful performer, one of the things that was a bit off from the average "Norbert-esque" just because when Butz was talking about the role in an interview, he said it to be not one for singing and dancing. I don't imagine Agent Hanratty to be a good singer or dancer, I think of him to be this shlumpy, short, quirky, uncoordinated, lonely guy. Joe Cassidy was a bit too good on his feet, a bit too coordinated, not to mention tall. Then again, I must mention the "Don't Break The Rules" number with this guy. Truly great. Still, the dynamic was thrown off because they were missing one male ensemble member so, especially in the beginning, there was a gaping hole in the choreography. Still, another thing worth mentioning, the chemistry between Aaron Tveit and Norbert Leo Butz is like nothing I have seen before. The energy that they give off from each other, the authenticity that you feel when you see them perform together is incredible. In all the shows that I have seen in the past months (14 to be exact), I haven't experienced something like this. And this is the final reason that Norbert's shoes are so hard to fill, and unsurprisingly- Joe didn't quite fill them.

Alex Ellis.

Aaron Tveit as Frank Abagnale, Jr. and Alex Ellis as Brenda Strong

Well, since I first heard she was the understudy for Brenda, I had been dying to see her perform. I really always liked Alex from all the Catch Me vlogs, and I had also seen a video of her performing Fly Fly Away, in which I thought she was brilliant. Needless to say, she definitely lived up to that in her performance as Brenda. Though Kerry Butler is absolutely amazing, I found that Alex Ellis has a very similar atmosphere to her. The only thing that I really missed about Kerry was the joke about the other nurses being so very tall. Unfortunately, Alex couldn't make that joke because she was just as tall as the rest of them.
Also, thought I'd not that when she and Aaron were singing Seven Wonders, Alex nearly fell off of the bed. Ah- I live for those moments in live theatre.

Finally, in all the Catch Me performances I've seen I've never had the pleasure of seeing Jay Armstrong Johnson, who I've heard such great things about. Hopefully one day in the near future, I'll have the pleasure of having that experience.

Another thing worth noting, in the most recent performance I saw, Norbert completely smacked Aaron in the face with his tie during Strange But True, and the reaction of everyone on stage (especially Aaron) once again reminded me why Broadway is brilliant.

"I GOT MEMPHIS!"

A very long four weeks that felt like a period of withdrawal from my addiction to Broadway shows has recently ended. Last week I saw Catch Me if You Can for the fifth time. Yes, it was amazing as usual. Anyway, that is clearly not what this post is about. So to begin,

Memphis. A show that I had been trying to get tickets to for ages and finally managed to pull off in the eleventh hour. Okay, so maybe I wasn't the one to pull them off. Props to my friend Alice, who, while I was sulking and non-optomistic about getting tickets to show after many failed attempts at student rush tickets, called me up and yelled, "I GOT MEMPHIS. MEMPHIS!"

Now what to discuss first... the story, the talent, the music, the stage door? All of these were simply amazing. The story was basically the birth of Rock n'Roll. Huey, played by Chad Kimball, is a sort of misfit in his white society because of his adoration for the "colored music". When he tries to become involved in an African American underground club he isn't the least bit welcome because of the terror that the average white folk cause. He wasn't trusted, and falling for the club owner's sister, Felicia, didn't really help things. Huey makes the "colored music" big and makes Felicia, played by Montego Clover, a star because of her incredible voice. The story goes on to have both Felicia and Huey become successful, but are then faced with an awful dilemma: to go to New York, a place where Felicia would definitely thrive, or to stay in their home town, Memphis.

Onto the talent. Chad Kimball. What can I say? He did get a Tony nomination for his performance, and it was definitely well deserved. He played this seeking-to-be controversial, sometimes perverse character, but there was something about his perverseness that was extremely gripping. Whenever he was on stage it was impossible to look away, and it wasn't just because of his completely insane outfits.
Montego Glover. Now it goes without saying that in a Broadway musical, all the performers will be absolutely brilliant. Yet when going to a show, we still get blown away. Still, nothing compares to the voice of Montego Glover.
Nancy Opel- another cast member that deserves noting. She had the ability to make you absolutely despise her one second but make you genuinely forgive her the next, not to mention how hilarious and nice she was at the stage door, telling us all about ridiculous things people sitting in the front row were doing.
Finally, huge kudos to Rhett George, the understudy for the role of Delray. Really amazing job.

Montego Glover as Felicia and
Chad Kimball as Huey

Now, as you all know, the stage door is one of my favorite parts of Broadway, and this stage door experience was one of the nicest I've ever had. First, a huge number of people in the show came out to sign. This is definitely the most full playbill that I have. They didn't just rush off, they actually stuck around to actually have a two-way conversation, which was extremely nice of them considering how exhausted they must have been.

Really great show. I'd say its 100% a must see.