I hate goodbyes.

I just want to apologize for yet another Catch Me If You Can post. Then again, I shouldn't be apologizing- it is a great show. Still, I'll even admit I have gone a bit overboard. (When Tom Wopat, Frank Abagnale Sr., tells you you need to get a life, you know you're a bit crazy).

Cut me some slack! It was closing day today!

Now the most incredible performance one will ever see is a closing performance of a great show whose run was cut short. I'm not saying this was the greatest show I've ever scene, because it's not (Next to Normal still holds that place in my heart) but I must admit, during this performance I could feel the energy, the "going-all-out" of the performers in the same way I felt it at N2N's closing performance, but this had this lack of satisfaction for it's run- which in a way added to it's energy. I do understand why it was cut short. The past three times I have gone to see it, it wasn't even close to being sold out. What I don't understand is why that is. It's such an uplifting show with performances by some of the most incredible Broadway performers I've ever seen. At this stage door, I would tell everyone I was so sad to see it go and they would all say "Me too," not "It was time" like the cast said at N2N.

I do have to say, this performance was definitely satisfying. Even from all the way in the nosebleeds. Row T, Seat 7, Mezz. I felt the energy. From the very beginning you could feel that no one, not a single performer or anyone (including the audience) was holding back. Nine times seeing the show, and this made me feel like I was seeing it for the first time all over again. Act I went by far too quickly and during intermission I was dreading what was yet to come. This show made me so happy and it was seemingly unfathomable that it had one more act and then would be over. Still, all good things must end.

Act II began and of course, none other than Marc Shaiman was on stage! After that the show went on as usual. The normal hyperventilating during Seven Wonders because of Aaron Tveit's lack of clothing- and he can sing too! Then the tears at the end of Kerry Butler's chillingly beautiful Fly Fly Away. And not even to bring up how much of a wreck I was at Goodbye. That song makes me sad already because it leads to the end of the show, but for this entirely phenomenal number, I was only thinking about how this was actually goodbye. And boy! Aaron Tveit really did not hold back! I thought he was phenomenal normally but it was nothing compared to this. And it's safe to say that he finally got some recognition that he deserved from the very beginning: a full house standing ovation at the end of that song. His face as he was tearing up staring at Norbert Leo Butz, who was just smiling at him is his natural fatherly fashion as Carl Hanratty. You had this sense of Norbert saying "I told you that you were incredible, and no damn Tony committee can say otherwise". (Okay, I really don't know if that's interpreted correctly, all I know is that that is what I was thinking).

Marc and Scott at the curtain call

Thanking Aaron for being incredible

Once the show was over, Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman came on stage and made a little speech. Marc told this beautiful story of how he was helping a kid who come out and spoke a bit about Catch Me. I always love those sentimental speeches. Finally, the show had finished and it sure had a happy ending. I got out to the stage door, chaos almost reaching the point of How to Succeed (Damn teenage girls are CRAZY. Hehe). I had the opportunity to talk to a lot of cast members (also Marc and Scott and Jerry Mitchell! and Jack O'Brian walked by me.) about how amazing the are, Brandon Wardell actually stuck around to have a conversation with me witch was pretty cool. Then, after basically everyone left, I broke out into song and sang that one line of Goodbye, "The show is done now!" then my friend Anna slapped me. Just a quick shout-out to her: Thanks, I needed that. I stuck around for quite a while afterwards talking to people coming in and out of the stage door. Though I couldn't go backstage because they were cleaning up the set, I did manage to pull off a lot of souvenirs. I got various props, Tom Wopat's door sign, a music book from the orchestra and the Catch Me book that people can buy. Oh, and a lot Rachel de Benedet's old stuff.

It was yet another very successful day at the theatre. I promise this is my last Catch Me post for at least a few months now!

I'd say catch it, but you can't.

Catch Me If You Can.

Used to be my favorite movie and now it's my favorite current Broadway musical. Honestly, it astounds me that critics have anything other to say than "simply amazing", but all are entitled to their opinion. In all the reviews you'll hear about the leggy dancers and Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman's jaw-dropping score and especially the show-stopping number "Don't Break the Rules" performed by Norbert Leo Butz. I'm not just going to rephrase all the reviews about how wonderful all these things are (they really are amazing), but seriously, there should be more raves about Aaron Tveit (plays Frank Abagnale Jr.)

I have seen the show three times in the two months that it's been on Broadway and he is one of the main reasons I keep coming back. He's on stage for nearly the entirety of the show, singing and dancing his way through these phenomenal 60s TV show-esque numbers, while, when called for, really breaks down and conveys that he's truly just a kid that got mixed up in this game. His presence is amazing. Every time he walks on stage it's impossible to take your eyes off him, you continue to root for him, and even pity him, and you truly get lost in the story. The fact that he didn't even get nominated for a Tony this year is complete bullshit (excuse my language, no words can describe my anger).

Even after that seemingly exhausting show, Aaron comes right out, puts on a smile and goes from person to person letting them talk to him and take a few pictures.

Aaron Tveit

Kerry Butler singing Fly Fly Away
Pictures from Broadway.com

The second person who deserves more recognition is Kerry Butler. Though she isn't the show for very long, her solo "Fly Fly Away" is chilling. She has such a beautiful voice, she's and amazing actress and the context of that song is truly heartbreaking.

There were a few moments when, even in this, for the most part, up-beat, feel good musical, I was shaded by truly emotional, and even sometimes relatable story. The first is when Frank is asked to choose between his parents, I doubt there's a worse decision a child could possibly have to make. Second is when Frank is lonely at all the motels calling anyone, even room service, just to hear someones voice, and third, when Frank Sr. doesn't live up to his fatherly duty to tell Frank Jr. to stop conning people. The last though, and most emotional, is when Carl Hanratty tell Frank of his father's death. That moment of Tveit's sobbing, just he and Butz, on a black stage with just a spotlight on them.

Beneath all the glam, colorful lights, terrific numbers, it's really just a story of a confused kid who ran away from home in a time of despair, something I think all of us have wanted to do, at some point in our lives, and can truly relate to.