Review - Curtains & Catch Me If You Can

There's a song in the backstage musical murder mystery, Curtains, that is unlike any other in the history of Broadway; a song guaranteed to make any musical theatre lover in the know choke up at least a little.

It's sung by a character who is a Broadway composer regretting the breakup of his marriage to the woman who not only was his beloved wife, but his long-time lyricist. While he certainly mourns for the love they shared, at this particular moment he is longing for the artistic magic they created together.

"I miss the music," he sings. "I miss my friend. / No need to ask me / What I prefer. / I choose the music / I wrote with her."

Curtains was the first musical composed by John Kander to hit Broadway after the death of his lyricist of four decades, Fred Ebb; one of their unfinished collaborations he vowed to complete and get produced. While Rupert Holmes was brought in to help with the lyrics (and the book, after the death of another great musical theatre writer, Peter Stone), "I Miss The Music" was penned completely by Kander. Try not to weep when you consider the emotions behind words like, "Without a partner... No one tells you, 'That's not funny.' / No one says, 'Let's cut that bar.' / No one makes you better than you are."

But the rest of Curtains, which is getting a bang-up mounting by director Mark S. Hoebee at the Paper Mill Playhouse, is a brassy, fast-moving musical comedy with nothing on its mind but entertainment. Though premiering in 2007, it's the type of show that eschews elaborate sets and effects in favor of having a cast full of brash actors playing fun characters and belting out smart lyrics and hummable tunes.

Set in Boston's Colonial Theatre in 1959, Curtains begins at the out-of-town opening of Robbin' Hood!, a shaky enterprise that places a Sherwood Forest-type hero in the old American west. When Robbin' Hood!'s star (Happy McPartlin) drops dead at the end of the first performance, musical theatre fanatic Police Lieutenant Frank Cioffi (Robert Newman) comes in to solve the murder and try and fix Act II. Meanwhile, the major Boston critic (Aaron Galligan-Stierle) who panned the opening night has "generously" offered to review the show again with a new star... the very next night, causing the plot to ping-pong from murder mystery to a race to get the show ready in 24 hours, while romantic complications simmer.

Suspects include the musical's husband and wife producers (Kim Zimmer and Daniel Marcus), the former performer turned lyricist (Helen Anker), her composer ex-husband (Kevin Kern) who wants her back, the leading man/choreographer (David Elder) who is her new beau, the snarky director (Ed Dixon), the chorus girl daughter of the producers (Anne Horak) who is the understudy for the star's understudy and pretty much anyone connected with the show. The only one above suspicion is Robbin' Hood!'s ingénue (Amanda Rose), but that might only because Cioffi is smitten with her.

Newman and Zimmer, known to fans of Guiding Light, are the advertised stars and each has several regional stage musicals in their credits. As the star-struck officer trying to efficiently do his job while falling in love, Newman has a sweet, nice-guy appeal, contrasting with Zimmer's, loud, belty comic verve. Other standouts in the terrific ensemble are Dixon's drolly funny director and Horak's ambitious chorine, who gets to strut her athletic stuff as a Balanchine-dancing Indian maiden.

Photos by Bruce Bonnett: Top: Robert Newman; Bottom: Kim Zimmer, Anne Horak, and Ed Dixon.

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Exhausted corporate males rejoice! It's been a while since Broadway has offered up what used to be known as a good old "tired businessman musical," but when it's revving up at full blast, Catch Me If You Can plays the genre to the hilt; the stage loaded with leggy chorus girls in sexy outfits swooning over an adventurous hotshot living the swinging single life until he loses his heart to the "nice girl."

But while Catch Me If You Can is not always at its best, the accomplished creators - Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman (score), Terrence McNally (book) and Jack O'Brien (direction) - absolutely deserve credit for trying out a tricky concept. Watching the very talented not quite get it right can be a hell of a lot more enjoyable than watching the not as inventive hit their marks solidly.

Based on the true story of a teenage con artist who spent the late 60s passing off bogus checks and passing himself off as an airline pilot, a lawyer and a doctor, we begin at the end where Frank Abagnale, Jr. (Aaron Tveit) is captured in an airport terminal by FBI agent Carl Hanratty (Norbert Leo Butz). When the crook starts calling attention to himself for onlookers, the g-man, suspecting a trick, warns him against "making a show" of the situation. This sets off the light bulb in Frank's head and suddenly there's an onstage orchestra and a troupe of gorgeous dancers helping him tell his story in the style of a 1960s television variety show. (Less Andy Williams, more Dean Martin and The Golddiggers.)

Characters like Frank's ne'er-do-well dad (Tom Wopat), his unfaithful mom (Rachel de Benedet) and the efficient nurse who nearly sets him straight (Kerry Butler) are introduced as guest stars and each plot twist is explained in a flashy production number, presented "live and in living color."

It's a fun idea that suggests the Kander and Ebb model of story-telling through a popular entertainment form (Cabaret, Chicago, The Scottsboro Boys), but the creators don't seem to plunge fully into it. There's a commercial that's cleverly worked into the plot, but it sticks out as the only word from our sponsor we get for the whole program. And you might expect the story to be played as comedy sketches, but the extended book scenes are done realistically. The biggest problem is that there's no connection made between Frank and the television variety show format, leaving Tveit, a very capable young performer, with a severely underwritten leading role. He's on stage for the bulk of the evening, showing considerable charm and song-and-dance skills, but the inner workings of this fascinating lad are barely touched upon.

Butz, who carries the show in a very large supporting role, has the more interesting guy to play; a crusty, but dedicated middle-aged agent whose meat-and-potatoes lifestyle is a symbol of Squaresville in the cool, jet-setting world he encounters while pursuing his man. The more his character learns about the boy, the more he assumes a fatherly attitude toward him, an interesting point not fully explored by the text. In what might be the best showstopping number of the season, choreographer Jerry Mitchell has him lead the dancers in a wildly frenetic routine (also the score's most winning entry) called, "Don't Break The Rules," where Butz - reminiscent of Michael Jeter's legendary performance in Grand Hotel - generates excitement by conveying the illusion that his character's exuberance is lifting his creaky body beyond its capabilities. The choreography also represents the only moment where Mitchell really builds a number to a sizzling climax, spending the rest of the show, as he must, recreating the blander style of the era's network television.

Wopat is at his easy-going, saloon singing best, particularly in a knockout swing duet where he advises his son that he can get out of any mess by learning to make "butter outta cream." A second act number with Butz about their no-good fathers looks like it's going to be comic gem but then fades into a soft ending that signals a darker aspect of the plot's conclusion; something that doesn't fit well into the variety show format.

Kerry Butler gives another one of her terrific turns as a quirky ingénue, but she has little to do until the second act and by then her role seems disproportionately large, working against the needs of the story; especially when she stops the show (and the plot) with a fiercely moving power ballad in the 11 o'clock spot.

If McNally's book maneuvered more smoothly through the challenges of the concept, Catch Me If You Can could have been a big winner. As it stands, it's still very enjoyable as a collection of well-done moments and elements in need of glue.

Photos by Joan Marcus: Top: Aaron Tveit and Company; Bottom: Norbert Leo Butz.

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"Christmas carols always brought tears to my eyes. I also cry at weddings. I should have cried at a couple of my own."
-- Ethel Merman

The grosses are out for the week ending 5/8/2011 and we've got them all right here in BroadwayWorld.com's grosses section.

Up for the week was: JERUSALEM (16.2%), Million Dollar Quartet (6.1%), THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (5.2%), THAT CHAMPIONSHIP SEASON (4.2%), ARCADIA (4.1%), THE LION KING (2.8%), PRISCILLA, QUEEN OF THE DESERT (2.4%), BABY IT'S YOU! (2.1%), THE MOTHERF**KER WITH THE HAT (2.0%), CATCH ME IF YOU CAN (1.7%), GOOD PEOPLE (1.3%), THE HOUSE OF BLUE LEAVES (0.3%), BORN YESTERDAY (0.1%), CHICAGO (0.1%),

Down for the week was: THE PEOPLE IN THE PICTURE (-19.0%), THE ADDAMS FAMILY (-17.8%), RAIN: A TRIBUTE TO THE BEATLES ON BROADWAY (-16.5%), LOMBARDI (-8.7%), HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING (-6.9%), MARY POPPINS (-6.4%), BILLY ELLIOT: THE MUSICAL (-6.2%), MAMMA MIA! (-6.0%), WONDERLAND (-5.8%), ROCK OF AGES (-5.6%), JERSEY BOYS (-4.3%), SISTER ACT (-3.8%), THE NORMAL HEART (-3.7%), GHETTO KLOWN (-3.3%), THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST (-1.7%), WICKED (-1.3%), BENGAL TIGER AT THE BAGDHAD ZOO (-0.7%), MEMPHIS (-0.4%),