Back from various and sundried things. It has been pouring rain all day (most annoying - no jog), so I took a walk to Times Square and ended up getting a third row center seat for Catch Me If You Can about thirty minutes before curtain. Always fun to see my pal Linda Hart on stage, although she probably isn't onstage for more than ten minutes in the entire show. The show is the usual slick Jack O'Brien/Jerry Mitchell machine - it's what they do. It worked for Hairspray (although I wasn't over the moon), less so for The Full Monty. This one is strictly by the numbers, features a not very interesting score, and a framing device which renders everything pointless. Despite the American Idol-like shenanigans of much of the comped, TKTS, and rushed audience, there's simply no there there and it's totally understandable why it's closing at a complete loss. They're saying it will tour - so now they'll get to lose even more money (and they will). If Billy Elliot was a disaster on the road (it was and it closed), and that show is a HIT, then what chance does Catch Me If You Can have? If they think that title is a brand of some sort, they sincerely need to have their sanity checked.
