Post by mkb on Apr 29, 2022 12:04:12 GMT
Well that was both embarrassing and strange!
The embarrassment, last night at the Alex in Brum, was because I'd booked for "Catch Me If You Can" genuinely thinking that someone had bizarrely managed to construct a stage version of the film about conman Frank Abagnale. Yes, I know! How exactly, given the casting, could that have been? (At least it's not quite as embarrassing as the time I booked to see a show in Manhattan, only to realise as soon as I saw the set, that the UK-on-Broadway production was the identical show I'd seen in Malvern six months earlier. No wonder its title had seemed familiar!)
The strangeness came from the fact that leading man Patrick Duffy, uniquely among the cast, required a microphone, and the only speakers were very wide of the proscenium arch or in the rafters. From the front row of the stalls, every cast member could be clearly heard from in front of us, except Duffy whose ghostly quiet tones emanated from behind us. Given that the stalls were about 20% full, Mr Kenwright clearly had no budget for a stage-front array of mini-speakers. (Interesting too that the production used the designated sound booth behind the rear of the stalls, rather than the space left by the removal of seats in the final two rows, as used by most other shows.)
This version of "Catch Me If You Can" is adapted by Jack Weinstock and Willie Gilbert from a play from French Writer Robert Thomas. Resist the urge to look up the title of that play, as it is a rather huge spoiler that gives the game away. I'm glad I didn't look at the poster beforehand, as it's displayed there for all to see.
This is the sort of play that would happily fit into the Classic Thriller Season that plays in rep (almost) every summer at the Nottingham Theatre Royal. In other words, provided you tread carefully stepping over all the holes in the plot, it's good fun, suspenseful and keeps you guessing. In Nottingham, they don't take themselves too seriously, but Bob Tomson's direction here tries to play it straight, even though the supporting cast are clearly aware the narrative is ludicrous, and have the hamming-it-up factor ever so slightly engaged. To be fair, this script probably wouldn't work played for outright laughs, so it's difficult to see how else it could be done.
Despite the need for amplification, Duffy was the one who impressed in the acting stakes, playing an advertising executive caught up in quite an incredible turn of events after his wife of two weeks vanishes. The audience may not be believing what they see, but his character most definitely does. He holds the show together.
Although I never watched Dallas or Man from Atlantis, Duffy had somehow permeated my childhood memory, so it was a pleasant surprise to find this big, 80s, American name on a UK regional stage. His current partner, Linda Purl, plays the leading lady. Apparently, she was the Fonz's squeeze in Happy Days, which I did watch, but I don't recall her.
The set could have been borrowed from any other low-budget, rural-house-located whodunnit, and the lighting didn't have much to do. It was nicely reassuring to have stage curtains back, after countless theatre outings recently where they've done without.
Aided by a special £5 offer on cocktails in the neighbouring, down-at-heel Victoria pub, I found plenty to enjoy. At one point in Act 2, after one ridiculous twist too many, I was all set to indignantly award two stars, but the narrative redeemed itself late on, and I had to admit I'd had quite a good time.
Three stars.
Act 1: 19:33-20:30
Act 2: 20:51-21:32
The embarrassment, last night at the Alex in Brum, was because I'd booked for "Catch Me If You Can" genuinely thinking that someone had bizarrely managed to construct a stage version of the film about conman Frank Abagnale. Yes, I know! How exactly, given the casting, could that have been? (At least it's not quite as embarrassing as the time I booked to see a show in Manhattan, only to realise as soon as I saw the set, that the UK-on-Broadway production was the identical show I'd seen in Malvern six months earlier. No wonder its title had seemed familiar!)
The strangeness came from the fact that leading man Patrick Duffy, uniquely among the cast, required a microphone, and the only speakers were very wide of the proscenium arch or in the rafters. From the front row of the stalls, every cast member could be clearly heard from in front of us, except Duffy whose ghostly quiet tones emanated from behind us. Given that the stalls were about 20% full, Mr Kenwright clearly had no budget for a stage-front array of mini-speakers. (Interesting too that the production used the designated sound booth behind the rear of the stalls, rather than the space left by the removal of seats in the final two rows, as used by most other shows.)
This version of "Catch Me If You Can" is adapted by Jack Weinstock and Willie Gilbert from a play from French Writer Robert Thomas. Resist the urge to look up the title of that play, as it is a rather huge spoiler that gives the game away. I'm glad I didn't look at the poster beforehand, as it's displayed there for all to see.
This is the sort of play that would happily fit into the Classic Thriller Season that plays in rep (almost) every summer at the Nottingham Theatre Royal. In other words, provided you tread carefully stepping over all the holes in the plot, it's good fun, suspenseful and keeps you guessing. In Nottingham, they don't take themselves too seriously, but Bob Tomson's direction here tries to play it straight, even though the supporting cast are clearly aware the narrative is ludicrous, and have the hamming-it-up factor ever so slightly engaged. To be fair, this script probably wouldn't work played for outright laughs, so it's difficult to see how else it could be done.
Despite the need for amplification, Duffy was the one who impressed in the acting stakes, playing an advertising executive caught up in quite an incredible turn of events after his wife of two weeks vanishes. The audience may not be believing what they see, but his character most definitely does. He holds the show together.
Although I never watched Dallas or Man from Atlantis, Duffy had somehow permeated my childhood memory, so it was a pleasant surprise to find this big, 80s, American name on a UK regional stage. His current partner, Linda Purl, plays the leading lady. Apparently, she was the Fonz's squeeze in Happy Days, which I did watch, but I don't recall her.
The set could have been borrowed from any other low-budget, rural-house-located whodunnit, and the lighting didn't have much to do. It was nicely reassuring to have stage curtains back, after countless theatre outings recently where they've done without.
Aided by a special £5 offer on cocktails in the neighbouring, down-at-heel Victoria pub, I found plenty to enjoy. At one point in Act 2, after one ridiculous twist too many, I was all set to indignantly award two stars, but the narrative redeemed itself late on, and I had to admit I'd had quite a good time.
Three stars.
Act 1: 19:33-20:30
Act 2: 20:51-21:32
