CATCH ME IF YOU CAN at the Neil Simon Theatre

(Seen 4/13/11)

Another hit film has traveled the prescribed route to become a big Broadway musical. It arrived with a creative team including Terrence McNally (book), Marc Shaiman (music/lyrics), and director Jack O'Brien -- a combined pedigree any producer would love. But as we all know, pedigrees are not enough on Broadway, and this team has come up with a pedestrian, if workman-like, result.

The show is a combination of straight-forward story-telling by the protagonists, and quirky segues told in classic musical comedy style. All the elements seem to be there, but they never come together and capture the audience, which is always ahead of the story.

Ensconced in the framework of old variety musical tv shows, the story unfolds from various viewpoints. In the original film, you could easily identify with the various characters. Here, they are cardboard cut-outs, moving about the stage, often animated, but never involving. Two 'veteran' performers seems most at ease and most fulfilled -- Norbert Leo Butz and Tom Wopat.

The music is lively, if forgettable. Jerry Mitchell's choreography is fast-moving and scene appropriate, as are the long-limbed, scantily-clad, attractive chorus girls. But the show never catches the fire that we expect.