Catch Me If You Can

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This year is a big one for movie to musical adaptations (Priscilla, Sister Act and Catch Me if You Can). Priscilla and Sister Act were music heavy movies while Catch Me if You Can was a non-musical drama. Priscilla has reused most of the songs used in the film (with some changes for American versus Australian audiences), but Sister Act has apparently gone with an entirely new score. Catch Me if You Can has gone in a completely different direction, framing the story of forger/con man Frank Abagnale, Jr. as a 1960's style variety show. This fortunate fall-outs of this device are a whole host of spectacular productions numbers, incredible light effects of the on-stage orchestra stand and gorgeous costumes. However, it had the detrimental effect of distancing me from the story. All the pretty costumes and sparkly lights made me question how much of this "true" story was really fact.

Aaron Tveit is appropriately charming as Frank, with a wonderful singing voice and great dance moves. However, Frank is supposed to be 16 to 18 during the action of the show, and Aaron definitely looks older. He is on stage almost the whole show, narrating the action and taking the lead in most songs. Due to a misstep early in the show, his mic pack seemed to be dislodged and there was a bit of annoying noise coming over the sound system for a while when he sang.

Because the character of Frank Jr. is on stage so much, I felt that some other actors were short-changed. Kerry Butler plays Brenda Strong, Frank's love interest, but she is almost completely absent during Act 1. During Act 2, she has some strong scenes, and one big solo number, but I felt it was too little too late. Tom Wopat and Rachel De Benedict play Frank's parents, and both were enjoyable. Wopat was in good voice today and De Benedict moves well, although she was saddled with a French accent that was a bit grating. The ensemble was wonderful and it was nice to see such a large cast on stage.

The most impressive was Norbert Leo Butz. Aaron Tveit might have been playing the chameleon, but it is Butz who is one. I have seen him in six shows, and in each of them, he has seemed like a different person. Here he plays FBI agent Carl Hanratty, and he almost stops the show with his big number in Act 1. In fact, during some scenes where both of the leads were on-stage, even though Tveit was the one singing or talking, I was watching Butz.

The show wraps itself up nicely, but a bit too neatly. At the end, I was still wondering how much of the story was true, but even if it was all contrived, I still enjoyed it.

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