They say “truth is stranger than fiction” but if the plot of CATCH ME IF YOU CAN: The Musical were a work of fiction, it would never fly. I’m also using “fly” here literally for that’s how we are introduced to the young high-flyer who posed as a pilot and was ultimately caught at an airport, about to board a plane. From the age of 16 to 18 (early 1960s, in our storyline), he was the youngest, most prolific, and genius conman to ever have gotten away with two years of multiple professional identities (Pan Am co-pilot, surgeon, lawyer – though he did later study and pass the bar exam) along with printing millions of dollars-worth of counterfeit checks.
Frank Abagnale Jr. wrote all about his exploits in his co-authored 1980 autobiography which DreamWorks turned into a hit film in 2002, and upon which the 2011 Broadway musical production is based. (Book by Terrence McNally, Music by Marc Shaiman, Lyrics by Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman.)
We appear to be amidst a run of books-to-movies-to plays or musicals of late. When done well, I feel musicals, in particular, can offer an expanded and exhilarating experience, even if one adheres closely (as Catch Me If You Can does) to the filmscript. Multi-award-winning Slow Burn Theatre Company opens its 16th season with this clever, fast-moving spectacle showcasing extravagant dance numbers in the Ziegfeld Follies tradition of skimpily clad, high-hoofing showgirls. For those who miss the young, gorgeous and fit airline stewardesses of yesteryear, this one’s for you! You might also delight in the retinue of bum-exposed, fetish-costumed nurses of your Halloween fantasies.
When printing endless phony checks gets boring, young “ladies’ man” Frank Abagnale, Jr. suddenly finds himself at an airport layover hotel surrounded by a bevy of sexy stewardesses. And who are they all waiting for and swooning over? – a pilot (the top man in uniform), that’s who. So Frank moves on to “Someone Else’s Skin” and a new identity. This genuinely sweet and charming teen – who was counseled that it’s okay to break the rules and go for what you want in life by his dad – doesn’t have a mean bone in his body. But he is also fearless, innovative and ambitious. Frank Jr. puts new meaning to the mantra, “Fake it till you make it” when he belts out the show’s opening theme: “Live in Living Color.”
Jarod Bakum, who plays Frank Abagnale, Jr., excels in all the heavy lifting of singing, dancing, and making us root for the show’s disingenuous young star. He quickly manages to have both his audience, and everyone he meets, eating out of his hand. Early in the show, he breaks the fourth wall by refusing to go peacefully with his captors until after he’s explained his side of the story. He literally calls for “lights,” “music” and “variety TV show” action, then introduces his entourage of dancers as “The Frank Abagnale, Jr. Players.”
As always, Slow-Burn’s artistic director and co-founder Patrick Fitzwater directs with amazing finesse, while co-founder Matthew W. Korinko has a major role as Frank’s dad, Frank Abagnale, Sr. Korinko treats us to strong vocals and the multilayered performance of a man in love who’s also gutted by rejection. We witness both his entrepreneurial highs and crashing drunken lows. Frank Sr. and son perform a striking duet, backed by the Ladies, called “The Pinstripes Are All That They See.” The song refers to how baseball team uniforms can impress and intimidate and the importance of dressing up to gain respect. And then there’s their signature father-son, mouse story/theme song that preaches survival through perseverance by making “Butter Outta Cream.”
Frank Sr.’s proud of his fancy, private school blazer-attired son when his public school principal calls him into her office complaining that he’d been impersonating a substitute French teacher for the past two weeks. The way she described it, sounds like he’d been an excellent instructor. (Frank Jr. learned fluent French from his French mom.) And she’s quickly mollified by a pretty necklace bribe (a frequent Abagnale family move for getting out of jams).
The yin to Frank Jr.’s yang is FBI Agent Carl Hanratty, impressively played (and sung) by Ben Sandomir. “Don’t Break the Rules” can be considered middle-aged Hanratty’s theme song. Yet his earnestness is often broken by a comedic trio of lackadaisical and trigger-happy younger staff comprising Tanner Fults as Agent Branton, Taylor Hilt Mitchell as Agent Dollar and Michael Materdomini as Agent Cod. During the cat-and-mouse pursuit that drives much of the play’s action, relentless lawman Carl is obsessed with catching the notorious conman he assumes to be an experienced salt-and-pepper-haired man in his sixties. He’s shocked to discover the criminal who’d been toying with him is only a kid – one he’s still determined to catch, but now holds fatherly sympathy for as well.
Estranged from his parents and feeling alone at Christmas, Frank Jr. calls Agent Carl from a pay phone – supposedly to “apologize” for impersonating a special agent and swindling his way out of an easy capture. (The kid can certainly think fast on his feet!) And we get to enjoy “Christmas is My Favorite Time of Year,” starring Carl Hanratty, Frank Jr., Frank Sr., and Paula Abagnale (Frank Jr.’s lovely French-accented mom, who’s a terrific singer as well).
During the call, Carl realizes they have loneliness in common with no family to share in the holidays. (Frank initially left home at 16 after being called out of class to appear before a judge and choose which of his divorcing parents he wanted to live with. Having been fed a romantic love story of their meeting and relationship all his life, he can’t deal with his family’s blowup and instead of choosing, runs away to live on his own … and ends up conning to survive.)
