CATCH ME IF YOU CAN is based on the book and hit 2002 DreamWorks film of the same name directed by Stephen Spielberg with screenplay by Jeff Nathanson and book by Frank Abagnale, Jr.
CATCH ME IF YOU CAN captures the astonishing true story of Frank Abagnale, Jr., a world-class con artist who passed himself off as a doctor, a lawyer, and a jet pilot-all before the age of 21. With straight-arrow FBI agent Carl Hanratty on Frank's trail, we're off on a jet-setting, cat-and-mouse chase, as a jazzy, swinging-sixties score keeps this adventure in constant motion. In the end, Agent Hanratty learns he and Frank aren't so very different after all, and Frank finds out what happens when love catches up to a man on the run.
There's nonetheless much to savor in a production polished to a high sheen. Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman again prove themselves an ace songwriting team. Their score evokes cocktail lounges, glitzy floorshows, Rat Pack suaveness, mellow jazz and energized go-go, all wrapped up in Shaiman and Larry Blank's silky-smooth ‘60s-styled orchestrations. And Mitchell's choreography puts a vigorous period-appropriate spin on every number. As Hanratty, Butz (a Tony winner for Dirty Rotten Scoundrels) does nuanced work balancing the jaded, paunchy slob with the wisecracking professional, driven in his quest to catch Frank yet plagued by the melancholy awareness that his job is his life. The boyishly handsome Tveit, who turned heads in Next to Normal, graduates to a lead role with sparkling self-assurance, strong pipes and natural charm. He makes it easy to like Frank, even if the show makes it hard to love him.
One feat that Abagnale did not attempt was writing and starring in a stage musical about his youthful adventures. And now we know why. Not that Catch Me If You Can (* * ½ out of four), the new Broadway show based on the aforementioned film and autobiography of the same name, is a dud. Boasting a score by the famously witty team of Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman and a book by Terrence McNally, Catch Me is too ambitious and stylish in its efforts to entertain and move us to induce boredom. The main problem with this production, which opened Sunday at the Neil Simon Theatre, is that only one of the two leading men is consistently compelling. And it's not the one playing Abagnale (Aaron Tveit).
2005 | New York |
Reading New York |
2007 | New York |
Reading New York |
2011 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
2012 | US Tour |
National Tour US Tour |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
---|---|---|---|
2011 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Actor in a Musical | Norbert Leo Butz |
2011 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical | Tom Wopat |
2011 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical | Kerry Butler |
2011 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Lyrics | Marc Shaiman |
2011 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Lyrics | Scott Wittman |
2011 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Music | Marc Shaiman |
2011 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Orchestrations | Larry Blank |
2011 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Orchestrations | Marc Shaiman |
2011 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Actor in a Musical | Norbert Leo Butz |
2011 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Actor in a Musical | Aaron Tveit |
2011 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding New Score | 0 |
2011 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Stephanie P. McClelland |
2011 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | The 5th Avenue Theatre |
2011 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Joan Stein/Jon Murray |
2011 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Joseph & Matthew Deitch/Cathy Chernoff |
2011 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Amuse Inc. |
2011 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Loraine Boyle |
2011 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Rodney Rigby |
2011 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Rainerio J. Reyes |
2011 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Barry Feirstein |
2011 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Jamie deRoy |
2011 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Paula Herold/Kate Lear |
2011 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Margo Lion |
2011 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Stacey Mindich |
2011 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Yasuhiro Kawana |
2011 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Scott and Brian Zeilinger |
2011 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | The Rialto Group |
2011 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | The Araca Group |
2011 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Michael Watt |
2011 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Barbara & Buddy Freitag |
2011 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Jay & Cindy Gutterman/Pittsburgh |
2011 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Elizabeth Williams |
2011 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Johnny Roscoe Productions/Van Dean |
2011 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Fakston Productions/Solshay Productions |
2011 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Patty Baker/Richard Winkler |
2011 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Nederlander Presentations, Inc. |
2011 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Warren Trepp |
2011 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Remmel T. Dickinson |
2011 | Tony Awards | Best Orchestrations | Larry Blank |
2011 | Tony Awards | Best Orchestrations | Marc Shaiman |
2011 | Tony Awards | Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical | Norbert Leo Butz |
2011 | Tony Awards | Best Sound Design of a Musical | Steve Canyon Kennedy |
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