A representative for the Broadway production confirmed to Playbill.com that rehearsals for the musical adaptation of the DreamWorks film of the same name (and the autobiography by Frank Abagnale Jr. and Stan Redding) will begin rehearsals in January 2011. A theatre and exact dates of production have not been announced. Hal Luftig and Margo Lion will produce the Broadway venture.
Tony Award winners Jack O'Brien and Jerry Mitchell, who directed and choreographed the debut of the musical at the 5th Avenue Theatre in Seattle last summer, respectively, are attached to re-create their work on Broadway. The duo also staged Hairspray at the 5th Avenue prior to its Tony-winning Broadway debut.
O'Brien and Mitchell will be a busy team during the 2011 spring season. The duo most recently collaborated on Andrew Lloyd Webber's Love Never Dies in London, the sequel to his mega-hit Phantom of the Opera, which was originally scheduled to bow on Broadway at the Neil Simon Theatre in November.
The work has now delayed Broadway previews until spring 2011 in order to allow Lloyd Webber more time to recover from surgery related to prostate cancer. Reviews in London ran the gamut from raves to mixed. The only American critic to review the piece, Ben Brantley of the New York Times, was less than enthusiastic. Changes for the Broadway production are anticipated, though no official announcement has been made.
Catch Me If You Can features a book by Tony Award winner Terrence McNally (Kiss of the Spider Woman, Ragtime, Master Class). The Seattle debut of Catch Me If You Can featured Norbert Leo Butz as FBI Fraud Agent Carl Hanratty, Aaron Tveit as Frank, Tom Wopat as Frank Sr., Kerry Butler as Brenda, Linda Hart as Carol, Rachel deBenedet as Paula, Nick Wyman as Roger and Felicia Finley as Cherll Ann.
The premiere had scenic design by Tony nominee David Rockwell, costume design by Bob Mackie, lighting design by Tony Award winner Kenneth Posner, orchestrations by Marc Shaiman and Larry Blank, and music direction by John McDaniel, who led an on-stage orchestra.
According to press notes, Catch Me If You Can is "the unbelievable yet true story of Frank Abagnale, Jr., a sexy young con artist who posed, and was employed, as a doctor, lawyer and Pan Am pilot all before he was 21. Carl Hanratty, a middle-aged bored FBI agent, comes alive when assigned to catch this charming swindler whose check-forging skills have netted him more than $2.8 million. The battle of wills intensifies as they become curious about one another and begin to question what they're each chasing in their own lives."
