This week we’re popping back to the start of the teenies for some catchy toe tapping musical theatre. This week’s TONY Tuesday is:

“Live in Living Color/Don’t Break the Rules” from Catch Me If You Can at the 2011 TONY Awards ceremony. 

Catch Me If You Can is a 2011 Broadway musical that is based upon the popular film of the same name. The film itself, and in turn the show, take its subject matter from the same named autobiography of Frank Abagnale. The show chronicles the life of Abagnale who became famous for pulling off multi-million-dollar cons before he was even 19. Abagnale disguised himself as an airline pilot, a doctor and a lawyer to pull off his heists, even becoming so adept at cheque fraud that the FBI later hired him to work for them. 

The musical, with music and lyrics by Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman and a book by Terrance McNally, was first read in 2005 with a cast consisting of Nathan Lane, Tom Wopat and Matthew Morrison. The reading was directed by Jack O’Brien. Two years late, a series of private workshops were held, again directed by O’Brien. At these workshops, Norbert Leo Butz and Aaron Tveit joined the cast. The musical had its out-of-town try-out in Seattle, Washington. O’Brien directed the premiere, which was choreographed by Jerry Mitchell. The cast included Aaron Tveit as Frank Abagnale Jr, Norbert Leo Butz as Carl Hanratty, Tom Wopat as Frank Abagnale Sr, and Kerry Butler as Brenda Strong. The production was original scheduled to open on 25 July 2009, however, due to a tragedy in the family of Norbert Leo Butz, the first few previews were cancelled, and the show opened on 28 July running to 16 August. The show received positive notices.

Just shy of two years later, the production opened on Broadway at the Neil Simon Theatre. Opening for previews in March 2011, the musical retained its try-out cast for the Broadway production. The production had sets by David Rockwell, costumes by William Ivey Long, lighting by Kenneth Posner, sound design by Steve Canyon Kennedy, musical direction by John McDaniel and orchestrations by Marc Shaiman and Larry Blank. The show opened to mixed reviews, which unfortunately meant it didn’t secure much traction with the theatre going public. Despite a win for Norbert Leo Butz and three other nominations that year at the TONY Awards, the production closed on 4 September 2011. 

A national tour of the production commenced in October 2012 in Rhode Island and toured the US until July 2013. The tour starred Stephen Anthony as Frank Abagnale Jr, Merritt David Jones as Carl Hanratty, Dominic Fortuna as Frank Abagnale Sr and Aubrey Mae Davis as Brenda Strong. 

The musical has enjoyed productions in South Korea, Japan and Australia, but as of yet has not premiered in the UK. 

Besties, if you haven’t listened to this lively conman musical, you need to. 

Cast recording available on streaming services. 

FACTS:

Music: Marc Shaiman
Lyrics: Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman
Book: Terrance McNally
Theatre: The Neil Simon Theatre 
Run: 11 March 2011 – 4 September 2011 (32 previews, 170 regular performances) 

TONYS:

(NOMINATED) Best Musical, Best Sound Design – Steve Canyon Kennedy, Best Orchestrations – Marc Shaiman and Larry Blank. 

(WON) Best Actor in Musical – Norbert Leo Butz.