Seattle 5th's next season opens with a world premiere of musical Catch Me If You Can

April 13, 8:54 AMSeattle Theater ExaminerRosemary Jones

Previous Next

1 comment Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Seattle Theater Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

Keeping with the recent success of opening their season in the summer with a movie adaptation, the 5th Avenue Theatre begins their 2009/2010 season with the world premiere of Catch Me If You Can in July.

The musical will be based upon the popular Dreamworks movie about a teenage con man pursued by an FBI agent.

Aaron Tveit (Tripp Vanderbilt on a recent episode of Gossip Girl and regular working stiff on Broadway) will be the charming Frank Jr. (originally played by Leonardo DiCaprio).  With quick wits and an amazing gift for the gab, the real Frank passed himself off as an airline pilot, a lawyer, and a doctor, conning millions out of others before his 21st birthday.

Norbert Leo Butz (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels) takes the Tom Hanks’ role of FBI Fraud Agent Carl Hanratty, the man who pursues young Frank across several continents.

Accomplished country-western singer and musical star Tom Wopat (known to many as the original Luke Duke) plays Frank Sr.  Returning to the 5th are Kerry Butler as Frank Jr.’s girlfriend Brenda and Linda Hart as Carol, Brenda’s mother.

Four-time Tony Award-winning Terrence McNally (whose musical drama credits range from Kiss of the Spider Woman to the Heggie opera Dead Man Walking, among others) is writing the book for the musical, collaborating with the Hairspray crew (which also premiered at the 5th) that includes five-time Tony Award-winning director Jack O’Brien, Tony Award-winning choreographer Jerry Mitchell, and Tony Award-winning composing team Marc Shaiman (music and lyrics) and Scott Wittman (lyrics).

May update:  Catch Me co-orchestrator Larry Blank have been nominated for Tony.  Blank's nomination is for Best Orchestrations for White Christmas.

"Scott, myself and the entire team are absolutely over the moon about the cast for Catch Me If You Can. That performers of this caliber have agreed to set up home in Seattle for the summer to take on these roles makes us very proud and excited," said Shaiman in a recent casting announcement.

Catch Me If You Can has a limited three-week engagement from July 23 to August 16, 2009. The remainder of the 5th’s season includes Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, the return of their popular snowing musical White Christmas (in December naturally), South Pacific, Legally Blonde, On the Town, and Candide.