Despite having many members from the same production team that steered "Hairspray" to Tony Triumph, the musical adaptation of the popular film, "Catch Me If You Can," hasn't achieved the "sure-fire hit" status "Hairspray" enjoyed during its 2002 Seattle tryout. Not yet, at least.
"Catch Me" is still chasing after the right ratio of pathos and comedy. Although entertaining with an outstanding cast, the musical needs trimming (it runs almost three hours) and tweaking before it lands on Broadway. Luckily, there's time, since the producers have yet to book a New York theater.
Like "Hairspray," Jack O'Brien directs, with music by Marc Shaiman and lyrics by Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman. The book is by Terrence McNally and choreography by Jerry Mitchell (another "Hairspray" alum) .
If you've seen the 2002 film, you know the plot, based on the real-life story of Frank Abagnale Jr. With a few exceptions, the musical unfolds much like the DreamWorks version directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks.
By age 19, Frank Jr. had already faked his way into notoriety, forging credentials and writing millions of dollars worth of bad checks. And he might have gotten away clean, if not for FBI agent Carl Hanratty.
As the musical begins, Hanratty is about to arrest the teenage con artist. When young Frank asks to tell his tale, the production segues into a '60s TV variety show about his escapades.
His story starts earlier in New Rochelle, N.Y. Daddy loses his money; mommy has an affair. So Frank Jr. runs away to NYC, where he switches his focus from "Flash" comics to the checkbook his father gave him on Christmas. To survive, he floats checks and switches identities. Soon his fraudulent antics seek grander arenas. He successfully impersonates a Pam Am pilot, a Secret Service agent, a doctor and an attorney, always one-step ahead of the law. Young Frank may be a high school dropout, but he has a genius for convincing people he's someone else.
From New Rochelle to the Big House, via Paris, Atlanta and New Orleans, Frank Jr. gleefully foils his FBI tracker in this cat-and-mouse caper. Though Agent Hanratty is hot on Frankie's tail, it seems more like the mouse is chasing the cat.
Tony nods should be a shoo-in for these two leads: Aaron Tveit as the teenage con artist and Norbert Leo Butz as the nose-to-the-grindstone FBI agent.
Tviet has an amazing voice and musical theater charisma. If he's not already a mega star, he soon will be. He sizzles in the role of Frank Jr., creating a criminal you can't resist.
The talented Butz once again proves his Broadway clout. Hanratty grows on you. Butz endows him with a downtrodden but determined demeanor as well as a hidden loneliness. Butz sells every song he tackles, in particular, his Act One mantra, "Here I Am . . . To Save The Day" (Andy Kauffman, anyone?) and his final duet with Tveit, a razzle-dazzle show-biz delight, "Strange But True."
As Frank Senior, Tom Wopat morphs into the ultimate boozer and loser, a man of charm whose lofty dreams and lifestyle far outweigh his reality. When it comes time to sing, Wopat's resonate baritone brings to mind the smooth, finger-snapping crooning of the Sinatra era.
Jerry Mitchell's audience-friendly choreography aims to please. Take the medical romp, "Doctor's Orders." If more nurses were mandated to don designer Bob Mackie's skimpy, wispy concoctions, those Blue Dog senators would fall over themselves to embrace Obama's health care reform.
And when a dozen stewardesses and pilots in Mackie's airline couture join Tveit for a song-and-dance routine, Mitchell transforms the "The Jet Set" into a colorful PamAm kickline.
Meanwhile, the game changes. Our young con falls head over heels for a nurse named Brenda and wants to stop running.
It probably won't make the Broadway cut, but one of the silliest scenes takes place when Frank Jr. meets Brenda's Southern-fried parents. Nick Wyman and Linda Hart are hilarious as Roger and Carol Strong, "an old O'leans family with a dab of Jewish."
One reason this scene tickles the funny bone is because McNally's book needs more humor and witty banter. He tries to be cool by dropping names like Angie Dickinson, Julia Child and Herbert Hoover-not in the same sentence, of course. He even flirts with film noir. But it's not enough.
As Hanratty tracks his quarry, he meets the ex-Mrs.Abagnale, a bossa nova "femme fatal," Hanratty quips. The glamorous Rachel de Benedet tantalizes the no-nonsense sleuth. He's tempted to surrender his Lugar to the sexy French cougar
But the musical focuses on the father/son relationship which further challenges its creators to deliver the right mix of comedy and sentiment. And sometimes it happens. When Hanratty and Frank Sr. swap stories about their abusive fathers, Butz and Wopat team up for an insightful duet, "Little Boy Be a Man."
Fate finally catches up with Frank Jr. His sweetheart reacts by shedding her guileless persona. Kerry Butler, as Brenda, takes a well-deserved star turn, belting an emotional 11 o'clock torcher, "Fly, Fly Away." And Tveit follows suit with Frank's sensational farewell anthem, "Goodbye."
David Rockwell's set design includes marvelous cinematic apertures for scene changes, while LED images recreate world-famous logos, airports and skyscrapers as well as twinkling stars and fluffy snowflakes.
The classy onstage orchestra led by John McDaniel sounds terrific, especially the swinging horn section. Shaiman and Wittman's score mixes playful and poignant, but their witty lyrics are often drowned out by an ear-blasting audio system.
Throughout the performance, there's a running parable about two little mice that fall in bucket of cream. While one quickly gives up and drowns, the other keeps trying until he churns cream into butter and climbs to safety.
To borrow from the metaphor, "Catch Me If You Can" should keep on churning until it's a tasty Broadway spread.
"Catch Me If You Can" runs Tuesday to Sunday through Aug. 16 at 5th Avenue Theatre, tickets $22-$93, 206-625-1900.
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