Catch Me If You Can has landed

MacEwan University Faculty of Fine Arts launches its theatre season with a true story about a genuine phoney.

Catch Me If You Can is a musical based on the amazing autobiography of Frank Abagnale Jr., a ’60s teenager turned conman who forged thousands of cheques and stole millions.

Composer Marc Shaiman and lyricist Scott Wittman (Hairspray team) adapted it from the candy-floss Steven Spielberg crowd-pleaser starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks.

In this unlikely adventure Abagnale created an astonishing number of identities – airline pilot, doctor and lawyer – without the qualifications for any of those careers.

Throughout the fraudulent spending spree that bought a glamorous lifestyle, the stalwart, obsessed FBI agent Carl Hanratty, a man always two steps behind, chased Abagnale until finally cuffing him.

Starring 31 graduating students from the MacEwan musical theatre program, Catch Me is slated to run at John L. Haar Theatre from Oct. 29 to Nov. 8.

“I think Frank was extremely clever,” says Jarrett Krissa, former St. Albert Children’s Theatre alumnus in the lead role of Frank. “He was really a brilliant man, a con artist so successful, so incredibly imaginative in impersonating people. Even though he was breaking the law, at the heart of the musical, he’s trying to get his parents back together. The musical explains why he did why he did.”

Director Jim Guedo, head of MacEwan’s theatre arts program describes the musical as a great style piece.

“I’m a child of the’60s and I greatly enjoy exploring other time periods,” Guedo said. “A rule of performance is that it’s the process, the working on a play that moves the process forward, that is the most fun.”

And in this musical, the jet-setting lifestyle was a convention to express the ’60s search for freedom through different forms such as women’s liberation and sexual freedom.

Unlike the film, the show is structured as a ’60s variety show similar to the Ed Sullivan Show.

“It’s not a conventional musical. It’s not a book, song, book, song type of musical. Setting it as a variety show allows students to explore different levels of performance and enhances the theatricality.”

Trying to follow in Di Caprio’s footsteps is a tough gig for any professional actor, let alone a student. However, Krissa is far from gun-shy. In fact, as Frank, he’s the host of the entire variety show.

“The musical is very smart,” said Krissa. “It’s not trying to put the movie on stage. It focuses on the relationship of Frank and his parents and his search for a father figure.”

But by the second act, the high-flying Frank falls in love with nurse Brenda, played by Karina Cox, also a former children’s theatre actor.

A young feminist, Brenda refuses to marry the son of her father’s business partner, and has instead chosen to create a life as a nurse.

“She’s strong, hardworking and she’s real,” Cox explained. “She doesn’t put on a show and that’s what makes her so endearing to Frank.”

She notes that unlike the real life Frank, Brenda is a composite of different women he met throughout his travels.

A pivotal character in Frank’s life, Brenda makes the grifter realize that his life of crime has no future.

“She brings the heart out in him. She makes him realize he’s not vapid and shallow. She sees through his mask and humanizes him in a way no one else can.”

Both Krissa and Cox encourage fans of light-hearted musicals to drop by.

As Cox puts it, “Everything is very flashy. It’s a spectacle with a lot of heart. All the characters have good intentions. There are moments where you laugh, moments where you feel punched in the stomach. We’ve all worked so hard and I’m so proud of the work we’ve done.”