By Richard Sherman
CATCH Me If You Can is the latest stage musical tackled by the creative team at the Cardinia Performing Arts Company.
Opening night in the Star Theatre at the Cardinia Cultural Centre in Pakenham last Saturday 20 August saw director Lee Geraghty’s skills challenged.
Founding CPAC director with 26 show directions to her credit, Geraghty brought together choreographer Robert Mulholland, musical director Kent Ross and a talented cast to stage a musical based on the blockbuster Leonardo DiCaprio movie of the same name.
Seeking fame and fortune, precocious teenager Frank Abignale Jr runs away from home to forge a life of forgery and trickery and an unforgettable adventure.
With nothing more than his boyish charm, a big imagination and millions of dollars in forged cheques, Abignale poses as a Pan Am pilot, a doctor and a lawyer – living the high life and winning the girl of his dreams.
His life did not go unnoticed. With the FBI pursuing him across the country, Agent Carl Hanratty eventually catches him and he pays with time in jail.
Early release from prison sees him join the FBI as specialist in forgery.
It would always be hard to transform the movie into an all dancing all singing stage show, especially with so many set changes and pieces of a storyline jigsaw needing to be revealed.
But CPAC pulled it off.
Matthew Allen plays Frank Abignale Jr and captures the cheekiness and optimism of on-screen Di Caprio through his voice and swaggering persona.
Ash Cooper plays FBI Agent Hanratty and despite having no costume changes keeps up the intensity of the chase using great stage presence.
Although the singing and dancing Pam Am stewardesses and even a Christmas number from the ensemble added some added glitz and glamour, it was always the thrill of the chase that had the audience intrigued.
Opening nights are often a test and Saturday was no exception.
The ever enthusiastic band drowned out the singers at times, making following the story line carried in their voices a little difficult to follow.
Nothing a bit of tweaking on the sound knobs and toning down the drummer will not fix.
The costumes were all very retro and took the audience back to an innocent era.
Imagine someone being able to con their way onto a plane multiple times as a fake pilot and being on call at a major hospital as a fake doctor. It seems unbelievable that it could happen today, but back in the 1960s it did!
Tim Haughton plays Frank’s father Frank Snr while Paula Abignale is played by Miranda Barron. Both portrayed pride in their son as he lied and forged his way to stardom.
Movies mostly have the edge on stage shows, having the budget, the stars and the trickery of cinematography to take an audience into another world.
With only lighting, stage sets and a projected back screen CPAC did its best to take the audience on this amazing journey.
It was a great story, great outfits and an excellent production.
Catch Catch Me If You Can at the Star Theatre until 2 September.
