Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks won’t be on the Wagon Wheel Theatre stage, but the story they brought to the big screen in the 2002 Steven Spielberg movie “Catch Me If You Can” will. The award-winning musical based on the story of teenage con man Frank Abagnale Jr. will be in Warsaw through June 28. DiCaprio played Abagnale Jr. in the film, with Hanks playing FBI agent Carl Hanratty hot on his trail. For the Wagon Wheel production, Javier Ferreira plays Hanratty with Jeremy Seiner as Abagnale Jr. “Frank is sort of a kid who, in the result of a dysfunctional family, runs away and learns basically how to become one of the biggest paperhangers in history. He’s learned how to forge lots of checks and disguises himself as many different careers, like an airline pilot or a doctor. And through his way, he sort of leaves a trail for Javier here,” Seiner said. Hanratty is the special agent in charge of the FBI’s bank, fraud and forgery subdivision. Ferreira stated, “Carl Hanratty sort of comes across a series of these checks and he figures out it’s this one guy sort of using all these different aliases. So Carl Hanratty is tasked with hunting this guy down. It becomes his mantra. He sorta buries himself in his work to escape a lacking personal life. He’s very dedicated to his work and he believes firmly in rules.” Seiner said Abagnale Jr. is pretty quirky and he considers himself quirky, so they have that in common. However, he said he’s nowhere near as “street smart.” “I found in discovering the character that we have a common joy and happy-go-lucky lifestyle,” Seiner said. As for Ferreira’s similarities to his character, Ferreira said, “It’s kind of difficult, I don’t know. I would say the big thing for Carl, the way he lives his life strictly by the rules, he sort of says that over and over again throughout the show. I don’t know that I necessarily don’t believe in breaking all the rules, but there is something that I think is very admirable about Hanratty, that he’s very committed to his work. It’s his life, it keeps him going, really, when everything else has sort of crumbled away. So I think that’s something I can relate to, connect with in Hanratty. I love the work I do and I’m invested in it in a lot of the same ways he is.” The musical is based on the movie, which was based on Abagnale’s autobiography. The Wagon Wheel actors said the musical is pretty close to the film version. “There are a lot of liberties taken between the book and the movie, however, the movie and the musical are very closely related. In fact, a lot of the script is almost word for word from the lines of the movie itself,” Seiner explained. He said the show itself takes a little bit of a turn where it’s based on a 1960s variety show, with the musical numbers touching on different milestones of Abagnale’s life. “It’s the same sort of spirit,” Ferreira agreed. “It’s based on true events but there are embellishments. It’s a splashy Broadway musical. So as far as the relationship between the musical and the film, there are a lot of similarities – it has the same sort of spirit, it has the same sort of wink, twinkle in the eye. But there is a different sort of energy in that it’s very grand, very big, all these huge musical numbers that are motivated.” While it’s a period piece set in the 1960s, Ferreira said the musical is still really fun, fresh and feels very young and hip. Seiner said the musical’s composers did a very good job of putting in a 1960s feel while still making it very Broadway. They also threw in a lot of jazzy chords and different other styles, he said. “It definitely nods to the film and the memoir on which it’s based, Frank’s story. It also has its own sort of flair that sets it apart,” Ferreira stated. Some of the songs from the show people may leave humming include “Goodbye,” “Don’t Break the Rules” and “Butter Outta Cream,” Seiner said. “The melodies are very catchy,” Ferreira said. “There are moments that are light and fluffier, but like Jeremy said, it’s more grounded. I don’t want to say ‘mature’ but it is a real human being story.” “It’s not as much of a kids’ show as ‘Mary Poppins,’ but it’s still available to a very wide range of audience,” Seiner added. Both of the twentysomething men agreed that if someone today tried to pull off what Abagnale Jr. did more than 50 years ago, it would be much harder if not impossible. “It would be very hard mainly because, as we talk about at the end, Frank Jr. himself worked with the FBI and helped develop a lot of the technologies they use in credit cards and checks today,” Seiner said. “So that’s one of the benefits of this whole story, this whole adventure. There’s this whole turnaround. He did spend a lot of time in prison, but then again, he shaped the way we use transactions, technology and money today.” One of the overall themes of “Catch Me If You Can” can be found in the song “Butter Outta Cream,” Ferreira said. “It’s Frank Sr., Frank Jr.’s father, his motto that Frank Jr. takes on. The idea is making something out of nothing, making your own luck, making your own success out of a hat, a pair of sunglasses and $2 out of your back pocket,” he said. “It’s also a story about family and Frank’s family and his relationship with his father and the way he falls after events at the beginning of the show,” Ferreira continued. Seiner stated, “And the relationship between Carl and Frank is very interesting as well. The lacking points that Frank’s father didn’t have, Carl sort of fills in, in a way.” The main point of Abagnale Jr. running away, Seiner said, is that after his parents divorce he wants to put them back together. The only way he can find to put them back is by running and making all this money and living the high life in the process. “The real root of the situation is that his father is not the best father and his mother is not the best mother, and he wants to bring them back together,” Seiner said. Hanratty and Abagnale Jr. sort of have that in common, Ferreira said. “Hanratty comes from a place now where he has no family. Like I said before, all he has is his work. So they spend almost the entirety of the show as rivals antagonizing each other but that’s sort of what brings them together really,” he said. Seiner said, “You can’t have one without the other.” To see the full interview, check out the free video section at www.timesuniononline.com Tickets for “Catch Me If You Can, The Musical” range from $15 to $34. Discounts are available for college students and on designated performances for seniors. For more information, visit wagonwheeltheatre.org or call 574-267-8041.
