Cops, Robbers and Showtunes

Embodying the American archetypes of confidence, show business and law-breaking, the story of con artist Frank Abagnale Jr. has enchanted the world since the publication of his 1980 memoir, Catch Me If You Can. Living dozens of lives in cities around the globe, Abagnale posed as a doctor, a university...

By Josiah M. Hesse

March 7, 2013

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Embodying the American archetypes of confidence, show business and law-breaking, the story of con artist Frank Abagnale Jr. has enchanted the world since the publication of his 1980 memoir, Catch Me If You Can. Living dozens of lives in cities around the globe, Abagnale posed as a doctor, a university professor, an attorney and an airline pilot, forged $2.5 million in bad checks and escaped from FBI custody and federal prison — all before the age of 21. Steven Spielberg roused the criminal romantic in us all with his 2001 adaptation of the book, and now the opportunity for an even more quixotically campy Abagnale experience has reached us via the Tony Award-winning Broadway play of the same name.

“It was always the challenge of, ‘Can I get away with this?’” Abagnale said in a BBC interview. “It couldn’t help becoming a game, because I was just a kid. It was also about survival, trying to stay one step ahead of the law, who were chasing me and wanted to put me behind bars.”

The musical adaptation of Catch Me If You Can debuts tonight at 7:30 p.m. and runs through March 10 at the Buell Theatre, in the Denver Performing Arts Complex. For more information, visit www.denvercenter.org.
Tuesdays-Sundays, 7:30 p.m.; Saturdays, Sundays, 2 p.m. Starts: Feb. 26. Continues through March 10, 2013

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