Alex Stone, center, plays daring con artist Frank Abagnale Jr. in “Catch Me If You Can.”
Will they catch Frank?
The McLean Theater Company is premiering the musical “Catch Me If You Can,” a story of the world’s greatest con man and his worldly misadventures, to the D.C. metro area this week.
“The story is so enticing for a director,” said theater teacher and director Amy Poe.
She had tried to get the rights over and over again for “Catch Me If You Can” after it ran on Broadway. When she got it in time for McLean High School’s spring show, she dropped everything else to make sure the musical was ready to run this year.
“It really works well with the students we have in the department,” she said. “It’s about how a 17-year-old kid fools everyone into thinking that he’s a lawyer, doctor and an air pilot.”
THAT KID is played by blue-eyed junior, Alex Stone. The 16-year-old has a big voice that fills the room when he sings.
Although he plays an underaged con man, there are parts about his character - Frank Abagnale Jr. - that reflect in himself, he said.
“One of the main things about him is that he’s a family guy,” he said. “I also relate to him in that he’s always striving to be on top of his game. I also strive to keep getting better.”
He notes that as much as his character grows older and changes, there is still so much about his personality that remains the same.
Stone, an award-winning student actor, has also been in plays at the McLean Community Center and D.C. Theater Lab.
“I was very young, maybe 5 or 6, and I saw my father in a production of 1776, and I said that’s something I really, really want to do,” Stone said.
Jack Posey, 16, also plays a lead role as FBI agent Carl Hanratty. Posey is another MHS sophomore with years of theater experience.
“With Hanratty, there are some moments that he’s so hyper-focused, that he might do something off-color to someone on the outside, but just very serious,” he said.
What begins as a stark contrast between Frank and Carl eventually becomes somewhat of a father-son relationship.
“I think, in a way, the characters humanize each other,” he said. “I think they begin to learn from each other a little bit.”
Like Stone, Posey also relates to his character.
“Something that inspires me is the fact that he enjoys order and he cares about justice,” he said. “When I was younger, I was always the kid who was telling everyone else how to behave. I was the morality police on the playground-literally.”
Posey, a lanky teen, rose to the challenge of playing someone more than twice his age and a different stature.
“It’s fun to play characters that stretch your range and test your abilities as an actor,” he said.
The show includes 13 costume changes and nearly 300 separate pieces according to costume designer Sophomore Gillian Wright, 15. She did extensive research in late 1950s and early 1960s costumes to create the most decade-accurate clothes.
“Or main thing is that we’re going to bring a log of color to this,” she said.
For one song alone, the costuming team created 19 bright green dresses by scratch.
“It’s very a very hip, very mod kind of play,” said Poe. “That’s the kind of magic we’re trying to translate.”
THE SHOW will run from Thursday, April 24 to Sunday, April 27 at 7 p.m. with additional matinees on the weekend at 2 p.m. at McLean High School’s Burks Auditorium, 1633 Davidson Road. Ticket prices are $10 for students and seniors and $15 for adults.
To preorder tickets or find out more information about the McLean Theater Company, visit http://www.mcleandrama.com/.