In fact, Post-Crescent reviewer Carrie Gruman-Trinkner suggests the Broadway show is the best cure for holiday stress this week. Don't miss your chance to see this high-flying hit playing tonight through Sunday, December 23!
Showing posts with label Catch Me If You Can. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Catch Me If You Can. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
REVIEW: Catch Me If You Can Soars Says The Post-Crescent
The review is in for Catch Me If You Can at the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center, and it's glowing!
In fact, Post-Crescent reviewer Carrie Gruman-Trinkner suggests the Broadway show is the best cure for holiday stress this week. Don't miss your chance to see this high-flying hit playing tonight through Sunday, December 23!
In fact, Post-Crescent reviewer Carrie Gruman-Trinkner suggests the Broadway show is the best cure for holiday stress this week. Don't miss your chance to see this high-flying hit playing tonight through Sunday, December 23!
Monday, December 17, 2012
The True Story of Catch Me If You Can
Abagnale’s adventures were immortalized, and somewhat fictionalized, in Steven Spielberg’s 2002 film Catch Me If You Can, with Leonardo DiCaprio starring as the young con man and Tom Hanks playing the FBI agent who pursued him. The movie, based on a ghost-written autobiography, inspired a 2011 Broadway musical of the same name – score by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, book by Terrence McNally, direction by Jack O’Brien and choreography by Jerry Mitchell – which is now touring the country.
It’s easy to understand why great storytellers have been attracted to this period in Abagnale’s life. His capers were colorful, improbable, glamorous, ingenious and exciting. With each chase, with each con, there was also the element of suspense: Would he get away with it? How would he get away with it? It’s a tale that practically begged to be told on screen and on stage.
 |
| The real Frank Abagnale, Jr. with the stars of Catch Me If You Can, Merritt David Jones (Agent Carl Hanratty) and Stephen Anthony (Frank Abagnale, Jr.) |
Abagnale’s life on the lam is the most entertaining part of his story – but it’s not the best part of his story. It may not even be the most remarkable part of his story. What Abagnale has done since leaving behind his life of crime is both mind-boggling and inspiring. He has used his knowledge as a counterfeiter and scam artist to stop criminals and protect law-abiding citizens, initially working with the FBI – which was part of his parole agreement – and then by developing a host of fraud prevention programs that are used by more than 14,000 financial institutions, corporations and law enforcement agencies. “Those are the amazing things to me about my life,” he says, “not what I did so many years ago.”
He didn’t set out to be a con artist when he ran away from home to New York City following his parents’ divorce. “It started out as survival,” he says. “I was 16 and tried to get jobs working in a store, like a delivery boy, and I realized they weren’t going to pay me anything. I knew I looked older, and I thought that if I lied about my age, if people thought I was ten years older, they’d pay me more.”
But as the film and musical indicate, Abagnale was resourceful and very smart, and he began to figure out ways – none of them legal – to make great sums of money, more than he ever dreamed. “I’ve always said that the two reasons for my success were that I was very creative and very observant,” he says. “I saw things that no one paid attention to. I was able to look at things and figure out ways around them. I think I got away with a lot of things because I was an adolescent; I had no fear of being caught. And like most adolescents, I wasn’t thinking about the consequences.”
He didn’t have nearly as much fun as the Frank Abagnale of stage and screen. “It’s a very lonely life,” he says. “Everyone you meet thinks you’re somebody else. I couldn’t confide in anybody. I was this teenage boy out on his own, and I cried myself to sleep many nights. Everyone I associated with thought I was their peer, but they were ten years older than I. So I was constantly having to act like an adult.
“I was also being chased, and I knew I had to stay one step ahead,” he continues. “At one point it became a game between me and the FBI agent as to who was going to outsmart who. But you grow up and mature and you realize you don’t want to live the rest of your life like that. I always knew I’d get caught: I didn’t have it in me to give myself up, but I knew it was a matter of time before they would catch up with me. And there’s great relief when you’re caught because it’s over. When I look back on my life, even knowing where it has brought me, I would never want to have to live that over again.”
Abagnale was 21 years old and living under an assumed name in France when the French police caught him and imprisoned him for six months under horrific conditions. He then spent six months in a Swedish jail, and was subsequently deported to the United States. Before American authorities could take him into custody he ran away again, escaping through the service area of the plane – not by disemboweling a plane’s toilet, as in the movie. “I was desperate, but not that desperate,” he says. He was desperate because he was terrified. “I thought I might go to prison for 20 years or for the rest of my life. Having experienced prison, I got very scared, and that’s why I tried to escape. I had no idea whether American prisons were like French prisons.”
He was eventually caught and sentenced to 12 years in jail. But after four years he was paroled, on the condition that he would use his expertise teaching and working undercover for the FBI. “I didn’t come out of prison saying, ‘I’m a changed person, I will never do this again,’” he says. “The truth is that this was a way to get my freedom. I didn’t know what I would do, or whether I would go straight.”
It was during one of his undercover assignments that Abagnale met Kelly, the woman who would become his wife. “She was working on her master’s degree, writing a paper and doing an internship at this institution where I was undercover,” he says. “I met her under this phony name, and started dating her. On my last day, I took her to the park and said, ‘I would really like to continue to see you, but I have to explain that I’m not this person, this is not what I do for a living. I work for the government and I’ve been here on assignment.’ I broke protocol, which you’re never supposed to do. But she listened to me, and she literally changed my life. She believed in me, she had faith in me, and she married me against the wishes of her parents, who eventually came to love me. She saw something in me that other people probably never saw. She gave me three beautiful children. I am who I am and I am and where I am because of the love of a woman, and the respect three sons have for their father. “
With Kelly in his life, Abagnale’s redemption truly began. When his obligation to the FBI was completed, he was asked to remain on. “I didn’t want to stay on as an employee of the government, because there were things I wanted to do that I’d be restricted from doing, like writing books and educating people about crime,” he says. “I also had a lot of technology ideas that I wanted to develop, but I knew that if I did them while working for the government, the technology would become government property.” So he became a contract employee, working as a consultant and teaching at the FBI Academy – where one of his students was his oldest son, now an FBI agent.
Abagnale works with the FBI to this day, and became lifelong friends with the agent who relentlessly pursued him, Joseph Shea – known as Carl Hanratty in the movie and the musical – who died in 2005. He has his own business, Abagnale & Associates, a security consulting firm, and is considered to be a leading authority in the field. He is a dynamic, much sought-after lecturer, and a self-made millionaire – legitimately. Just as surprising, he serves on the advisory board of Wild Wings International, the philanthropic organization of former Pan Am flight attendants. “Who would have dreamed that?” he says. “Only in America could something like this happen.”
Yet he lives with his past everyday. And although three presidents have offered to pardon him, he has turned them down. “I respectfully declined,” he says, “because I truly believe that a piece of paper cannot excuse my actions. I don’t think it works that way. I made some mistakes in my life and I have to live with them. I know people are fascinated by what I did between the ages of 16 and 21. But what amazes me is where my life went when I came out of prison. I try to do the right thing, and I hope that in the end I’ll be judged for that.”
Posted with permission from Allied Live
Friday, December 14, 2012
A Game of Cat and Mouse
Catch Me If You Can arrives next week at the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center, just in time for the holidays.
A fun break from the holiday hustle, this splashy Broadway hit has a lot of heart in addition to lots of glitz and glam.
Young Frank is living the high life as a conman bouncing checks. Carl, an FBI workaholic, has his eyes on the prize - a conviction. It's a whirlwind chase "Live in Living Color," and as reviews from the tour report, "The cat and mouse deserve to hog the spotlight."
Great seats for Catch Me If You Can start at $54. Visit foxcitiespac.com today!
Monday, October 1, 2012
There’s Still Time for Broadway Season Tickets!
Mamma Mia! was the official start to the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center’s 10th Anniversary Season this past August, but believe it or not, the 2012/13 Kimberly-Clark Broadway Across America – Fox Cities Season Ticket Package has yet to begin.
This season’s Broadway package includes tickets to Blue Man Group (October 9-14), Elf the Musical (November 13-18), Catch Me If You Can (December 18-23), The Addams Family (February 26-March 3) and War Horse (June 25-30). You can even add tickets to Disney’s The Lion King (April 9-May 5), all in one easy purchase!
Many of the Center’s Kimberly-Clark Broadway Across America– Season Ticket Holders upgrade their packages to Premium status with preferred seating locations and even more great benefits. The kick-off Premium Season Ticket Holder Party is a favorite. With show inspired décor, light hors d’oeuvres and complimentary drinks, it’s a great way to launch a season of Broadway’s best.
Check out some photos from previous Premium Season Ticket Holder parties!
 |
| Parisian Fare before Les Misérables |
 |
| Exploring the Island before South Pacific |
Just imagine what we’ll dream up for the Blue Man Group
Premium Season Ticket Holder Party!
Premium Season Ticket Holder Party!
If you’re interested in becoming a Season Ticket Holder, visit foxcitiespac.com or speak to a ticket agent today at (920) 730-3760.
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
Frank Abagnale Jr.: The Real Story Behind Catch Me If You Can
Did you know that one of the Center's splashy new Broadway titles is based on a true story?
No, Santa fans, we're not talking about Elf the Musical. We're talking about Catch Me If You Can playing December 18-23 at the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center. With snappy music and sixties costumes, it's a big-hearted musical based on a real-life tale of being young, in love, and in deep, deep trouble.
Frank Abagnale Jr. is an expert on fraud, scams, deception and beating the system. Between the ages of 16 and 21, he forged and cashed $2.5 million worth of bad checks in the United States and 26 other countries, while successfully passing himself off as an airline pilot for Pan Am, a doctor, a college professor and a lawyer. He was ultimately caught, as he always knew he would be, and served time in French, Swedish and American prisons.
Abagnale’s adventures were immortalized, and somewhat fictionalized, in Steven Spielberg’s 2002 film "Catch Me If You Can," with Leonardo DiCaprio starring as the young con man and Tom Hanks playing the FBI agent who pursued him. The movie, based on a ghost-written autobiography, inspired a 2011 Broadway musical of the same name – score by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, book by Terrence McNally, direction by Jack O’Brien and choreography by Jerry Mitchell – which is now touring the country.
It’s easy to understand why great storytellers have been attracted to this period in Abagnale’s life. His capers were colorful, improbable, glamorous, ingenious and exciting. With each chase, with each con, there was also the element of suspense: Would he get away with it? How would he get away with it? It’s a tale that practically begged to be told on screen and onstage.
Abagnale’s life on the lam is the most entertaining part of his story – but it’s not the best part of his story. It may not even be the most remarkable part of his story. What Abagnale has done since leaving behind his life of crime is both mind-boggling and inspiring. He has used his knowledge as a counterfeiter and scam artist to stop criminals and protect law-abiding citizens, initially working with the FBI – which was part of his parole agreement – and then by developing a host of fraud prevention programs that are used by more than 14,000 financial institutions, corporations and law enforcement agencies. “Those are the amazing things to me about my life,” he says, “not what I did so many years ago.”
He didn’t set out to be a con artist when he ran away from home to New York City following his parents’ divorce. “It started out as survival,” he says. “I was 16 and tried to get jobs working in a store, like a delivery boy, and I realized they weren’t going to pay me anything. I knew I looked older, and I thought that if I lied about my age, if people thought I was ten years older, they’d pay me more.”
But as the film and musical indicate, Abagnale was resourceful and very smart, and he began to figure out ways – none of them legal – to make great sums of money, more than he ever dreamed. “I’ve always said that the two reasons for my success were that I was very creative and very observant,” he says. “I saw things that no one paid attention to. I was able to look at things and figure out ways around them. I think I got away with a lot of things because I was an adolescent; I had no fear of being caught. And like most adolescents, I
wasn’t thinking about the consequences.”
He didn’t have nearly as much fun as the Frank Abagnale of stage and screen. “It’s a very lonely life,” he says. “Everyone you meet thinks you’re somebody else. I couldn’t confide in anybody. I was this teenage boy out on his own, and I cried myself to sleep many nights. Everyone I associated with thought I was their peer, but they were ten years older than I. So I was constantly having to act like an adult.
“I was also being chased, and I knew I had to stay one step ahead,” he continues. “At one point it became a game between me and the FBI agent as to who was going to outsmart who. But you grow up and mature and you realize you don’t want to live the rest of your life like that. I always knew I’d get caught: I didn’t have it in me to give myself up, but I knew it was a matter of time before they would catch up with me. And there’s great relief when you’re caught because it’s over. When I look back on my life, even knowing where it has brought me, I would never want to have to live that over again.”
Abagnale was 21 years old and living under an assumed name in France when the French police caught him and imprisoned him for six months under horrific conditions. He then spent six months in a Swedish jail, and was subsequently deported to the United States. Before American authorities could take him into custody he ran away again, escaping through the service area of the plane – not by disemboweling a plane’s toilet, as in the movie. “I was desperate, but not that desperate,” he says. He was desperate because he was terrified. “I
thought I might go to prison for 20 years or for the rest of my life. Having experienced prison, I got very scared, and that’s why I tried to escape. I had no idea whether American prisons were like French prisons.”
But as the film and musical indicate, Abagnale was resourceful and very smart, and he began to figure out ways – none of them legal – to make great sums of money, more than he ever dreamed. “I’ve always said that the two reasons for my success were that I was very creative and very observant,” he says. “I saw things that no one paid attention to. I was able to look at things and figure out ways around them. I think I got away with a lot of things because I was an adolescent; I had no fear of being caught. And like most adolescents, I
wasn’t thinking about the consequences.”
He didn’t have nearly as much fun as the Frank Abagnale of stage and screen. “It’s a very lonely life,” he says. “Everyone you meet thinks you’re somebody else. I couldn’t confide in anybody. I was this teenage boy out on his own, and I cried myself to sleep many nights. Everyone I associated with thought I was their peer, but they were ten years older than I. So I was constantly having to act like an adult.
“I was also being chased, and I knew I had to stay one step ahead,” he continues. “At one point it became a game between me and the FBI agent as to who was going to outsmart who. But you grow up and mature and you realize you don’t want to live the rest of your life like that. I always knew I’d get caught: I didn’t have it in me to give myself up, but I knew it was a matter of time before they would catch up with me. And there’s great relief when you’re caught because it’s over. When I look back on my life, even knowing where it has brought me, I would never want to have to live that over again.”
Abagnale was 21 years old and living under an assumed name in France when the French police caught him and imprisoned him for six months under horrific conditions. He then spent six months in a Swedish jail, and was subsequently deported to the United States. Before American authorities could take him into custody he ran away again, escaping through the service area of the plane – not by disemboweling a plane’s toilet, as in the movie. “I was desperate, but not that desperate,” he says. He was desperate because he was terrified. “I
thought I might go to prison for 20 years or for the rest of my life. Having experienced prison, I got very scared, and that’s why I tried to escape. I had no idea whether American prisons were like French prisons.”
He was eventually caught and sentenced to 12 years in jail. But after four years he was paroled, on the condition that he would use his expertise teaching and working undercover for the FBI. “I didn’t come out of prison saying, ‘I’m a changed person, I will never do this again,’” he says. “The truth is that this was a way to get my freedom. I didn’t know what I would do, or whether I would go straight.”
It was during one of his undercover assignments that Abagnale met Kelly, the woman who would become his wife. “She was working on her master’s degree, writing a paper and doing an internship at this institution where I was undercover,” he says. “I met her under this phony name, and started dating her. On my last day, I took her to the park and said, ‘I would really like to continue to see you, but I have to explain that I’m not this person, this is not what I do for a living. I work for the government and I’ve been here on assignment.’ I broke protocol, which you’re never supposed to do. But she listened to me, and she literally changed my life.
She believed in me, she had faith in me, and she married me against the wishes of her parents, who eventually came to love me. She saw something in me that other people probably never saw. She gave me three beautiful children. I am who I am and I am and where I am because of the love of a woman, and the respect three sons have for their father. “
With Kelly in his life, Abagnale’s redemption truly began. When his obligation to the FBI was
completed, he was asked to remain on. “I didn’t want to stay on as an employee of the government, because there were things I wanted to do that I’d be restricted from doing, like writing books and educating people about crime,” he says. “I also had a lot of technology ideas that I wanted to develop, but I knew that if I did them while working for the government, the technology would become government property.” So he became a contract employee, working as a consultant and teaching at the FBI Academy – where one of his students was
his oldest son, now an FBI agent.
Abagnale works with the FBI to this day, and became lifelong friends with the agent who relentlessly pursued him, Joseph Shea – known as Carl Hanratty in the movie and the musical – who died in 2005. He has his own business, Abagnale & Associates, a security consulting firm, and is considered to be a leading authority in the field. He is a dynamic, much sought-after lecturer, and a self-made millionaire – legitimately. Just as surprising, he serves on the advisory board of Wild Wings International, the philanthropic organization of
former Pan Am flight attendants. “Who would have dreamed that?” he says. “Only in America could something like this happen.”
Yet he lives with his past everyday. And although three presidents have offered to pardon him, he has turned them down. “I respectfully declined,” he says, “because I truly believe that a piece of paper cannot excuse my actions. I don’t think it works that way. I made some mistakes in my life and I have to live with them. I know people are fascinated by what I did between the ages of 16 and 21. But what amazes me is where my life went when I came out of prison. I try to do the right thing, and I hope that in the end I’ll be judged for that.”
It was during one of his undercover assignments that Abagnale met Kelly, the woman who would become his wife. “She was working on her master’s degree, writing a paper and doing an internship at this institution where I was undercover,” he says. “I met her under this phony name, and started dating her. On my last day, I took her to the park and said, ‘I would really like to continue to see you, but I have to explain that I’m not this person, this is not what I do for a living. I work for the government and I’ve been here on assignment.’ I broke protocol, which you’re never supposed to do. But she listened to me, and she literally changed my life.
She believed in me, she had faith in me, and she married me against the wishes of her parents, who eventually came to love me. She saw something in me that other people probably never saw. She gave me three beautiful children. I am who I am and I am and where I am because of the love of a woman, and the respect three sons have for their father. “
With Kelly in his life, Abagnale’s redemption truly began. When his obligation to the FBI was
completed, he was asked to remain on. “I didn’t want to stay on as an employee of the government, because there were things I wanted to do that I’d be restricted from doing, like writing books and educating people about crime,” he says. “I also had a lot of technology ideas that I wanted to develop, but I knew that if I did them while working for the government, the technology would become government property.” So he became a contract employee, working as a consultant and teaching at the FBI Academy – where one of his students was
his oldest son, now an FBI agent.
Abagnale works with the FBI to this day, and became lifelong friends with the agent who relentlessly pursued him, Joseph Shea – known as Carl Hanratty in the movie and the musical – who died in 2005. He has his own business, Abagnale & Associates, a security consulting firm, and is considered to be a leading authority in the field. He is a dynamic, much sought-after lecturer, and a self-made millionaire – legitimately. Just as surprising, he serves on the advisory board of Wild Wings International, the philanthropic organization of
former Pan Am flight attendants. “Who would have dreamed that?” he says. “Only in America could something like this happen.”
Yet he lives with his past everyday. And although three presidents have offered to pardon him, he has turned them down. “I respectfully declined,” he says, “because I truly believe that a piece of paper cannot excuse my actions. I don’t think it works that way. I made some mistakes in my life and I have to live with them. I know people are fascinated by what I did between the ages of 16 and 21. But what amazes me is where my life went when I came out of prison. I try to do the right thing, and I hope that in the end I’ll be judged for that.”
Tickets are on sale now for Catch Me If You Can.
Visit foxcitiespac.com for details!
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Last Chance for Christmas in July Savings!
Do you hear jingle bells? Your present arrived early at the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center with Christmas in July!
For one week only July 18-25, save up to $60 on 2012/13 Broadway Season Tickets including Blue Man Group, Elf the Musical, Catch Me If You Can, The Addams Family and War Horse. Treat yourself to five amazing shows, and enjoy great seats and exclusive benefits throughout the year. Or, make it a six show package with Disney’s The Lion King.
For one week only July 18-25, save up to $60 on 2012/13 Broadway Season Tickets including Blue Man Group, Elf the Musical, Catch Me If You Can, The Addams Family and War Horse. Treat yourself to five amazing shows, and enjoy great seats and exclusive benefits throughout the year. Or, make it a six show package with Disney’s The Lion King.
With one easy purchase, wrap up your tickets to the hottest Broadway shows by July 25!
Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Best Seats + Best Prices = Season Tickets
If you are thinking about becoming a Kimberly-Clark Broadway Across America – Fox Cities Season Ticket Holder, there’s no time like the present.
It’s the easiest way to secure the best seats at the best prices to next year’s
hottest shows in one simple purchase. Plus, you’ll enjoy great Broadway Season
Ticket Holder benefits!
SEATING
Become a Broadway Season Ticket Holder and seats you’ll love can be yours for every Broadway Series show.
SAVINGS
Season Tickets Holders take advantage of special package pricing and save up to 30% compared to buying each show separately.*
FLEXIBILITY
Can’t make your scheduled show? You can easily exchange your tickets for another performance of the same title.
PRIORITY ACCESS
Season Ticket Holders can order additional ticket now months before the general public, and you are among the first to know about new events.
SERVICE
Have you lost your tickets? Season Ticket Holders can request reprinted tickets free of charge.
Become a Broadway Season Ticket Holder and seats you’ll love can be yours for every Broadway Series show.
SAVINGS
Season Tickets Holders take advantage of special package pricing and save up to 30% compared to buying each show separately.*
FLEXIBILITY
Can’t make your scheduled show? You can easily exchange your tickets for another performance of the same title.
PRIORITY ACCESS
Season Ticket Holders can order additional ticket now months before the general public, and you are among the first to know about new events.
SERVICE
Have you lost your tickets? Season Ticket Holders can request reprinted tickets free of charge.
UPGRADE TO PREMIUM SEATSPremium Broadway Season Ticket Holders have access to coveted Orchestra Level and Dress Circle seating locations and enjoy the very best benefits including:
• An exclusive invitation to a Blue Man Group preshow party
• Special savings on show merchandise
• Premium parking pass
• Special offers from preferred restaurants
• New York concierge Ticketing Service to assist with purchasing tickets for shows on Broadway
• Complimentary Ticket Exchanges by Phone
• Complimentary Ticket Replacement by Phone
MAY
BONUS:
The Fox CitiesP.A.C. is offering two great incentives if you become a Season Ticket Holder by
May 31. First, take advantage of an optional payment plan and pay 50% now and
50% on June 29. Then, as you head to a show, enjoy complimentary preshow and
intermission drinks with a guest pass to the exclusive Partners Lounge!
*Based on performance date, time, seating location and final single ticket prices.
*Based on performance date, time, seating location and final single ticket prices.
Monday, May 7, 2012
Announcing Broadway-A-Day Sweepstakes Winners!
The Broadway-A-Day Sweepstakes has drawn to a close, and it's time to announce the winners! Seven lucky winners have been selected at random to receive a pair (2) tickets to the opening night performance indicated below.
Congratulations!
Winners, be sure to check your email for details on how to claim your prize!
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