Aaron Tveit Lands DiCaprio Role in Catch Me If You Can; Wopat, Butler & More Sign On

Complete casting has been announced for the Broadway-bound musical Catch Me If You Can, the adaptation of the 2002 hit Steven Spielberg film. Joining previously announced lead Norbert Leo Butz will be Aaron Tveit as Frank Abagnale Jr. the role played by Leonardo DiCaprio in the movie and, in featured parts, Tom Wopat, Kerry Butler, Rachel deBenedet and Linda Hart.

Inspired by Abagale’s autobiography of the same name as well as the film, Catch Me if You Can follows the rise and fall of Abagnale and the people whose lives intersect his own winding criminal career. Butz will play relentless FBI agent Carl Hanratty, who pursues Abagnale throughout his travels.

Rising star Tveit is currently in rehearsals for the upcoming Broadway musical Next to Normal, reprising the role as a teen in a troubled suburban family that he previously played at off-Broadway’s Second Stage Theatre and Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. He made his Broadway debut in 2006, playing Link Larkin in Hairspray, and recently concluded his run as Fiyero in Wicked.

Wopat, who will play Frank Abagnale, Sr. a role played by Christopher Walken in the film, was recently seen as Billy Flynn in the Broadway production of Chicago and is best known for his Tony Award-nominated performances in last season’s A Catered Affair and the 1999 revival of Annie Get Your Gun. Other Broadway credits include City of Angels, Guys and Dolls, 42nd Street and Glengarry Glen Ross.

Rachel deBenedet will play Abagnale's French mother Paula. DeBenedet has been seen in Broadway's Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and Nine, as well as the off-Broadway musical Adrift in Macao.

Cast as Brenda, a girl who gets wrapped up in Abagale’s web of lies, is Kerry Butler, a 2008 Tony Award nominee for Xanadu. Butler’s previous Broadway credits include Les Miserables, Blood Brothers, Beauty and the Beast, Hairspray as the original Penny Pingleton and Little Shop of Horrors.

Playing Brenda’s mother Carol is another Hairspray original cast member, Linda Hart. Hart originated the role of Velma Von Tussle in the hit musical and has also been seen on the Great White Way in Bette Midler’s Divine Madness as a Harlette, Anything Goes and Sid Caesar & Company as well as off-Broadway’s The Great American Trailer Park Musical.

The ensemble of Catch Me If You Can will feature Romelda Benjamin, Mo Brady, Tod Branton, Taryn Darr, Jason Kappus, Jillana Laufner, Nikki Long, Anastacia McClesky, Shanna Palmer, Timothy Piggee, Joey Pizzi, Angie Schworer, Clarke Thorell, Kyle Vaughn, Brandon Wardell, Karl Warden and Nick Wyman.

reunites many members of the creative team for the musical smash Hairspray, including director Jack O’Brien, choreographer Jerry Mitchell, songwriters Marc Shaiman music and Scott Wittman music and lyrics, set designer David Rockwell and lighting designer Kenneth Posner.

Catch Me If You Can

Tony winner Terrence McNally is writing the book for the show, and legendary fashion icon Bob Mackie, who has previously designed Broadway productions like On the Town, Lorelei, Platinum, The Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public and Moon Over Buffalo, will return to designing for the stage with the show. John McDaniel will serve as musical director.

Catch Me If You Can will play at Seattle’s Fifth Avenue Theatre from July 23 through August 16 and is expected on Broadway next season.