Original Broadway Cast, 2011 (Ghostlight) (2 / 5) The presence of leading men Aaron Tveit and Norbert Leo Butz guaranteed high expectations for this stage musical adaptation of Steven Spielberg’s highly regarded 2002 film of the same title. The movie is based on the allegedly true exploits of Frank Abagnale Jr., whose capers as a young man included impersonating an attorney, an airline pilot, and a doctor, all while being pursued and eventually apprehended by FBI agent Carl Hanratty. Book writer Terrence McNally sets the show’s events within a 1960s variety show framework — an arena that composer Marc Shaiman and lyricist Scott Wittman are quite familiar with, having mined it previously for their hit musical Hairspray. This setup naturally takes some tension out of the story, and that’s reflected on the recording. Multiple numbers on the album are merely single lines of plot dialogue stretched into tedious, four-minute tracks; songs such as “Butter Outta Cream,” “The Pinstripes Are All That They See,” and “Little Boy, Be a Man” are all guilty of this sin. But how about those leading men? As the boyish con artist, Aaron Tveit supplies crisp tenor vocals in “Goodbye,” “Someone Else’s Skin,” and other numbers, yet his delivery ultimately lacks the roguishness required to make the character compelling on disc. Norbert Leo Butz fits into the world of the show more easily, portraying Hanratty with frenetic grit, but he’s hampered by some of the weakest material. For example, his big song, “Don’t Break the Rules,” has show-stopping aspirations but doesn’t quite land on disc without the benefit of Butz’s larger-than-life stage presence. (He won a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical for this role). All of that said, there are certainly bright spots on the album: The song “Doctor’s Orders” sizzles, capturing the energy of the source material; Hairspray alum Kerry Butler is wonderful as Frank’s love interest, Brenda Strong, delivering the goods with her rendition of “Fly, Fly Away,” a rare instance of the musical finding an emotional beat not in the film; and stage veterans Tom Wopat and Linda Hart play Frank’s dad and Brenda’s mom with appropriate flair. Ultimately, though, the tepid outweighs the good on this album, leaving the listener with a polished but empty adaptation of the source material. — Forrest Hutchinson