Catch Me If You Can Creative

Director/Scenic/Lighting Design

Mike Reinhart

Mike Reinhart serves as the Auditorium Director at Merrillville and is a Title 1 Aide at Fieler Elementary. Also the director of Ross Music Theatre and M & M Productions plays and summer musical, Mike is also the technical director for those shows. In addition Mike is the production manager director and editor for M & M Video Productions. Mike has been recording events, corporate videos, training and special interest videos since 1981. Mike has been involved with community and or school live productions since he was 8 years old, starting out on stage in the chorus of his father's production of FLOWER DRUM SONG. Since that time he has played a wide variety of parts from Ebenezer Scrooge to Motel the Tailor, in addition to working on hundreds of shows in a technical capacity. Mike attended Valparaiso Technical Institute where he majored in electrical engineering then went to Indiana University where he majored in Theatre/English Education.

Musical Director-choreographer-Scenic Artist-Costume Design

Melinda Reinhart

Melinda is the Merrillville High School Choral Director. She graduated from Indiana University School of Music in 1989 with a Bachelors in Music Education--Voice. While at IU, Melinda had the distinct privilege of studying with renowned soprano Camilla Williams. Also, she performed and toured all over the United States with the Singing Hoosiers and Varsity Dancers. Melinda also performs and has been performing since she was seven. Her favorite roles include: Dolly Levi (HELLO DOLLY), Narrator (JOSEPH), Meg Brockie (BRIGADOON), Mother (RAGTIME), Nancy (OLIVER), and Mary Magdalene (JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR). Melinda was also handed the set painting torch by the late Jerauld Reinhart. He taught her all his tricks of the trade and once told her "I couldn't have done it better myself." Melinda is one of the show's scenic artists.

Technical Director-Master Electrician-Sound Design-Sound Board Operator

Tom Dobes

Tom Dobes (Sound Design & Sound Board Operator) has been involved with RMT/M&M shows for eleven years, beginning with BRIGADOON in 1998. Over the years, Tom has also served as technical director for many Merrillville High School drama/musical productions, choir concerts, and for outside organizations who rent Reinhart Auditorium. M&M/Ross love having Tom around because he can fix just about anything. Tom is the one responsible for the live internet broadcast of our 1940s style radio shows, he devised a wireless way to control a battery-operated a set of LEDs for Cinderella’s carriage, he single-handedly keeps all 30 of our cordless mics usable. Tom also does all the technical work for Indiana Youth Ballet’s Nutcracker and Peter Pan. Currently, Tom is works in IT at University of Chicago.

Master Carpenter

Edwin Gonzalaz

Edwin has been working on sets since 2014 and has been Master Carpenter for 16 shows including, PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, SCROOGE, THE LITTLE MERMAID, MEMPHIS, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, and JOSEPH. He helped us make it rain on stage in LEAP OF FAITH and make the prince float to the bottom of the sea in THE LITTLE MERMAID. Edwin works in maintenance for the Hobart YMCA, and a local apartment complex.

Stage Manager

Keith Barnard

Keith started working with RSMT in 2015 with THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA as chorus and stage crew. Other Ross credits include SCROOGE, JOSEPH and the AMAZING TECHNIOLOR DREAMCOAT, THE LITTLE MERMAID and HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME. MHS productions Keith served as stage crew include INTO THE WOODS, THE DEAD PRINCE, ANIMAL FARM, Animal Farm, and served as Stage Manager, in charge of the fly, for SISTER ACT and LEAP OF FAITH, Keith was Stage Manager in charge of everything backstage including making it rain on stage.

Original Creative Team

Book by: Terrence McNally had a remarkably far-ranging career, including a new work on Broadway in each of the last six decades. In 2018 he was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He is a 2019 recipient of a Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement. He also received the Dramatists Guild Lifetime Achievement Award and the Lucille Lortel Lifetime Achievement Award. He won four Tony Awards for his plays Love! Valour! Compassion! and Master Class and his musical books for Kiss of the Spider Woman and Ragtime. He wrote a number of TV scripts, including "Andre's Mother," for which he won an Emmy Award. He received two Guggenheim Fellowships, a Rockefeller Grant, four Drama Desk Awards, two Lucille Lortel Awards, two Obie Awards, and three Hull-Warriner Awards from the Dramatists Guild. In 1996 he was inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame. He wrote the libretto for the operas Great Scott and Dead Man Walking, both with music by Jake Heggie. Other plays include Mothers and Sons; Lips Together, Teeth Apart; The Lisbon Traviata; Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune; A Perfect Ganesh; The Visit; The Full Monty; Corpus Christi; Bad Habits; Next; The Ritz; Anastasia; It's Only a Play; Where Has Tommy Flowers Gone?; and The Stendhal Syndrome.

Music and co Lyricist: MARC SHAIMAN has been writing music, lyrics, arrangements, orchestrations, and very lengthy Emails since entering show business at the age of 16, at LaMama, in 1976.

What has he done lately? Well, he and co-lyricist Scott Wittman have written the songs for director Rob Marshall and Disney's "Mary Poppins Returns", the film sequel (not remake!!) to the classic film 'Mary Poppins'. He received a Golden Globe and Oscar nomination for his score for the film. In addition, Mr. Shaiman and Mr. Wittman received an Oscar nomination for the song "The Place Where Lost Things Go", featured in the movie. And their West End/Broadway musical Charlie & The Chocolate Factory is currently touring North America, with an Australian production slated to open in January 2019.

Mr. Shaiman has been nominated for two Tony Awards (winning one for co-writing the score to Hairspray with co-lyricist Scott Wittman), four Grammy Awards, (winning one for The Original Cast Recording of Hairspray), eleven Emmy Awards (winning one for his work on Billy Crystal's Academy Award hosting) and if he hadn't lost each of his five Oscar nominations (for "Sleepless In Seattle", "Patch Adams", "The First Wives Club", The American President" and "South Park-Bigger, Longer & Uncut"), he could boast of being an EGOT. Till then, he remains an EGT.

Mr. Shaiman's other film work includes "Beaches", "When Harry Met Sally", "City Slickers", "The Addams Family", "A Few Good Men", "Sister Act" (1 & 2), "Hocus Pocus", "The Bucket List" and "Parental Guidance", to name a few. Millions of more titles are available upon request. Call him.

He and Mr. Wittman were Executive Producers of the successful film adaptation (not remake!!) of their musical Hairspray.

Besides Hairspray, his and Mr. Wittman's other original Broadway musicals are the Tony-nominated Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me and the Tony-winning Catch Me If You Can, while Off-Broadway productions include The High-Heeled Women, Livin' Dolls, and Andre De Shields' Haarlem Nocturne. Broadway concert credits are "Peter Allen-Up In One", Bette Midler's "Divine Madness", Ellie Greenwich's "Leader Of The Pack" and "Patti LuPone On Broadway".

Also, after a tremendously successful concert for The Actor's Fund, his & Mr. Wittman's musical Bombshell, created as part of the television show "Smash", is now being developed into a Broadway show.

His television ventures, varied and many, include "The Sweeney Sisters" on SNL, countless award and talk show shows with Mr. Crystal, Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Lane, Jennifer Hudson, Jack Black and Will Ferrell (among many others), Jenifer Lewis' "Jackie's Back", the Emmy-winning "SNL 40th", the aforementioned "Smash", and his proudest achievement for television, his collaboration with Bette Midler for her Emmy-winning appearance as his final guest on Johnny Carson's penultimate Tonight Show.

Other performers Marc has collaborated with in concert, cabaret, film, and television include Kristen Chenoweth, Eric Clapton, Christine Ebersole, Kathy Griffin, Allison Janney, Jennifer Holiday, Diane Keaton, Steve Martin, John Mayer, Barbra Streisand, Rob Thomas, Queen Latifah, Raquel Welch, Robin Williams...the list is kind of endless...

He has co-produced and/or arranged Grammy-winning recordings for (among others) Miss Midler, Harry Connick Jr., and Mariah Carey, including the Grammy-winning recordings "The Wind Beneath My Wings" and "From A Distance".

He and Ms. Carey were nominated for a Golden Globe for their song "The Star" from the soundtrack to that animated film.

And he is quite fond of his online opus "Prop 8 - The Musical".

Mr. Shaiman was happy to have his childhood piano teacher, Miss Andrews, when he & Mr. Wittman were celebrated in 2014 by the New York Pops with a spectacular concert at Carnegie Hall.

And at the after-party for "SNL 40th", he jammed with Paul McCartney, Prince, and Taylor Swift and completely lost his shit.

Finally, Marc is overjoyed to report that four years ago he stopped reading online chat boards, and his life and well-being have improved drastically! He suggests you do the same.

Lyrics by: Scott Wittman co-wrote (with Marc Shaiman) the lyrics for the Olivier Award-winning musical Hairspray, for which the pair received Tony and Grammy Awards. He also served as an executive producer on the hit film starring John Travolta. They teamed up again on Broadway for Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me, which he also directed, and Catch Me If You Can, which received a Tony nomination for Best Musical. For their original songs on NBC's musical drama "Smash", Scott & Marc were nominated for two Emmy Awards, a Grammy, and a Golden Globe. On SMASH they have composed songs for Jennifer Hudson, Uma Thurman, Bernadette Peters, and Liza Minnelli. Their original score for the Marilyn Monroe musical Bombshell was released on Sony Records. Scott co-wrote the lyrics to "Charlie and Chocolate Factory" directed by Sam Mendes, currently playing to sold-out houses at The Theatre Royal Drury Lane in London'sWest End. For Patti LuPone, Scott has created and directed two Broadway shows, three recordings, and three sold-out Carnegie Hall concerts. At La Mama, Scott conceived and directed "Jukebox Jackie" starring Justin Vivian Bond, Cole Escola, Steel Burkhardt, and Bridget Everett. He collaborated with Shaiman on new songs for Disney's "Mary Poppins Returns", directed by Rob Marshall. He and Shaiman received an Oscar nomination for the song "The Place Where Lost Things Go", featured in the film.