Naples pastor plays cop in musical

The Rev. Dave Gipson is a pastor by day, FBI agent by night. He puts on his gumshoes Sunday afternoon, too, but only after he’s preached to his flock.

In a nightclub.

There’s nothing traditional about Gipson, who also has been a familiar face at naplesnews.com with his "Jesus in Ray-Bans" column. (It’s now online at DaveGipson.net.) He likes the fact that because his church has no building or office — "We’re hiding ourselves away from the people who need us most" — he has to create meeting places like the Fifth Avenue Starbucks. He’s there Friday afternoon, sipping a soft drink, to explain how he learned to dance in his 50s for the role of Carl Hanratty in "Catch Me If You Can," at Sugden Community Theatre through July 31.

Hanratty is the FBI agent who ultimately brings down Frank Abagnale Jr., the famous con artist who successfully posed as commercial airline pilot, doctor and lawyer, forging and falsifying IDs to steal more than $1 million. Abagnale is the central character of the Naples Players musical based on the true story. (Tom Hanks played Hanratty in the 2002 non-musical film version, "Catch Me If You Can.")

But as his protagonist, Hanratty has nearly as many lines, and, as luck would have it, some dancing. And in Gipson’s case, no alternate star to relieve him.

So Gipson was determined to dance.

That meant taking a DVD supplied by director/choreographer Dawn Lebrecht Fornara and sequestering himself in a room at home, "for two hours a day, until my body gave out, and then taking some Alleve."

Hanratty is one of his dream roles, he said.

"I love the show. I love the music. I saw Norman Leo Butz do ‘Don’t Break the Rules,’ which he won a Tony for, and thought, ‘Go, gosh, I don’t know if I can survive it, but I’ve got to do that,’" Gipson said.

Despite the fact that he’s 6 feet-plus now and looks robustly healthy, Gipson suffered from allergies as a child and spent a lot of time indoors with TV, taking in old movies, especially musicals. Rodgers & Hammerstein spectacles like "Oklahoma" are still among his favorites.

"I did little musicals on my front porch when I was about 7," he recalled, and his smile testifies to how much Dave Gipson the Playwright enjoyed his homegrown theater.

He maintained an interest in musical theater, even while he was studying for the Baptist ministry. Gipson eventually founded Legacy Church in Naples, he says, specifically to take his own mission out of buildings that he points out "are empty five days a week" so he could meet people who are not normally ministered to.

He also made his adult theater debut in a big way, playing maligned hero Jean Valjean for the Players’ production of "Les Miserables" two years ago.

The irony of his going from prisoner to police officer roles hasn’t escaped Gipson.

"Jean Valjean wasn’t actually a bad person. His crime was stealing a load of bread to keep from starving to death," he said of his role in "Les Mis." "But Javert wouldn’t turn loose. He could have used some of the qualities of Hanratty, who comes to have some feeling for the character he’s chasing."

The other role he would have been happy to play, he said is that of Frank Abagnale Sr., young Frank’s father, who is something of a sleight-of-hand artist himself.

"His role is very sad, but as an actor I’d really enjoy that one because it is such a sad tragic story. This is a play about fathers and sons," Gipson said. "There’s Frank Sr., who actually is Frank’s father, and Hanratty, who sort of takes on this fatherly role."

That said, Gipson said he has to choose roles carefully.

"If the character was an adamant racist or if there were some more explicit themes, I probably would not tend to play that role. Some people tend to project the characters onto the people who are playing them," he explained. That might not stop him from going after one of his bucket list roles, that of Sweeney Todd.

"I think most people know the character of someone who’s killing people and serving them up in meat pies is unreal," Gipson said. Other roles he’d love to play: Tevye, the patriarch of "Fiddler on the Roof," and Harold Hill, the maturing grifter of "The Music Man."

For right now, however, these two roles — in addition to husband and dad — are keeping him more than fulfilled. Legacy Church celebrated its first service Sunday in The Colisseum, a restaurant-music club on U.S. 41 South, just past Davis Boulevard. Gipson said that when he was offered the space for Sunday mornings, he was a little concerned how his congregation would feel about it.

"But they said ‘This is so much us!’" he continued, delighted. "They have a sound system and they have lighting and the stage is pretty much in place. I’ve got a fantastic band, which is pretty much rhythm and blues, but it’s Christian music."

There are a few changes, Gipson, added, with an sly smile: "The congregation probably won’t be heading to the bar at the back after the service is over."

If you go

‘Catch Me If You Can — The Musical’

What: Naples Players’ production of the musical based on the life of high-profile impostor-forger Frank Abagnale Jr.

When: 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays through July 31

Where: Sugden Community Theatre, 701 Fifth Ave. S., Naples

Tickets: $40 for adults, $10 for students 21 and younger

To buy: Box office, by phone at 239-263-7990, or online at naplesplayers.org