Sunday, April 3, 2011

Theater Review: How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying

Daniel Radcliffe and John Larroquette. Photo by Ari Mintz

How Radcliffe Succeeds in This Business with a Little Trying
By Lauren Yarger
Another Hollywood star is packing them in on the Great White Way as Daniel Radcliffe of Harry Potter fame takes the stage as J. Pierrepont Finch in the 50th anniversary revival of the Tony and Pulitzer-Prize-Winning How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.

“Isn’t he adorable?” and “Look, it’s Harry Potter!” fans in the audience say as Radcliffe shows that he has what it takes to be the leading man in a Broadway musical, even if he can’t rely on the magic in his wand. Instead, he appears to be relying on some hard work to prepare for the show and it has paid off in the form of his skillful execution of Rob Ashford’s (although overkill) choreography moves. The young sorcerer -- I mean actor -- appears to defy gravity with a few physical moves.

I’m happy the fans are cheering. Too often Hollywood stars come to the stage hoping their charm will carry them, and instead, it appears Radcliffe is trying very hard to do his best. His singing voice is adequate, if not as strong as we normally expect on a Broadway stage, but he’s not alone. Ashford, who also directs, has cast weaker vocals across the board. The result is that Radcliffe’s lack of vocal ability doesn’t stand out, but we never hear any of the tunes and lyrics by Frank Loesser given full justice. David Chase provides the musical direction and pleasant arrangements.

The story (book by Abe Burrows, Jack Weinstick and Willie Gilbert) follows Pierrepont as he climbs his way out of a window-washing job up the corporate ladder at World Wide Widgets with the help of a guide titled “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” (voice narration for the book is provided by CNN correspondent Anderson Cooper). He quickly impresses the CEO’s secretary Miss Jones (Ellen Harvey), executive Mr. Gatch (Nick Mayo) and starts getting promoted.

Along the way, he also impresses a couple of secretaries, Smitty (an engaging Mary Faber) and Rosemary Pilkington (Rose Hemingway), who quickly decides that she’d like to be Mrs. J. Pierrepont Finch. “Ponty” doesn’t really notice Rosemary, though, so fixated is he on following his guide and finding just the right bits of information he needs to get ahead. He angers screw-up Bud Frump (a fun Christopher J. Hanke), who is the nephew of their boss, J.B. Biggley (John Larroquette, making a solid Broadway debut), and who doesn’t hesitate to call his mother to complain when Ponty gets the praise instead of him. Bud even tries to sabotage Ponty by placing him in a compromising position with Biggley’s mistress, Heddy LaRue (Tammy Blanchard) and by contributing a bad advertising idea when Ponty is made head of that department. Can Ponty get out of the mess, find true love and avoid the wrath of Board Chairman Wally Womper (Rob Bartlett)? I’ll bet you can succeed in answering that without even trying.

Derek McLane designs a set of varied-colored, multi-level honeycomb panels to create an environment for the worker bees of WWW, lighted by Howell Binkley, who also gives a nice spotlight touch to Ponty's successes up the corporate ladder.

Catherine Zuber creates the 1960s-style clothes, which are a mix of attractive and sometimes disappointing. One suit and hat combination on Radcliffe gives the appearance of a little boy playing dress up rather than a man headed for the board room and in a scene where all of the women show up for a party wearing the same dress, it’s hard to believe that even one would select such an unattractive get-up, never mind all of them.

Also disappointing is a rather sexist undertone to how the women are depicted. Rosemary has little ambition other than to be a devoted wife “Happy to Keep His Dinner Warm.” The guys sing “A Secretary is Not a Toy” and the secretaries sing about wanting to be Cinderella. OK, this is the 1960s, so maybe that’s period, but we have to wonder why this type of show is being revived so often. There’s one dance number that is sexist and distasteful even by today’s standards. And there’s only one person of color – a chorus woman – in the show. Is this supposed to depict the state of corporate America in he ’60s (again is this really something worth reviving) or is this an unfortunate lack of 2011 diversity?

At any rate, the Harry Potter fans are applauding wildly. Radcliffe deserves their admiration for his efforts and Larroquette deserves it for some delightful comedic timing. He looks as though he succeeds at it without even trying.

The show plays at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre, 302 West 45th St., NYC. Discounted tickets are available at http://www.givenik.com/show_info.php/Masterworks/273/individual.

Christians might also like to know:
• Minor Language
• God’s name taken in vain

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I loved it! I was lucky enough to get some How to Succeed tickets while Daniel Radcliffe was still starring. It was awesome!

We also managed to get some cheap War Horse tickets while we were there too!

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Our reviews are professional reviews written without a religious bias. At the end of them, you can find a listing of language, content or theological issues that Christians might want to know about when deciding which shows to see.

** Mature indicates that the show has posted an advisory because of content. Usually this means I would recommend no one under the age of 16 attend.

Theater Critic Lauren Yarger

Theater Critic Lauren Yarger

My Bio

Lauren Yarger has written, directed and produced numerous shows and special events for both secular and Christian audiences. She co-wrote a Christian musical version of “A Christmas Carol” which played to sold-out audiences of over 3,000 in Vermont and was awarded the Vermont Bessie (theater and film awards) for “People’s Choice for Theatre.” She also has written two other dinner theaters, sketches for church services and devotions for Christian artists. Her play concept, "From Reel to Real: The Jennifer O'Neill Story" was presented as part of the League of professional Theatre Women's Julia's reading Room Series in New York. Shifting from reviewing to producing, Yarger owns Gracewell Productions, which produced the Table Reading Series at the Palace Theater in Waterbury, CT. She trained for three years in the Broadway League’s Producer Development Program, completed the Commercial Theater Institute's Producing Intensive and other training and produced a one-woman musical about Mary Magdalene that toured nationally and closed with an off-Broadway run. She was a Fellow at the National Critics Institute at the O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, CT. She wrote reviews of Broadway and Off-Broadway theater (the only ones you can find in the US with an added Christian perspective) at http://reflectionsinthelight.blogspot.com/.

She is editor of The Connecticut Arts Connection (http://ctarts.blogspot.com), an award-winning website featuring theater and arts news for the state. She was a contributing editor for BroadwayWorld.com. She previously served as theater reviewer for the Manchester Journal-Inquirer, Connecticut theater editor for CurtainUp.com and as Connecticut and New York reviewer for American Theater Web.

She is a Co-Founder of the Connecticut Chapter of the League of Professional Theatre Women. She is a former vice president and voting member of The Drama Desk.

She is a freelance writer and playwright (member Dramatists Guild of America). She is a member if the The Outer Critics Circle (producer of the annual awards ceremony) and a member of The League of Professional Theatre Women, serving as Co-Founder of the Connecticut Chapter. Yarger was a book reviewer for Publishers Weekly A former newspaper editor and graduate of the University of Missouri’s School of Journalism, Yarger also worked in arts management for the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts, the Hartford Symphony Orchestra and served for nine years as the Executive Director of Masterwork Productions, Inc. She lives with her husband in West Granby, CT. They have two adult children.

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All material is copyright 2008- 2022 by Lauren Yarger. Reviews and articles may not be reprinted without permission. Contact reflectionsinthelight@gmail.com

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Key to Content Notes:

God's name taken in vain -- means God or Jesus is used in dialogue without speaking directly to or about them.

Language -- means some curse words are used. "Minor" usually means the words are not too strong or that it only occurs once or twice throughout the show.

Strong Language -- means some of the more heavy duty curse words are used.

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Cross Dresser -- Means someone is dressing as the opposite sex. If they do more than that on stage the listing would include the corresponding "sexual activity" and/or "homosexual activity" as well.

Cross Gender -- A man is playing a female part or a woman is playing a man's part.

Suggestive Dancing -- means dancing contains sexually suggestive moves.

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I receive free seats to Broadway and Off-Broadway shows made available to all voting members of the Outer Critics Circle. Journalistically, I provide an unbiased review and am under no obligation to make positive statements. Sometimes shows do not make tickets available to reviewers. If these are shows my readers want to know about I will purchase a ticket. If a personal friend is involved in a production, I'll let you know, but it won't influence a review. If I feel there is a conflict, I won't review their portion of the production.

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