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How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
Frank Loesser’s musical homage to corporate America
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Reprise Theatre Company will conclude their season this year with Frank Loesser’s “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying,” which is based on the book by Abe Burrows, Jack Weinstock and Willie Gilbert, which, itself, is based on Shepherd Mead’s 1952 satire of the same name. Director and choreographer Marcia Milgrom Dodge brings this show to UCLA’s Freud Playhouse from May 11 to 23.
The musical jab at corporate America follows the rise of J. Pierpont Finch, who uses his pocket sized handbook to earn his way up the corporate ladder. The handbook, naturally called “How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying,” allows Finch to find pave his way from a lowly window washing position all the way to a high-powered executive role.
The office environment allows for many comedic depictions of that world, as avid viewers of shows such as the “The Office” know all too well. From the office party and office romance to the caffeine addiction and hiring nepotism, “How to Succeed” covers it all, with musical numbers as part of the bargain.
“Let Wall Street and Madison Avenue tremble as the rest of us rejoice” New York Times critic Howard Taubman wrote of the show.
The Reprise company website echoes this sentiment, “In these times, when businesses are flailing and failing, come see how a little gumption and finesse – plus a dozen phenomenal songs and dances – can make any company a major success.”
Josh Grisetti (“Enter Laughing”) will star as Finch, while John O’Hurley, (“Spamalot”), Simon Helberg (“The Big Bang Theory”) and Reprise veteran Vicki Lewis (“Newsradio”/“Three Sisters”) make up the rest of the cast. So far, Matthew Broderick starred in the show’s only Broadway revival in 1995, while rumor has it that Daniel Radcliffe will change out his Hogwarts robes for a business suit in 2011 for the next Broadway revival.