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Opinionist: <em>How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying</em>
By
John Del Signore
Published Apr 3, 2011
Modified Apr 3, 2011
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By
John Del Signore
Published Apr 3, 2011
Modified Apr 3, 2011
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Can Daniel Radcliffe succeed in persuading everybody he isn't Harry Potter? He's certainly trying, but one wonders if Frank Loesser's How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying was really the ideal choice for the young star's resume-building. The latest revival of this utterly forgettable musical comedy, which debuted on Broadway in 1961, stars Radcliffe as an ambitious window washer who, with the aid of a self-help book narrated by a disembodied Anderson Cooper, ascends swiftly to the top of the corporate ladder. As boulevard diversions go, it's all harmless enough, but Radcliffe's problem is that the role of J Pierrepont Finch is vague and shallow, and he can't really come up with anything to do beyond winkling smugly at the audience.
To be fair, he also dances competently and sings...well—to be charitable—we'll call it adequate. But why this musical, of all things? There's simply no good reason for this revival to exist in this foul year of our Lord 2011—far too trifling and corny to amuse, it can't possibly serve as effective escapism except for the most pedestrian spectators. That said, there are plenty of them to go around, and one woman behind me howled with laughter at "jokes" that could be seen coming down the assembly line from a mile away. Let's face it: "How to Succeed..." is being revisited now simply because people like Mad Men and because Radcliffe hoped it could show off his range. Neither of those reasons is good.
A previous revival starring Matthew Broderick ran for over a year in the mid-'90s, and while Radcliffe proved himself a legit theater actor with his 2008 broadway debut in Equus, he's no Matthew Broderick, who won a Tony on the strength of his signature devilish charm. When Radcliffe tries "devilish," he just comes off as a dick. Falling ass backwards into a series of humorously preposterous promotions, his character winds up a high-ranking executive in the World Wide Widget company by the end of the first act. In act two, he must succeed at success and get lucky at love. Spoiler alert: He's such a glib, self-serving tool that by the end you're actually rooting for him to fail.
The rest of the cast, which includes former Night Court star John Larroquette as the kooky CEO, is professional and crisp, even businesslike in their show biz ministrations. They hit their marks and dispense their dated one-liners with such slick conviction that at times the tedium is broken by proven Broadway methodology. If you can get past Loesser's bland score and manage to stop your eyes from rolling during numbers like "A Secretary Is Not A Toy," you may find yourself actually enjoying Rob Ashford's effervescent choreography, Catherine Zuber's eye-candy costumes, and Derek McLane's delightfully mod set. But could Broadway producers come up with a more irrelevant and milquetoast revival to mount this season? Something tells us they won't stop trying.
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John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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