How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying

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HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING

Photo: Ari Mintz

Cititour.com Review
No doubt about it: Daniel Radcliffe is utterly adorable. That much is apparent from the moment he steps onstage — or dangles above it, to be exact — in this thoroughly charming Broadway revival of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. As he's hoisted up from the orchestra pit on a window washer's platform, he's greeted by thunderous applause from an audience eager to see if Harry Potter can croon and hoof as well as he can cast spells and do battle with Voldemort.

The answer is yes … and no. Radcliffe's fleet-footed dancing, in numbers like the silly charm song "Old Ivy" and the splashy spectacular "Brotherhood of Man," is a joy to watch. His singing is proficient, his American accent flawless, and all this would be enough to propel the 21-year-old talent to musical-comedy-leading-man heights if only he weren't so innocuously lovable as J. Pierrepont Finch, that shark in sheep's clothing who ascends the corporate ladder in the span of two and a half hours. Finch does what he has to in order to get what he wants. He's calculating underneath an outwardly charming façade, but Radcliffe plays him like a lamb. His two costars — John Larroquette as head honcho J.B. Biggley and Rose Hemingway as Finch’s love interest, Rosemary — seem similarly at odds with their roles.

The good news, however, is that the further down you go on the bill, the better everyone gets. Rob Ashford is the most inventive choreographer on Broadway today — so much so that one wonders if he should focus solely on that instead of tackling directing duties as well. With the talents of Mary Faber and Christopher J. Hanke, he turns a potentially throwaway number like "Coffee Break," with employees kvetching over a broken java dispenser, into a hilarious highlight. Likewise, Michael Park's comic timing is exquisite throughout "A Secretary Is Not a Toy," and Tammy Blanchard is a hoot as the voluptuous Hedy La Rue.

Although the material, which won book writers Abe Burrows, Jack Weinstock and Willie Gilbert and composer-lyricist Frank Loesser the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1962, has been tamed by time, How to Succeed's gently biting humor about office politics can still reel in 21st-century audiences — even when it's not wrapped in a perfect production.

By Diane Snyder


Visit the Site
http://www.howtosucceedbroadway.com

Cast
Daniel Radcliffe, John Larroquette, Tammy Blanchard, Christopher J. Hanke, Rose Hemingway, Rob Bartlett, Mary Faber, Ellen Harvey, Michael Park

Open/Close Dates
Opening 2/26/2011
Closing 5/20/2012

Box Office
212-239-6200

Theatre Info
Al Hirschfeld Theatre
302 West 45th Street
New York, NY 10036
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