How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying: They're Really Trying, But They Don't Quite Succeed

This week, I caught the Wednesday matinee of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying at the Al Hirschfeld Theater after several months of wanting to check it out. To be perfectly honest, I was spurred less by a love for Broadway and more by a curiosity to see how Daniel Radcliffe did as a song-and-dance man. After all, I am part of the Harry Potter generation, and while I am by no means a die-hard Radcliffe fan, I have seen him in eight movies so I wanted to see him live on stage.

I think the following conversation - between the two old ladies sitting behind me during intermission - perfectly sums up the show:
Lady #1: "I saw the show 40 years ago, and I have to say I wasn't crazy about it then. I thought they would have updated it or something but it still feels very dated."
Lady #2: "Well I never saw it then, but yes it does seem a little dated. But that Radcliffe is doing well for himself for someone who can't dance or sing."
L1: "Oh yes, he's not that bad, and he's doing an American accent too, did you notice that?"
L2: "Yes, he's doing a good job. He must have a vocal coach. But I feel like the acoustics aren't that great - I'm not hearing everything very clearly. Or it could be that his voice is a little shrill."
L1: "Well he certainly owes his whole career to that JK Rowling. Did you watch those Harry Potter movies?"
L2: "No I didn't, what are they all about anyway? Does Radcliffe have much to do in them? Doesn't he just fly around - there can't be much dialogue."
L1: "Well yes he flies around, but there's a lot of dialogue too. It's just a fantasy series like those Twilight movies."
L2: "Oh I never watched the Twilight movies, I think the actor in them has very strange eyes."
L1: "You mean Robert Pattinson?"
L2: "Yes, I don't like looking at his eyes, that's why I didn't see the movies."

OK, so maybe I could have omitted the part about Pattinson's eyes (but why would I?), but there in a nutshell you have an accurate recap of this latest revival of How to Succeed. If I had to rate it out of five, I'd give it three stars. It was solid, but nothing much more than that, and like the ladies behind me said, the material felt way too dated. I saw Promises, Promises last year and while that was also set in the 60s, it felt classic but still relatable. How to Succeed feels much older, with several pop culture references that would have probably gone over great when it released in 1961, but are kind of wasted in 2011. At one point someone mentions that the company should get a major actress to represent them, "like Grace Kelly or Marilyn Monroe!" Both references are a bit jarring to a modern day audience who knows what happened to those ladies. There's also a snickering aside about Vassar that is based in the fact that Vassar is a women's college, which it no longer is. But aside from dated references, the whole story is also vastly stereotypical and predictable. From the musical number with a bunch of male executives declaring "A secretary is not a toy!" to the President of the company having an affair with a red-headed ex-cigar girl from the Copa, it all feels like a campy musical episode of Mad Men.

The saving grace is the cast. Radcliffe really is trying his best, and while his singing was definitely not great (putting on that 60s American accent made his romantic "Roooosemary!" and all other high notes become rather nasal) he definitely made up for it with surprisingly adept dance moves. And he was so apparently loving every minute on the stage and raring to go in every scene that you couldn't help but applaud him for it. Rosemary was played straightforwardly but sweetly by Rose Harrington, who sang beautifully and let us know what "Roooosemary!" ought to really sound like, Tammy Blanchard sashayed up and down the stage marvelously as the ginger-haired vixen Hedy LaRue, and Christopher Hanke puts in a snivelling and chuckle-worthy performance as the boss's nepotism-dependent nephew. And of course, there's John Laroquette (I was shocked to discover that this was his Broadway debut) who won a Tony for his role as the supremely goofy President of the company.

I also can't say enough about how gorgeous the show is to look at. The costumes are stupendous and fully worthy of 1960s fashion. And the set demonstrates the bewildering versatility of the Broadway stage, using every available inch of space to showcase different sets and fantastic dance numbers. Frankly that is my favorite part of a Broadway musical, watching a stage come alive in creative and unexpected ways, and I can forgive a lot just for the pleasure of that two and a half hours spent in suspended reality.

I do think the show will be more slick and worthwhile when Darren Criss takes over from Radcliffe for a few weeks in January, because Criss can actually sing and dance and might be just the shot in the arm that the show needs. But if all you want is to see Harry Potter ditch the glasses and fly around as a window-washer instead of a Quidditch player, you can't go wrong with buying a couple of cheap rush tickets and get some lessons in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.