HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING A REVIEW

George S. Kaufman [that emenent and much loved all around theatre man] once said that satire is what closes on Saturday night. While there have been successful musical satires over the years,most of them have not had much of an after life." Of Thee I Sing" was the first musical to win the Pulitzer Prize and was the longest running book musical of the1930s, but when it was revived twenty years later it seemed awfully tame and mighty creaky. The fact is that most satires are very much of their time and date rather quickly.
When I reviewed the original production of "HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING" in 1961[I was in my first year of college and was their resident drama critic] I thought that this razor sharp poke at big business was beyond brilliant with it's devistatingly funny book by Abe Burrows [with help from Jack Weinstock and Willie Gilbert] and classic score by Frank Loesser. It won the Pulitzer Prize, ran 1,417 performances and is considered by many to be the classic musical satire. When it was revived in 1995 it still had some spark, but not much sting. Now in this 50th anniversary revival it has no spark and and it's once brilliant satrical edge is woefully dated in this high-tech age.
It's the familiar tale of a go-getter determined to get to the top of the business world at any price,but he has so much charm that you root for him to succeed despite his sinster underbelly. It's a difficult role to play and requires perfect balance between the charming and sinster aspects, and in it Daniel Radcliffe works hard and has charm to spare but does not have the underlying cunning that would make the role beleivable.
However, John Larroquette has fun with the role of the company head and has just the right amount of grumpiness and charm to make him seem likeable.
Newcomer Rose Hemingway is delightful as the go-getters girlfriend and Tammy Blanchard is halarious as the boss's mistress.
Director/choreographer Rob Ashford keeps things moving briskly enough in Derek McLane's colorful but oddly moodless sets,and the great Loesser score is not well served by Doug Besterman's new orchestrations which can't begin to compare with the wonderful Robert Ginzler originals.
The fact is that"HOW TO SUCCEED" is very much tied to it's period and what was a benchmark in musical satire now seems dated and even a little foolish.
AT THE AL HIRSCHFIELD THEATRE 302 WEST 45th STREET N.Y.C.

" FOLLIES" AND "SIDE BY SIDE BY SONDHEIM" SOME THOUGHTS

While on a mini-vacation to Washington D.C. last weekend with my wife I attended two theatre events that are worth mentioning.


The first one was the long awaited Kennedy Center production of the great James Goldman/ Stephen Sondheim musical "FOLLIES" and even in this in and out and unevenly cast production it is still [in my opinion anyway] one of the best musicals to emerge in the 1970s with one of the decades best scores, possibly surpassed only by Mr. Sondheim's late 70s masterpiece "Sweeney Todd".


Forget about the fact that I saw [and loved] the original 1971 production and I was at the legendary 1986 concert reading at Lincoln Center. Both were perfectly cast and and staged and were exroadanary theatre evenings so I was willing to judge this production on it's own terms, but the somewhat uneven casting[ of the four leads only Jan Maxwell seemed well suited to her role] and spotty stage direction by Eric Schaeffer cast a pall over the procedings that [for me anyway]never went away. Even the sets by Derek McLane and the costumes by Gregg Barnes were lacking in mood and style.


Is there anything good? Well Jonathan Tunick's orchestrations and John Berkman's dance music arrangements are as fresh and vibriant as ever and they are played by a good pit orchestra conducted by James Moore.


While it is true that " FOLLIES" was never a flawless show [the book has problems of structure and seems to sometimes get out of hand] the music and lyrics are beyond great and even in this underpowered production it is worth seeing.


The second show we saw was a delightful production of the 1975 revue "SIDE BY SIDE BY SONDHEIM"produced by the excellent Signature Theatre in Arlington Virginia and performed by an excellent cast of three performers and two musicians. This was a lighthearted look at Sondheim's work thru the1970s[ ending right before"Sweeney Todd"] and was performed by three very talented singers Sherri L. Edelen, Matthew Scott, and especially Nancy Anderson who has a smile and personality that are irresistable.


For those that are interested, "SIDE BY SIDE BY SONDHEIM" runs thru June 12th and 'FOLLIES" is on thru June 19th.

















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