How to succeed...in life

There's a lot about Daniel Radcliffe that's impressive. He really seems to have a good head on his shoulders; he gives awesome, amusing interviews; and he really seems to have done a great job thinking about his life post-Potter. Doing Equus, and following it up with the musical comedy How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying on Broadway...and then a period scary movie, The Woman in Black. Really smart--here's a guy who's obviously thinking long-term. And he has the chops to pull it off. I've been impressed with his work in the Potter movies.

He works in How to Succeed, too. I went up to New York yesterday and caught the matinee. Overall, the show was a lot of fun. There's something incredibly enjoyable about seeing a show with a lot of dancing that makes you feel good (I imagine the current Anything Goes revival is similarly fun--I mean, Sutton Foster!). The show isn't perfect by any means--for one thing, there are a songs that just do not advance the plot ("Coffee Break"? "Paris Original"? Why?). And then there's J. Pierrepont Finch, our "hero". We follow his journey through the ranks of the World Wide Wicket Company, from window washer to the executive boardroom. This is a character we know NOTHING about. Quite literally, all we know is that he's ambitious. He wants to succeed in business. And...that's all. Dude is a blank slate. Of the characters in the show, he's probably the least developed. Which is saying something.

It makes a perfect role for casting a celebrity. Daniel Radcliffe is someone that a majority of the audience already sympathizes with; we walk into the theater rooting for him. And he's clearly having a good time. He doesn't have a strong singing voice, but the role doesn't require one. His American accent is fantastic; late in the show, he has a line about World Wide Wickets being all American, causing the audience to laugh. It actually took me a minute to realize why everyone was laughing. Me: [pause] "Oh yeah! He's British!" I do admit that I kept thinking he should be wearing glasses, and a few of his gestures struck me as very Harry Potter, but that's probably because I've spent, what, 10 years watching him play the same role. It's not that the gestures are Harry Potter; it's that Potter is the only thing I've seen him in. He manages to keep up with the other dancers--I particularly enjoyed the "Old Ivy" sequence and his chipmunk impression. Bottom line: He manages to carry the show.

Naturally, the audience was full of fangirls. The cheers for Radcliffe's entrance were ENORMOUS. I was happy to discover, though, that the audience was that enthusiastic about everything. They gave John Laroquette a similar cheer at his entrance (though I refuse to believe many of them ever saw Night Court), and there was a lot of laughing and applause throughout the show. The screams during the curtain were kind of crazy--but they were coming from an audience that was standing before the curtain call even began. I can't imagine what it must be like for the other actors to be in this show, but if the audience is always that enthusiastic, I bet it's a fun job.

I particularly enjoyed Rose Hemingway making her Broadway debut as Rosemary Pilkington, Ponty's love interest. She was adorable. Tammy Blanchard as Hedy La Rue was not the vamp I expected her to be; honestly, when she made her big entrance, I was like, "What? She's wearing basically the same thing as the rest of the secretaries and doesn't seem that much more endowed than them." Her performance was fine, but...eh. I wasn't blown away. And couldn't really see what made the men fall all over themselves, other than it was in the script.

I also didn't like "A Secretary Is Not a Toy" as much as I do on the 1995 revival recording. I was sad they cut the bit with the men typing, and one of my favorite lines ("A pad is to write in, not spend the night in") was sort of glossed over. I also think I like the "How to Succeed" reprise used in the '95 revival at the top of Act Two more than "Cinderella Darling", which apparently was in the original. It did have tap dancing, though, which I appreciated.

Also appreciated were the adorable boys in the cast. Even the villain--Christopher J. Hanke as Bud Frump--was super cute. It didn't hurt that they were all wearing those early 60's-style suits, and a bunch were in glasses. Sexy!

In general, the staging was great. I loved how "Company Way" was done, incorporating the mail into the choreography in fun ways. (Plus, that's one of my favorite numbers.) And shoving more and more people into the elevator in "It's Been a Long Day" was a great move--playing it for more laughs than I would have thought.

I highly recommend the show. Part of me felt weird about blowing the money in this ticket--like, I should see something serious. Or more out-there, like Book of Mormon. But there are times that you just want to have fun. And this pulled that off.

(You can get a great feel for it through the preview footage, available here.)