Review: Hot to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (Marriott Theatre)

How to Succeed in Business
Without Really Trying

Despite strong performances, slick production values 'Business' still feels hollow

Review by Catey Sullivan

Even as satire, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying hasn't aged well. When the 1961 musical based on the 1952 book debuted over half a century ago, the show's mocking, cynical take on big business and the country's endless legions of men in gray flannel suits was cutting edge. The Pulitzer Prize-winning piece took a razor-edged scalpel to the sacred cow of the American Dream: Instead of Horatio Alger, the show's "hero" is J. Pierrepont Finch, a conniving schemer whose only talents are his ability to lie and manipulate. The mega-corporation where he finagles his way to the top creates nothing of use, and is populated by men doing nothing useful.

In the era of the capitalist manifesto "Atlas Shrugged," the satire "The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit" and the businessmen-as-callous-tomcats film "The Apartment," How to Suceed fits right in. But some 55 years after the musical's premiere, the points How to Succeed makes seem ham-fisted and obvious; its characters little more than cartoons and its ridiculously story so over-the-top that it's impossible to be invested in, whether as an earnest tale of love and ambition or as a satire about vapid big business buffoons.

So it goes at the Marriott Theatre, and director Don Stephenson's by-the-numbers How to Succeed . The outcome is competent and packaged with slick production values. But the story of Finch's meteoric rise at World Wide Wickets lacks warmth, heart and genuine humor.

The production isn't helped by intentionally backward numbers such as "Happy to Keep His Dinner Warm" and "A Secretary is Not a Toy." To succeed as satire, these songs have to have some element of truth to them. They lack that here. Stephenson has the actors playing caricatures wider than the proverbial barn door, mugging and yelling their way through Frank Loesser's score and Abe Burrows, Willie Gilbert and Jack Weinstock's book. Imagine the lowest common denominator of television sitcoms, take the intellect down a notch and amp the laugh track up to 11. That's the sensibility on stage.

The production does have a few amusing moments. As the entitled, whiney boss's nephew Bud Frump, Alex Goodrichinjects every scene he's in with a welcome shot of funniness. Goodrich has the comic skills needed to pull off the broadest of farces, and he does so here even as those surrounding him become mired in wholly unfunny ham-and-cheesiness. As the fearsome secretary Miss Jones, Felicia P. Fields scats with a white-hot comic charisma in the show's single showstopper, the 11th hour "Brotherhood of Man." As Finch's fiancé Rosemary, Jessica Naimy has a blunt, matter-of-fact demeanor that is genuinely hilarious. Finally, Frank Loesser's daughter Emily Loesser (who is also Stephenson's wife), is the voice of the how-to-succeed manual that Finch reads like a Bible. Having a female voice at the center of the all-boys-club of 1960s businessmen is a terrific idea, and helps emphasize the preposterousness of a time when men got MBAs, but women were largely relegated to nothing higher than an Mrs. degree.

The other principals, sadly, fall victim to extremes. As Finch, Ari Butler is little more than a Pepsodent-grin and a nice suit. There's no human side to Finch, just a series of winking asides and meticulously enunciated lessons on how to succeed. Granted, the show is a broad comedy. But Stephenson's ensemble takes its inherent broadness and makes it as extreme as an acting challenge on RuPaul's Drag Race - minus the ironic, mocking self-awareness. Butler has enough prolonged double-takes that it sometimes feels as if you're watching entire scenes twice, as if Stephenson felt he needed to explain and endlessly emphasize the jokes because the audience was sure to miss them the first time around. It's the stage equivalent of having some cut-rate comedian repeatedly interrupting his set to slap you on the back while relentlessly asking, " Get it? Get it?"

Set designer and lighting designer create a mod feel, surrounding the stage with blocks of color that evoke Mary Quant mini-dresses. Choreographer Melissa Zaremba cleverly uses the transitions as mini-dance numbers. Catherine Zuber's costumes are straight out of "Mad Men," pleasingly colorful creations that do more to establish the time and place than any other element in the production.

But all the period costuming in the world can't make up for a show that's hollow under all those expertly seamed suits and skirts. There's no one to root for in How to Succeed . The show looks great. But scratch the surface, and there's nothing resembling the human condition - or even a satirical version thereof.

How to Succeed in Business continues through October 16th at Marriott Theatre, 10 Marriott Dr., Lincolnshire (map), with performances Wednesdays 1pm & 8pm, Thursdays-Fridays 8pm, Saturdays 4:30pm & 8pm, Sundays 1pm & 5pm. Tickets are $50-$55, and are available by phone (847-634-0200) or through their website (check for half-price tickets at Goldstar.com ). More information at MarriottTheatre.com. (Running time: play length, includes an intermission)

Photos by Liz Lauren

(J. Pierrepont Finch), Jessica Naimy (Rosemary Pilkington), Terry Hamilton (J.B. Biggley), Angela Ingersoll (Hedy LaRue), Alex Goodrich (Bud Frump), Felicia P. Fields (Miss Jones), Marya Grandy (Smitty), Jason Grimm (Bert Bratt), Derek Hasenstab (Mr. Twimble, Womper), Emily Loesser (manual voice-over), Alejandro Fonseca (Toynbee), Neil Friedman (Gatch, Policeman), Eric A. Lewis (Davis, Security Guard), Ericka Mac (Miss Krumholz), Andrew Malone (Tackaberry), Paris Alexander Nesbitt (Peterson), Kristina Larson, Alexandra Palkovic, Jeff Pierpoint, Laura Savage, Allison Sill, Brandon Springman, Richard Strimer (ensemble).

behind the scenes

Don Stephenson (director), Ryan T. Nelson (music direction), Melissa Zaremba (choreography), (set design), Catherine Zuber (costume design), (lighting design), Bob Gilmartin (sound design), Sally Weiss (props design), Patti Garwood (musical supervision and orchestra conductor), Liz Lauren (photos)

Tags: 16-0837, Abe Burrows, Alejandro Fonseca, Alex Goodrich, Alexandra Palkovic, Allison Sill, Andrew Malone, Angela Ingersoll, Ari Butler, Bob Gilmartin, Brandon Springman, Catey Sullivan, Catherine Zuber, Chicago musical theater, Chicago Theater, Derek Hasenstab, Don Stephenson, Emily Loesser, Eric A. Lewis, Ericka Mac, Felicia P. Fields, Frank Loesser, Jack Weinstock, Jason Grimm, Jeff Pierpoint, Jesse Klug, Jessica Naimy, Kristina Larson, Laura Savage, Liz Lauren, Marriott Theatre, Marya Grandy, Melissa Zaremba, Neil Friedman, Paris Alexander Nesbitt, Patti Garwood, post, Richard Strimer, Ryan T. Nelson, Sally Weiss, Terry Hamilton, Tom Ryan, Willie Gilbert

Category: 2016 Reviews, Catey Sullivan, Marriott Theatre, Musical