Sweet Success Ralph Macchio Brings Considerable Charm To ‘How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying’
I never got a chance to see Matthew Broderick’s Broadway revival of “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying,” but I can tell you this: It couldn’t have been any more successful than this national touring production featuring Ralph Macchio.
Based on an advance viewing of the show at its Denver stop, I can confirm that this big-budget tour is a slam-dunk crowd pleaser. It features the Broadway direction by Des McAnuff (“The Who’s Tommy”), and it also has the revival’s choreography, costumes and set design. The result is a big, flashy, state-of-the-art spectacle loaded with clever Frank Loesser songs.
Ralph Macchio may not be Matthew Broderick, but he plays the role of J. Pierrepont Finch with all of the the mischievous charm of Ferris Bueller himself. This is Macchio’s first musical role - he is best-known for “The Karate Kid” and “My Cousin Vinnie”- but he proves to be a natural as a musical comedian.
Macchio has us firmly on his side from his very first appearance. He descends on a scaffold from the rafters, reading from his self-help book and flashing us a sly grin. The young corporate climber Finch is not exactly the most admirable of characters; he is devious, driven, grasping, cynical, yet somehow, through all of this, quite lovable.
Macchio has a decent singing voice, perfectly good enough to deliver an effective version of the big number “I Believe In You.” And he’s an even better dancer, moving easily and gracefully around the set. Most important, he’s a charmer with a fine sense of comic timing.
Macchio’s balance of boyish earnestness and cutthroat competitiveness sets the right tone for the entire show, which for its success depends on a balance of cynicism and charm. On one hand, this is a standard musical-comedy romance story. The young secretary Rosemary Pilkington (Shauna Hicks) sets her pillbox cap for Finch as soon as he walks through the door. Will she get her young executive in the end?
On the other hand, the book is in many ways a cutting satire of corporate life, circa 1961. The bosses are all idiots, the middle manager are all yes-men, and the lowly secretaries are the only ones with any brains, not that they’re allowed to use them. The overall effect is like “Dilbert” crossed with “The Dick Van Dyke Show.”
McAnuff’s direction is loaded with great comic touches. The “Coffee Break” number shows an entire office on the verge of addiction panic when they discover that the coffee pot is empty. And the Groundhog vs. Chipmunks scene (it’s a long story) had the audience in hysterics.
This tour has an absolutely top-notch company in support of Macchio. Roger Bart is like an antic Steve Martin as the spoiled brat Bud Frump, who goes running to mommy when he doesn’t get the promotion he wants. Shauna Hicks is earnest and innocent as the lovely Rosemary, who is practically the reincarnation of Laura Petrie. And Tina Fabrique blows almost everybody away as the executive secretary Miss Jones, especially when she breaks into the rousing gospel finale, “The Brotherhood of Man.”
Written when JFK was president, some parts of this show are rather obviously outdated. One whole number is devoted to the notion that “A Secretary is Not a Toy,” the humor residing in the fact that none of the executives realize it.
One of Rosemary’s big songs is “Happy to Keep His Dinner Warm,” an ode to how happy she’ll be in a tract house in New Rochelle, if only she can land her man.
However, a lot of the satire is sharp enough to be timeless, especially when it deals with the Machiavellian world of office politics. Gender roles may change, but there will always be somebody around to say, “Great idea boss!” when the boss come up with any dim plan.
The stage technology is state-of-the-art. A huge video-screen-wall serves as a backdrop, the first time this has ever been done in a major musical. Sometimes the wall shows skyscrapers, sometimes it shows fireworks (when Finch and Rosemary kiss) and sometimes it has animated flyovers of that little tract house in New Rochelle.
Also, check out the rapid-fire furniture changes. Desks and chairs and tables zip on and off the stage as if by magic. It’s all done with cables fitted into grooves in the stage.
, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo
MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying,” Continues tonight at the Spokane Opera House, 325-SEAT for tickets.