Foothill Music Theatre Opens HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYIN Tonight, 7/20

Multi-award winning Foothill Music Theatre presents the Pulitzer Prize-winning comedy HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING, a musical satire of 1960s corporate life, from the Tony-winning composer of Guys and Dolls. Award-winning director Jay Manley helms this "Mad Men-esque comedy," with musical direction by Catherine Snider and choreography by Dottie Lester-White. With score and lyrics by Frank Loesser, book by Abe Burrows, Jack Weinstock and Willie Gilbert, HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING plays tonight, July 20 – August 12, 2012 at the Smithwick Theatre at Foothill College in Los Altos. For tickets ($10-$28) and information, the public may visit www.foothillmusicals.com, or call the box office at (650) 949-7360.

Called “bright and irresistible” by Variety, “inspired…eloquent with craft and wit” by The New Yorker, HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING has garnered praise and delighted audiences around the globe since its 1961 Broadway debut. Following the instructions of a “how-to” manual, young window cleaner J. Pierrepont Finch plans each hilarious step of his meteoric rise from the mailroom to the boardroom of the World-Wide Wicket Company in New York City. Pairing sometimes unorthodox business practices with a disarming grin, “Ponty” Finch charms his way up the corporate ladder, impressing company President J.B. Biggley, battling Biggley’s lazy nephew Bud Frump, and winning the heart of secretary Rosemary Pilkington along the way. HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING is packed with catchy favorites such as “I Believe in You,” “Happy to Keep His Dinner Warm,” “The Company Way,” “Been a Long Day,” and “Brotherhood of Man.” Winner of a Pulitzer Prize for Drama, HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING was made into a film in 1967, was revived on Broadway in 1995 and again in 2012 (starring Daniel Radcliffe of Harry Potter fame.)

The Foothill Music Theatre cast for HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING includes Michael Rhone (J. Pierrepont Finch), Walter Mayes (J.B. Biggley), Corrie Borris (Rosemary), David Mister (Bud Frump), Sarah Griner (Hedy LaRue), Katie O’Bryon (Smitty), Linda Piccone (Miss Jones), Doug Brees (Twimble), Steve Completo (Womper), and Todd Wright (Bratt). Other cast members include Jennifer Butler, Stephanie Case, Anthony Chan, Jaime Chew, Jeremy Corrales, Everett Dailey, Annie Dow, Bill Ereñeta, Nes Fragoso, John Gaunt, Paul Hale, Beverly Hansberry, Allison Hargrove, Terry Hayes, Barbara Heninger, Dana Johnson, Carol Knouf, Alison Koch, Katherine Leyva, Mark Merman, Lauren Meyer, Nicolae Muntean, Eri Nakamura, David Navarro, Reggie Reynolds, Karyn Rondeau, Jeremy Ryan, Taylor Sanders, Alea Selburn, David Simon, Michael Weiland.

Director Jay Manley joined the Foothill College Drama Department in 1976, and founded Foothill Music Theatre in 1985. Through that venue he directed dozens of musicals for the Foothill stage, as well as full-scale summer shows including Show Boat, Brigadoon, Ragtime, Funny Girl, The King and I, My Fair Lady, The Music Man, The Most Happy Fella, Kiss Me, Kate, Fiddler on the Roof, Oklahoma!, West Side Story, and Guys and Dolls. In the college's intimate Studio Theatre, Manley has produced less commercial, more adventurous musicals, such as Assassins, Bells Are Ringing, Allegro, Anyone Can Whistle, She Loves Me, and others. Dr. Manley is in demand as a director for other venues, such as the Hillbarn Theatre, Willows Theatre, and other professional stages. He has received numerous Bay Area Theatre Critics’ Circle for Outstanding Direction and Production nominations and awards.

Foothill Music Theatre has won Bay Area Theatre Critics’ Circle Awards for Outstanding Production, Outstanding Ensemble Production, and Best Direction, among others. The company has also garnered numerous awards from the Los Angeles-based Drama-Logue, and kudos from myriad Bay Area critics for its sharp, handsomely mounted productions of The Producers, Bat Boy: the Musical, The Pajama Game, Annie Get Your Gun, Brigadoon, Ragtime, Sweeney Todd, Guys and Dolls, West Side Story, Oklahoma!, and many other musicals.

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