MITF: Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?

That Faust legend just won't die, will it? Between epic poems, plays, operas, and Broadway musicals, people just don't seem to ever tire of the tale of a man selling his soul for success. And in the same year that Damn Yankees! hit Broadway, a quiet little variation on the theme snuck in under the radar for a year's run. George Axelrod's Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?, which just ended a fun revival as part of the Midtown International Fringe Festival, is a quaint little spoof of Hollywood and those who would sell their souls to get in.

The story isn't nearly as complex or deep as Damn Yankees!, and that's saying a lot: George, an innocent and eager young journalist who has only landed one big interview (the oft-repeated title of which is the title of the play), meets a demonic agent who promises him anything he wants-- for 10% of his soul. Each wish costs him a further 10%, and George soon finds himself sacrificing more and more of himself to get closer and closer to his dreams.

It's a cute little parable wrapped in a satire, and if the humor is too gentle to really have much bite, it's simply a product of its time, left intact rather than adjusted to suit modern taste. Best of all, the play's hero is genuinely sympathetic, making wishes not only for his own benefit but also for the benefit of others. Anyone who has sacrificed or compromised in order to get what he or she wants can sympathize with George's plight, and when the comedy is so harmless and irreverent, it's hard to leave the theatre without a smile.

The cast of eight works very well together, playing their characters as caricatures, as befits a benign spoof. As George, Morgan Sills is cute and winsome, nicely capturing his character's increasing desperation as success gradually spoils him. As George's enchanted and enchanting girlfriend Rita Marlowe, a role originated by Jayne Mansfield, Jennifer Danielle wisely avoids mimicking any one '50's starlet and simply embodies the style of those sex symbols, reveling in the ditsy humor of the role. Anyone who has worked with an agent will appreciate Tuck Milligan's devilish LaSalle, who expertly captures the seductive, manipulative and twistedly infernal nature of the business. Holly-Anne Ruggiero's deft direction wisely emphasizes the farcical nature of the script, and keeps the energy at an appropriately frantic pace.

For all its quaint comedy and charming nostalgia, Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? was and is a parable. Of course success will spoil Rock Hunter, and everyone else it touches—that is, after all, the nature of success. (Does absolute power corrupt? Absolutely.) While never resorting to preachiness or moralizing, Axelrod's script gently reminds its audience of the values of working to achieve what you want, rather than relying on short cuts. It's a lesson worth repeating, and one could do worse than seeing this production to be reminded of it.

Photo Credit: (l-r) Morgan Sills and Jennifer Danielle, photograph by DirtySugarPhotography.com

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