Review: HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING at Revolution Stage Company

You’d think How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying by the year 2025 would be outdated. It premiered on Broadway in 1961 and was based on a book written in 1952. Sure, act one is on the long side even though director Robert Johanson has done his best to whittle it down by cutting a few numbers, but what it isn’t is outdated. It’s clever, and funny, and still the way things are in a business environment without the musical through line. Also, Nathan Wilson as J. Pierpont Finch was  the owner of that stage on Thursday night.

Here’s the story: Finch is a window washer who is reading a step-by-step book (voiced by Joe Smith) called How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying. He takes us along with him, chapter by chapter as he works his way into, and then up the ranks of World Wide Wickets. He’s pretty good at it, but he does run up against a few obstacles along the way, in particular the boss’s wife’s sister’s son, Bud Frump, who is also eager to get to the top, but his method is by being the office snitch. Rob Arnegard (who has a lovely voice) is costumed as the red-headed step-child, and gives us a very outloud performance, high in comedy, and although it’s not my favorite character in a playwright’s arsenal (I was the boss’s daughter. Shut up.) Arnegard had me smiling despite my snobbish self. 

Finch meets his match in Rosemary Pilkington (Nicole Kennedy), a secretary at the same firm who is likely reading her own book “How to Marry an Executive.” She, too, knows exactly what she wants, and it’s Pierpont. I saw Kennedy in Company and really liked her. Something felt a little off the night I saw it. This character is pretty much the female version of Finch, so she needs to exude confidence. Maybe it was just opening night jitters that got her because she definitely has the chops to pull this off. 

Of course there’s some office shenanigans going on with Mr. Biggley (Scott Kenison) too. He’s just lured his girlfriend Hedy La Rue (Billy L’Amour) away from her cigarette girl job to work for his company. I don’t know what other theatre companies do when casting Hedy La Rue, but I know what the movie did with her, and let me tell you Billy L’Amour blows all of them out of thew water. She is physically intimidating in her sexuality and beauty, and takes the role to new heights. Not to take anything away from Kenison who appears to be plucked straight out of corporate musical America.

Joe Giamalva added more fun as Twimble and Wally Womper, and it was fun to see him and Wilson do a tap number together - choreographed by Wilson. Barbara Kerr gives us a clued-in, self-assured Smitty, and Jenne Carey’s Miss Jones is a very fun caricature of the big boss’s secretary. And vocally? She can hit the rafters and beyond. Colton Ford stands out as Mr. Bratt, and Eric Seppalia’s exit as Mr. Ovington was hilarious.

It’s a big cast, and they all fit the tenor of the piece well - kudos to costumes and to director Robert Johanson for his casting choices, and to musical director Kurt Jorgen for the well-rounded, and fat vocals. Johanson’s staging is good, although a few of the bigger numbers need a little smoothing out - nothing that a few performances won’t fix. The only note is the usual one for a comedy “pick up the pace’, but again, that’s something that tends to work itself out pretty quick after opening.

The set is interesting in its sparseness. I enjoyed the stage frame with the company’s logo, and the sliding doors of the elevators with the set readjusted depending on the scene. Also, I enjoyed the “light bulb” moments with Finch. Pryor did a good job with both. And Wilson, well again, he owned that stage. It’s hard to say if I’ve ever seen a performer more comfortable in his own skin as Wilson as Finch. Occassionally I found the background images distracting, but they mostly added more excitement to the stage.

Some of my favorite songs were Been A Long Day - both versions; Paris Original is hilariously well done, and Brotherhood of Man brings all the energy to the stage. 
The show has a short run, so you don’t have much time to see it. But it’s fun, and there’s singing, dancing, and acting. Wilson’s performance alone is worth the price of admission, but the rest of the cast won’t let you down either. 

Creative team includes Robert Johanson (Director), Kurt Jordan (Music Direction), Dean Taylor (Assistant Director), Gustavo Sanchez (Stage Manager) Maria Pryor (Set/Lighting/Sound), Nathan Cox (ASM, Projections/Videos), Corin Foster (Props), Michelle Mendoza (Costumes), Nick Forde and Kelly Mc Guire (Sound Engineering), and Miguel Lauro (Set Construction).

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