Review - How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying & Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo
When the 1920s crooner heartthrob Rudy Vallee made his return to Broadway in the 1961 original production of How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying, he wasn't exactly known as an actor, and certainly not known as a comedian who might excel in a scalding satire of the ups and downs of the corporate ladder. So when director Abe Burrows guided him through the role of J.B. Biggley, the feared and revered President of World-Wide Wickets, he gave him specific instructs... don't be funny. Since the brilliant comic scribe Burrows was also writing the book for How To Succeed... (starting from Jack Weinstock and Willie Gilbert's straight play draft) he knew exactly how to surround the star with daffy characters and plant him into silly situations while keeping him obliviously normal. By not really giving a performance, but by being Rudy Vallee saying lines and singing songs, the used-to-be has-been had audiences rolling with laughter.
Photo Coverage: BENGAL TIGER AT THE BAGHDAD ZOO - After Party!
BENGAL TIGER AT THE BAGHDAD ZOO is a new American play by Rajiv Joseph Starring Robin Williams in his Broadway acting debut and directed by two-time Tony Award nominee Moisés Kaufman. The production opened last night, March 31, at the Richard Rogers Theatre and BroadwayWorld was on hand for the after-party!
