Oscar E Moore

All these questions and more are brought up in this heady, well written new play by Christopher Shinn receiving its World-Premiere at The Vineyard Theatre. 

Actors be forewarned:  If you see PICKED it might send you directly into therapy or over the precipice that Kevin (Michael Stahl-David) so fears.  Kevin is a sensitive actor, aiming for truth and honesty in all that he does.  He has a girl friend, Jen (Liz Stauber) a fellow actor who supports him even though he prefers taking a bath than having sex with her.  Kevin has trouble mingling.  He doesn’t want fame.  He wants only to be truthful.  Be careful what you wish for.

He meets with John (Mark Blum) a director who almost never allows anyone else to finish a sentence, is overpowering, speaks in sexual metaphors and is looking to cast an unknown in a new sci-fi movie where the same actor will play the Captain and the Robot on a ship into outer space. 

The movie has yet to be written.  John will use in depth interviews – delving deep into the psyche of the person cast, neuroimaging, and other technical devices to create his screenplay.  Picking the guys brain, so to speak, while manipulating him to the fullest extent of his own laws.

In the middle of filming, John suggests that Kevin only play The Captain and brings in another actor Nick (Tom Lipinski) who lost out, came in second for Kevin’s part in the original round of auditions.  They meet.  They bond.  Is there some homo-eroticism lurking beneath their cool exteriors?

Director Michael Wilson does an exemplary job of keeping us in the dark yet interested as to where all of this is heading while coaxing great performances from his cast.  It’s a long journey and will leave you wondering about why actors submit themselves to such rejection, marching on to the next audition to achieve – what?

The set design by Rachael Hauck is grey and sleek – as in matters of the esoteric mind, with four white chair that are rearranged for the various locations.  Subdued sound deign by Jill BC DuBoff and appropriate costumes by Mattie Ullrich and exceptional lighting design by Russell H. Champa aid in the telling of this in depth look at an actor, his relationships and his ability to remain sane while dealing with his not getting another job after his supposedly break-through performance in a film that doesn’t reward actors but special effects.

Donna Hanover as a TV Personality and Casting Director lends a reality TV aspect to the production.

I couldn’t help thinking – James Cameron meets James Dean.

www.vineyardtheatre.org  Photo:  Carol Rosegg

Tags: No Comments.

He’s written Godspell, Pippin and the smash hit Wicked.  He’s won Academy Awards for his lyrical contributions to the animated film Pocahontas and songs for The Prince of Egypt.  He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. There wasn’t much left for him to accomplish but to realize his life long dream of composing an opera.  Which Stephen Schwartz has now achieved.  

Séance on a Wet Afternoon, music and libretto by Stephen Schwartz had its New York Premiere at the City Opera’s David H. Koch Theater April 19^th – directed by his son Scott.  Based on the 1964 screenplay by Brian Forbes and the novel by Mark McShane the material is very well suited for an operatic treatment.

Emotions run high in this unsettling and eerie story of Myra Foster (Lauren Flanigan), a medium who conducts séances using her dead son Arthur (Michael Kepler Meo) as a contact to the other side.  She is unbalanced to begin with and is obsessive about being recognized for her talents.  Her husband Bill Foster (Kim Josephson) supports her visions and needs to constantly reassure her of his love for her.

She has been told by her son that to gain recognition she must “borrow” Adriana Clayton (Bailey Grey)  the daughter of a rich San Francisco couple – Charles Clayton (Todd Wilander) and Rita Clayton (Melody Moore).  Hold her for ransom.  Do not harm her in any way.  And then hold a séance where she will reveal the location where Adriana is hidden and thereby becoming famous for solving the crime investigated by Inspector Watts (Phillip Boykin) a physic believer. 

That is if all goes according to plan, which of course it doesn’t, affording Myra the medium to really lose it with some astounding vocal and dramatic fireworks.

This emotionally draining Séance is almost three hours long.  The belabored first act sets up the characters and situation, teasing us with musical motifs, and lush orchestrations that emphasize the drama.  The dialogue is sometimes spoken must mostly sung in an annoying unmelodic manner.  Opportunities for the motifs to soar into beautiful arias are missed.  I suppose, on purpose.  Act II is much more satisfying, and leaves you with some striking images that are not easily forgotten.

This is not your traditional opera.  Nor is it a Broadway musical. It is a hybrid that has some very dramatic moments, some interesting music, a terrific cast of singer/actors and a production that is superb.  Supertitles clarify the strong libretto, but if seated in the orchestra the end result must be a very stiff neck.

Set designer Heidi Ettinger has created an other worldly Victorian home on two levels with opaque walls that add a scenic mysticism along with the curtain of chains that symbolically represents the rain and the psychological prison that Myra finds herself in.  The lighting by David Lander is superb.  As is the singing.

If only they had some arias in the truest sense of the word to sing.  Séance on a Wet Afternoon could have been completely mesmerizing.  It should have been.

www.nycopera.com    Photo:  Carol Rosegg

Tags: No Comments.

Who would have ever thought that two life size horse puppets made out of wood and steel and leather would win the hearts of critics and audiences alike?  Adrian Kohler with Basil Jones for Handspring Puppet Company obviously did. 

They are responsible for the incredible equine puppets operated by three actors – horses that become living and breathing specimens – reacting and seemingly real – horses that you actually care for in the spectacular epic production of “War Horse” a joint production of the National Theatre of Great Britain and Lincoln Center Theater now playing at the Vivian Beaumont. 

Remembering that “War Horse” started out as a young adult novel written by Michael Morpurgo we can forgive some of the more manipulative aspects of the simple story and the many coincidences, especially towards the end, that occur.  Despite this minor quibble, the story is vital and compelling.  A story of one boy’s devotion and love for his horse set against the backdrop of World War I.

When the drunken Ted Narracott (Boris McGiver) spends his mortgage money to outbid his more successful brother Arthur (T. Ryder Smith) to buy Joey (the somewhat wild horse) and brings him home, his wife Rose (Alyssa Bresnahan) is so furious she makes their son Albert (a remarkable Seth Numrich) take care of him until Joey is strong enough to resell.

It’s amazing how intuitive animals are with people.  Joey will have nothing to do with the father but bonds slowly and beautifully with Albert.  And when the greedy father learns that the Cavalry is willing to pay 100 pounds for a good steed he sells Joey who is sent off to France to fight the Germans which propels Albert to leave home and enlist in the Army to find and to be reunited with his best friend Joey.  It’s a tale that will engage you to the point of tears.

There is a cast of thirty five actors filling the mammoth stage.  A stage necessary for the rearing horse battles, the tank and machine gun effects that show the horrors of war to both humans and horses alike.  Horses that are tragically caught up in barbed wire traps set by the Germans.

The overhead animation and projections (59 Productions), lighting design (Paule Constable) and wonderful music (Adrian Sutton) add to the overall spectacular scope of the piece which is beautifully directed by Marianne Elliott and Tom Morris.

Particular mention must be made of Madeleine Rose Yen who plays the young French girl Emile, Peter Hermann – a German Commander whose love for horses equals that of Albert’s, Stephen Plunkett as Lieutenant Nicholls who sketches throughout and promises to take care of Joey in France, and the Goose who also has great intuition regarding humankind.

There is nothing that can surpass this must see event.  War Horse is an astonishing achievement.   www.WarHorseOnBroadway.com      Photo:  Paul Kolnik

Tags: No Comments.

Bottles of white wine are consumed on stage by the “Real” Westchester Woman’s Book Club in the living room of wealthy widow Jocelyn Anders (Joanna Bayless) as they have assembled to discuss “The Homeless Dogs of Egypt” in this ninety minute play – with intermission – a play that seems to have been put together in the same amount of time by Tony Glazer.

I greatly admired his “In the Daylight” but Reading Under the Influence is quite another story.  And not much of a story at that. 

The wealthy widow Jocelyn whose living room seems to have come from Goodwill has sold her Book Club idea to a reality TV producer from Lifetime and hasn’t told her fellow members:  Sara (Summer Crockett Moore – Mr. Glazer’s wife), Megan Goldstein (Barbara Walsh) a recent convert to Judaism, and Kerry (Ashley Austin Morris) a dim-witted free spirit who is the most amusing character and the only one who is given something to act.

Mr. Glazer has taken this simple plot line and made it a platform for him to be heard about such topics as intellectual property, Judaism, Lesbianism, the plight of dogs everywhere, reality television production, lawyers, vaginas, the Hamptons, Ryan Seacrest and Oprah.  Not necessarily in that order.  Mr. Glazer’s off kilter dark sense of humor seems to have momentarily lapsed here.

This unfunny production comes across as second rate Community Theatre for a group of lonely women looking for something to do.  The characters are one dimensional and there is little development.  There is an intermission only because at the end of the first part the actors are so drunk that they wind up throwing the canapés at each other and the mess has to be cleaned up so that part two can begin which seems like another play altogether as the director and producer from Lifetime are taping this debacle of drunken women for the executives to decide upon.

Jeremy Webb as Carson Todlene filming on his hand held video camera has little to say as he lolls around the floor and up close while Maria- Christina Oliveras as producer Margrit Somasa-Williams deflates their egos with the news that real actors will be used in the show – not them. 

A devastated Jocelyn laments that she has to be heard.  I’m afraid that Mr. Glazer is lamenting the same thing in this woefully directed production by Wendy C. Goldberg.

At the DR2 Theatre 103 East 15^th Street.  Through May 15^th.

www.ReadingUnderTheInfluenceThePlay.com

Tags: No Comments.

“They all make mistakes.”  That’s what FBI Agent Carl Hanratty (a beleaguered Norbert Leo Butz) repeatedly states while pursuing teenage con man and counterfeiter Frank Abagnale, Jr. (handsome but lackluster Aaron Tveit) cross country until the final capture which opens the new musical Catch Me If You Can based on the Steven Spielberg motion picture of the same name.

Unfortunately, the A-list team behind this mostly dull and unengaging production seems to have made plenty of their own mistakes.  Starting with the premise that all hit movies can be turned into hit musicals.  Some motion pictures should rest on their laurels and remain on the silver screen.  Catch Me If You Can being one of them.

These are the same people who brought to vivid and hysterical life Hairspray.  Director Jack O’Brien, choreographer Jerry Mitchell, costume designer William Ivey Long and Scott Wittman (lyrics) & Marc Shaiman (lyrics & music).  It seems that they all got off on the wrong foot here with their concept of presenting Abagnale’s story within the framework of a cheesy 60’s Variety show reminiscent of Hullabaloo with an onstage orchestra which doesn’t help but hinders.

I thought Aaron Tveit was destined for Broadway stardom after seeing him in Next to Normal.  Here, only his voice shines through this unlikable character.  Telling us the story of how he swindled everyone – pretending to be a pilot, a doctor (who can’t stand the sight of blood) and a lawyer – Terrance McNally (book) has him instructing others in how to be a successful crook – smiling and winking at the audience whenever he pulls off a successful scam.  Much like J. Pierrepont Finch (Daniel Radcliffe) in How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.  It doesn’t work for either one of them although the audience eats it up like a Magnolia cupcake.

That’s just part of his story.  “Like father, like son” could be a subtitle.  His dad, Frank Sr. – a wonderful Tom Wopat – encourages his crime spree and we see the dire straights that he winds up in.  His French mom Paula (Rachel de Benedet) leaves him for his best friend so that she can make a better life for herself which Frank Jr. has trouble getting over.  She has a lovely duet with her estranged husband “Don’t Be a Stranger”.

The rest of the score is hard to remember with the exception of “Fly, Fly Away” sung by the girl friend of Frank, Brenda Strong (Kerry Butler) which is a power ballad that seems lifted from Wicked and the much reprised opening number “Live in Living Color” where the costumes are all white.

When a minor character, the mother of Brenda (a terrific Linda Hart) takes over the proceedings something is amiss.

If I seem to be rambling it’s because that what Catch Me If You Can does.  It rambles along.  Bringing on the babes in short mini skirts as Stewardesses and Nurses for the tired businessman who disappeared with the double martini lunch.

The FBI agents are not the brightest bunch of people in charge.  Norbert Leo Butz does his best to amuse but he is so self aware of his amusement that it hardly matters.

Both Tveit and Butz redeem themselves with their final handcuffed duet, “Strange But True”. 

There is a final coda that explains what happened to one and all which when you leave for home you will not be humming.

NOTE:  Jay Armstrong Johnson who was a magnificent Floyd Collins in an NYU production is standby for Aaron Tveit.  I can only imagine what he would do with the role.

www.catchmethemusical.com          At the Neil Simon Theatre.  Photo:  Joan Marcus

Tags: No Comments.

I’m on a Sutton Foster high.  I’m in Heaven.  Coupled with the delightful score by Cole Porter with his memorable tunes and witty lyrics who could ask for anything more?

I’m speaking of the revival of Anything Goes that has docked at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre for what will surely be a lengthy stay.  This revival will revive your spirits, put a glow on your face and a spring in your step as you relive every wonderful moment of this way beyond wonderful musical starring the exceptionally talented Sutton Foster as Reno Sweeney – a nightclub singer/evangelist who gets mixed up with a group of zany characters on board a ship headed for London.

That’s about all you need to know of the plot that’s as creaky as a weathered gang plank with some groan inducing jokes that somehow we still laugh at.  The original book by P.G. Wodehouse & Guy Bolton and Howard Lindsay & Russel Crouse has been tweaked by Timothy Crouse & John Weidman and allows us to get to the songs ASAP.  Songs that include “You’re the Top”, “Easy to Love”, “I Get a Kick Out of You”, “It’s De-Lovely”, and the show stopping first act finale “Anything Goes” and its Act II counterpart “Blow Gabriel Blow”.

A score this good hasn’t been heard on Broadway for years and writers of musical theater should take note (note for note) listen and learn.

Director Kathleen Marshall who has also choreographed some really exciting and lovely dances which bring to mind Fred and Ginger and Gene Kelly has set just the right tone to allow these old time gags to work and has assembled a great cast to do justice to this classic musical comedy.

From the very first notes of the bouncy overture we are ready for a bubbly champagne cocktail treat of a show.  Rob Fisher (music supervisor & vocal arranger) has done a fantastic job of bringing back the sound of the thirties when Anything Goes was first staged.

The show is as stylish as they come.  Magnificently chic period costumes by Martin Pakledinaz (note especially the backs of the dresses) are perfect as is the shipboard set by Derek McLane with great lighting by Peter Kaczorowski.

But it is Sutton Foster who will wow you with her clarion vocals, her tap dancing and her comic abilities brightening up the house with her smile alone and looking stunning in her many outfits.  There isn’t enough praise to be showered upon this incredibly talented Broadway star.

Her co-star is Joel Grey playing gangster Moonface Mullins as if he was an aging leprechaun with a still obvious twinkle in his eye adds just the right amount of nonsense to the farcical proceedings.

It’s always a plus when the actors on stage are having as much fun as the audience and this accomplished cast seems to be having a ball up there.

There is Billy (Colin Donnell) with a fine tenor voice and flair for comedy who is in love with Hope (a beguiling Laura Osnes) who is engaged to Lord Evelyn Oakleigh (Adam Godley – has created a miracle by making what could have been a throw away part truly memorable in his attempt to master American “slang”.  He brightens the stage with each entrance and exit).  Hope’s mother Evangeline Harcourt who has her eye on everyone’s bank account (played by understudy Linda Mugelson was terrific).  Billy’s boss a drunken Eli Whitney is mastered by John McMartin.

There are gangsters, mistaken identities, a missing dog, FBI agents, a minister and a couple of Chinese guys learning the ropes of gambling and lots and lots of fun.  Anything Goes is pure fun.  Well, maybe not so pure with Reno and Erma (Jessica Stone) and all those sailors around – but you will have the best time of your musical comedy life.

www.roundabouttheatre.org Photo:  Joan Marcus

Tags: Comments Off on Anything Goes – Blissful, buoyant and brassy revival

Bobby Cannavale & Chris Rock

Two couples, a cousin and a hat.  Sounds pretty bland, doesn’t it?  But in the hands of pushing-the-envelope-playwright Stephen Adly Guirgis, expert director Anna D. Shapiro and an almost excellent cast of actors “The Motherf**ker With the Hat” now echoing throughout the Schoenfeld Theatre on West 45^th Street with multiple uses of the F word, you will find yourself witnessing a very funny, sometimes volcanic, sometimes poignant and altogether surprisingly good play.

Not that it’s without flaws.  Let’s try to be logical in the illogical world of alcoholics and drug addicts. Would the cocaine sniffing girl friend (Veronica, a sensational Elizabeth Rodriguez) of a semi-reformed convict enrolled in AA (Jackie – the brilliant Bobby Cannavale) while cleaning up their apartment and speaking to her mom on the telephone leave a hat – not belonging to her boyfriend – clearly visible on a table?  Is she so out of it that she forgets or has she left it there on purpose to bring to a head the problems that they have been having for twenty years?

The hat being that which sets off the ballistic reaction of Jackie when he returns home early with news that he’s gotten a job – the hat which he then uses to accuse her of sleeping with another guy and then smelling the sheets for evidence.  Aqua Velva!

When you discover who the guy is you will also wonder why that scent never was noticed before.  Anyway the characters are well defined and brought to vivid life from the cast which includes stand-up comic Chris Rock as Ralph D. – an ex addict himself who is the sponsor for Jackie and in a rather uncomfortable marriage with Victoria (Annabella Sciorra).  His philosophy of life – his double standard – leaves much to be desired and leaves Jackie disillusioned as to why he should remain sober and clean.

High octane performances are given by Cannavale with his throat veins looking as if they are about to burst and his lover Rodriguez who can give it back as hard as it comes.  They are an incendiary couple in love and in lust and ready to kill each other.

Unfortunately Mr. Rock – who seems to be trying very hard – doesn’t come up to the same level as the others.  You can sense the air being deflated from his scenes.  It’s hard for the others to recoup.  But recoup they do.

Seeking advice from Cousin Julio (Yul Vazquez who gives an understated and altogether amusing portrait of a pansy turned tough guy) Jackie is accused of only coming to him when he needs help.  He’s a user.  Not only of drugs but of people.  These characters feel and they feel deeply.

The three apartment set by Todd Rosenthal is quite original and detailed, despite a brief malfunction that stopped the show.  You have got to hand it to Cannavale whose next line got the audience right back on track with a huge laugh.  Incidental music by Terence Blanchard adds to the cityscape atmosphere and director Anna D. Shapiro sets just the right tone and has paced the show so as to elicit as much sympathy as she can get from these difficult to like characters.  It’s a great accomplishment.

Word of mouth alone should make this limited run engagement a must see.  Through June 25^th.   And remember, don’t judge a play by its title.

www.themfwiththehat.com  Photo:  Joan Marcus

Tags: No Comments.

Born Bad, winner of the Laurence Olivier Award for Most Promising Newcomer in an Affiliate Theatre 2004, written by debbie tucker green is now at the Soho Rep.  It is that type of play that you don’t know what’s really happening until it’s over and then you still might not really know especially if the last line comes out garbled.  A very important last line as it turns out, which clarifies.

Born Bad is chock full of unspoken subtext and silences.  It is full of mysterious secrets.  It is sleek in its presentation.  And it seethes with untold issues.  Issues remembered and not remembered.  It is short.

There is this family.  And you don’t care for them much.  The stoic parents hardly look at each other let alone communicate.  Mum (Elain Graham) has made a choice that upsets Dawta (Heather Alicia Simms) to distraction.  Dad (Michael Rogers) sits in his armchair looking out into space.  It is he who garbled the final all important line.

The set (Mimi Lien) consists of four overturned chairs and the upright armchair where Dad holds court – listening to everyone bicker back and forth.  It is difficult to care if we don’t know what it is we should be caring about.

There are two other daughters.  Sister #1 (Quincy Tyler Bernstine) who can’t or who refuses to remember pieces of this puzzling family saga and Sister #2 (Crystal A. Dickinson) who doesn’t want to know nothin’ about nothin’ and boils over with a festering anger.  There is more said with a silence or a look which adds interest to this hidden issue drama aided by great lighting by Michael Chybowski.

Then there is Brother (LeRoy James McClain) caught up in all their agony and angst.  With his own problem – a guy who doesn’t like to be touched.  Everyone seems to be blaming everyone else for something that we slowly begin to discover throughout the play.

Director Leah C. Gardiner heightens the mystery with the constant changing of her stage pictures by having the actors either sitting or standing in different positions for each of the sometimes very short scenes that end in a blackout. 

It’s beautiful to look at but not easy to comprehend.  Born Bad is a repetitive, bombastic, surreal game of musical chairs about a dysfunctional family that ultimately comes up without anyone winning.

Through April 24^th.              www.sohorep.org       Photo:  Carol Rosegg

Tags: No Comments.

Is the divinely inspired, most original musical “The Book of Mormon” written by those two clever upstarts – Trey Parker and Matt Stone (who created the hit “animated” South Park series) with unlisted dirty songs by that equally clever and snappy composer from “Avenue Q” – Robert Lopez truly a riot?  Is the Pope Catholic?

Together with choreographer Casey Nicholaw of “Elf:  The Musical” and the hysterical “The Drowsy Chaperone” fame, this foursome have pooled their considerable creative talents and come up with one of the truly funny shows of the season.  Clever and smart and tuneful.  And oh yes, heartfelt.

Who would have thought that mocking the Mormons unmercilessly could be so entertaining and refreshing and have you laughing uncontrollably about famine, poverty, AIDS, the mutilation of women and the raping of babies when those Holy Helpers come-a-calling to spread the word of the Heavenly Father in Uganda.

In the beginning the doorbell rang.  And it was the tall, good-looking, fresh scrubbed, smiling, optimistic, take charge Elder Price (a beaming Andrew Rannells) awaiting to see who his partner will be and where they are destined to depart to, to “spread the word” in wonderful song and dance.  He praying for Orlando.

He gets hooked up with the short, chubby, lonely and looking for a best friend Elder Cunningham (Josh Gad) a guy with low esteem, a huge imagination and an annoying laugh that somehow becomes endearing.

It’s Laurel and Hardy.   It’s Yin and Yang.  It’s Elder Price and Elder Cunningham off to Uganda.  Class of cultures.  Great setup.  We can see the creative minds working on their story board.  I mean the plot.   Where to place the production numbers?  Gotta sting.  It’s expected of them.

What we did not expect is an old fashioned musical with that razor sharp edge to it.  The songs are not your Grandmother’s Rodgers and Hammerstein but they propel the plot along and help define character.  And they are down right hysterical.

When the odd couple of Elders arrive they meet the other Elders, led by Elder McKinley (Rory O’Malley) who have not been able to baptize a single soul as the villagers are fearful of General Butt F***** Naked (Brian Tyree Henry) who believes that AIDS can be cured by raping babies.  Mafala Hatimbi (Michael Potts) wants to protect his daughter Nabulungi (a charming and sweet Nikki M. James) from being mutilated.  If this doesn’t sound very funny, believe me it is in the hands of our creative team.  Elder Price is confused and leaves Elder Cunningham holding the bag so to speak and he has to come up with something imaginative to woo the villagers over to believing in baptism and the Book of Mormon.  Which he does so in his own inimitable manner.

You will get some one sided Mormon history along with a most sexually fueled baptism scene “Baptize Me”, a song dealing with latent homosexuality “Turn It Off” a “Spooky Mormon Hell Dream” sequence, a show stopping “I Believe” and a full fledged satire of Jerome Robbins’ ballet from The King and I – Small House of Uncle Thomas here called “Joseph Smith American Moses”. 

Go and become a believer.   

www.bookofmormonbroadway.com     Photo:  Joan Marcus

Tags: No Comments.

Daniel Radcliffe & John Larroquette

Daniel Radcliffe aka Harry Potter is one determined, famous young man.  Not content to rest on his well deserved laurels he, at the ripe old age of 21, has taken on the iconic role of J. Pierrepont Finch F-I-N-C-H made famous by Robert Morse or I should say the role made Mr. Morse famous in 1961 in a musical satire of big business called How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying – Music and Lyrics by Frank Loesser, Book by Abe Burrows, Jack Weinstock & Willie Gilbert – based on the book by Shepherd Mead.

It took New York by storm winning numerous Tony Awards and the Pulitzer.  It was hysterical.  It had great style and the musical numbers staged by Bob Fosse were spectacular in their simplicity.  The sets and costumes a cartoon version of went on in the offices of the World-Wide Wicket Company.

Flash forward to Rob Ashford’s garish, over choreographed, slow and where-did-all-the-laughs-go-production, plodding along at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre.  Mr. Ashford seems to believe that filling the large and not very attractive bee-hive set by Derek McLane with not very original robotic dance routines at every conceivable moment and making questionable staging choices will improve upon the great material supplied by the original writers.  Where they were brilliant, under Mr. Ashford’s guidance How To…becomes routine.  Except for the final “Brotherhood of Man” sequence which is by far the best number in the show.  Just a bit too late.

If only Mr. Radcliffe had brought along his magical Wizard Wand.  Despite all his energetic and hard work at song and dance (he had never done either before) his performance lacks character.  He looks good.  Sounds fine.  And performs his dances admirably.  But his comedic chops need to be developed.  F-I-N-C-H is an unethical con man.  And the actor portraying him must convey this and at the same time be adorable and lovable all the while knowing that the audience knows what he’s up to.  Shining the spot light on him with a musical exclamation point every time he pulls a fast one with him smiling sheepishly with a knowing wink is not enough.

On the other hand John Larroquette as J. B. Biggley the head of W.W.W. a man prone to knitting and prowling nails every single laugh and excels in his two numbers – “Grand Old Ivy” with Radcliffe (and a slew of football dancers) and with Hedy La Rue, his mistress (a sometimes funny where she should be a bombastic knockout Tammy Blanchard) in “Love From a Heart of Gold”.

Biggley’s nephew Bud Frump (Christopher J. Hanke) knows exactly what Finch is up to (he isn’t any better) but tries too hard and misses many laughs as we focus on his great spectator shoes.

Only Miss Jones a fine Ellen Harvey and Smitty (Mary Faber with an unfortunate wig) show any promise.  As Rosemary, the girl who sets her sights on Finch, Rose Hemingway misses the mark and there is zero chemistry between her and Radcliffe.  Where their duet “Rosemary” should grab us and soar we get a gaggle of dancers emerging from behind the sofa instead.

The narrator, who in voice-over instructs Finch on his way up the corporate ladder, is a leaden and uninteresting Anderson Cooper.  Just one more disappointment in the many disappointments on stage of the oft times boring How To Succeed…which doesn’t.

www.howtosucceedbroadway.com Photo:  Ari Mintz

Tags: Comments Off on How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying starring Daniel Radcliffe disappoints