C O N N E C T I C U T
--- A R T S ---
C O N N E C T I O N

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Theater Review: How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying -- Goodspeed

The cast performs "The Great Big Brotherhood of Man. Photo by Diane Sobolewski.
Goodspeed Production Knows How to Succeed
By Lauren Yarger
It’s not clear how hard Brian Sears is actually trying, but he sure is a success playing a window washer who climbs to the top of the corporate ladder in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying at Goodspeed.

Director Greg Ganakas has assembled a strong cast who sings (music by Frank Loesser) and dances (clever and tight choreography by Kelli Barclay) their way through the silly tale of the rise of J. Pierpont Finch who succeeds in business by following the steps laid out in an instruction manual (the recorded voice of the narrator is supplied by Sen. Christopher Dodd -- is theater a new career path for the outgoing politician?) Finch also finds success in a romantic relationship with secretary Rosemary Pilkington (Natalie Bradshaw) on his journey.

The action takes place on a retro-looking, paneled set (the year is 1962, design by Adrian W. Jones), with period costumes by Gregory Gale. Lighting Designer Paul Miller lends a nice touch with a spotlight on a smirking Finch every time one of his manipulative get-ahead strategies earns him another advantage or promotion. It’s a fun show, staged nicely on the Goodspeed stage.

Standing out is a very funny Tom Deckman as Bud Frump, the wimpy nemesis of Finch who runs to his mother, the CEO’s sister, for help whenever he’s in trouble at the office.

Giving nice turns are Ronn Carroll as the company’s CEO J.B. Biggley, Nicolette Hart as Biggley’s bombshell mistress Hedy LaRue, who with a typing speed of 12 words a minute, isn’t very successful holding a position as a secretary in the company, and Jennifer Smith as Biggley’s uptight executive assistant Miss Jones.

On the musical side (Michael Flattery, direction), some tightening is needed as a number of vocals don’t come in on the right beat and voices on some ensemble numbers aren’t together. The orchestra does a nice job playing the Loesser score which includes familiar tunes like “I Believe in You” and “The Brotherhood of Man.”

This run continues through Nov. 28 at the opera house in east Haddam, CT. Performances are Wednesdays at 2 pm and 7 pm; Thursdays at 7:30 with select performances at 2; Fridays at 8 pm; Saturdays at 3 pm and 8 pm; and Sundays at 2 pm with selected performances at 7:30 pm.

For tickets and more information, call 860-873-8668 or visit http://www.goodspeed.org/.
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)

Lauren Yarger with playwright Alfred Uhry at the Mark Twain House. Photo: Jacques Lamarre)

My Bio

Lauren Yarger has written, directed and produced
numerous shows and special events for both secular and Christian audiences. She co-wrote a Christian musical version of “A Christmas Carol” which played to sold-out audiences of over 3,000 in Vermont and was awarded the 2000 Vermont
Bessie (theater and film awards) for “People’s Choice for Theatre.”

Yarger trained for three years in the Broadway
League’s Producer Development Program, completed the Commercial Theater Institute's Producing Three-Day Training and produced a one-woman musical about Mary Magdalene that toured nationally and closed with an off-Broadway
run.

She was a Fellow at the National Critics Institute at the O'Neill
Theater Center in Waterford, CT. She writes reviews of Broadway and off-Broadway theater (the only ones you can find in the US with an added Christian perspective) at http://reflectionsinthelight.blogspot.com/. She
is editor of The Connecticut Arts Connection (http://ctarts.blogspot.com), CT Press Club's award winner of first place for web editing and second place in feature writing for the web in 2012.

She is a contributing editor for BroadwayWorld.com and is a theater reviewer for the Manchester Journal-Inquirer. She previously served as Connecticut theater editor
for CurtainUp.com and as Connecticut and New York reviewer for American Theater Web. Yarger is a book reviewer for Publishers Weekly and freelances for other sites. She is a member of the National Book Critics Circle.

She is a freelance writer and playwright and member of The Drama Desk, The Outer Critics Circle, The American Theater Critics Association and The League of Professional Theatre Women. She served as a judge for the SDX Awards presented
by the Society of Professional Journalists. She also is a member of the Connecticut Critics Circle (awards committee).

A former newspaper editor and graduate of the University of Missouri’s School of Journalism, Yarger also worked in arts management for the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts,
the Hartford Symphony Orchestra and served for nine years as the Executive Director of Masterwork Productions, Inc. She lives with her husband in West Granby, CT. They have two adult children.

Blog Archive

Copyright Notice

All contents are copyrighted © Lauren Yarger 2009, 2010, 2011.,2012, 2013 All rights reserved.