Word: mcanuff
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...musical, which has more verve than one would expect from a satire of modern business written a third of a century ago. Frank Loesser's music and lyrics, reorchestrated by Danny Troob, retain their brisk propulsion, as does Abe Burrows' book, somewhat realigned and streamlined by director Des McAnuff...
...McAnuff has called How to Succeed a "scathing attack on everything." But as satires go, this one is an amiable, toothless lion (although a lion with quite a roar: the music is occasionally amplified to the point of muddle and distortion). The truth is, we are not far from P.G. Wodehouse country--especially those American fairy tales of his where the hero can hardly take a tumble without landing in a pot of gold, and the distance separating the egghead from the bonehead is minimal. Equipped with a book of maxims, or a new cravat, the Wodehouse hero--like Finch...
...this old-fashioned show, McAnuff and his team have made splendid use of computer-graphic wizardry: buildings rise and fall on screens in the background, rockets climb, clouds swim past--there is even an erupting volcano. It must be spewing some kind of happy dust in the theater, rendering all but irrelevant the fact that many of the jokes still fall flat and that the story's resolution, even by fairy-tale standards, comes too easily. Will today's theatergoers let such things bother them? This appealing production urges us all--whether we are pursuing business success or just...
...washer turned mailroom clerk turned rising executive, Broderick "brings the same quizzical intensity of gaze and naturalness of gesture that carried him to stardom in everything from Neil Simon comedies to the Civil War epic film Glory," says TIME contributor Brad Leithauser. As satire goes, Leithauser adds, director Des McAnuff's amiable version "lacks even some of the mild bite of the original." But "this appealing production urges us all -- whether we are pursuing business success or just a couple of hours' entertainment -- to make light of every obstacle...
What's onstage, however, is anything but stuffy. In a tryout last July at California's La Jolla Playhouse, the first act moved like a rocket, while the second act sputtered. So composer-lyricist Pete Townshend and director Des McAnuff rewrote the libretto again, added new music and clarified -- purists would say changed -- the underlying message. Now the whole production hurtles forward with visual excitement and emotional clout worthy of the score...