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Daniel Radcliffe , How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying , John Larroquette ,
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Amazing Inspiring Funny Scary Hot Crazy Important WeirdTheater: Daniel Radcliffe "Succeeds"
on Broadway
Actor Daniel Radcliffe will turn 22 during his run in the
new revival of How To Succeed in Business WithoutReally Trying (on July 23, to be exact). If he wanted to,
he could probably turn 23 and still be in it -- the showfits him like a glove and audiences are eating it up.Heck, they cheered the chorus girls the night I caught itand you just know an audience is having fun when theystart applauding loudly even before the movie and TVstars appear for their curtain call.
For the record, Radcliffe is trying and does succeed
pretty darn well -- and without grading him on a curve.
He moves well and his adequate voice is okay enough forthe not-so-vocally demanding role of that corporate
schemer J. Pierpont Finch. ("F-I-N-C-H," as he so helpfully makes clear to all and sundry.) MatthewBroderick was the last person to lead a revival of the show on Broadway and they pair off well together.
Neither is a born singer but the great score by Frank Loesser is easy on the lead. Both have charm to
spare (something Radcliffe reveals here more than ever before) and an easy complicity. Neither is terriblytall, which is especially useful for our hero now; he may be running rings around the competition as herises swiftly to the top of the World Wide Widget company ("www" which gives the whole show a modernflair), but he's also small. Even though he's smarter than anyone else, you can't help feeling he's anunderdog.
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The show -- rather sexless in an interesting way - feels as modern as ever, despite silly concerns about
songs like "A Secretary is Not A Toy." Looking out for yourself, seeing a company as a stepping stone
rather than a home, seeing your coworkers as competitors instead of friends, being so focused on career
you don't even bother with a personal life -- sounds familiar, doesn't it?
It helps when the tale of a window washer rushing up the ladder of success is filled with fun numbers like
'Coffee Break" and "Rosemary" (in which our hero unexpectedly discovers romance, only to soon put itaside while he leaps ever higher).
Radcliffe's Broadway debut was in Equus , in which he showed a certain amount of stage presence despite
being cast as a rough, country lad, a role he most certainly was not suited for. He's grown tremendously
here and owns the stage rather charmingly, right down to mouthing "cheers" during his curtain call.
Two other crucial roles don't score highly. Rose Hemingway is okay as the secretary who loves him and
longs to keep his dinner warm (in New Rochelle!), but certainly doesn't put her stamp on the role or everget beyond a vague niceness. Worse, the main foil for Finch is supposed to be the boss's nephew, BudFrump. He's the corporate climber we're supposed to dislike -- our hero gets by on his wits and suckingup (cleverly) while Bud just complains to his mother, who is the sister of his boss's wife. But ChristopherJ. Hanke fails to nail almost any of the humor in his part. He's a handsome fellow but his voice is so-soand his delivery poor. Lines that should kill just sort of peter out, though he has a good physicalcommand of his body and does well in the dancing.
The other key roles are much better. Emmy winner John Larroquette makes his Broadway debut in solid
form as the boss, J.B. Biggley. Without overplaying it, he milks every laugh out of every line he's given.
Director and choreographer Rob Ashford even makes smart use of Larroquete's height compared toRadcliffe in the rousing Act One tune "Grand Old Ivy." His mistress is played by Tammy Blanchard, whoalso shows wise restraint in a part that can be pure caricature. Their romantic number together -- "LoveFrom A Heart Of Gold" -- gets by purely on the chemistry of the two. As a bonus of sorts, Larroquette'svoice is so modest it makes even Radcliffe's singing seem robust.
MIchael Park (who was exceptional in this season's excellent new play Middletown ) does strong work as
a corporate exec and deserves bigger roles in the future. And Ellen Harvey has a blast as Miss Jones,
especially with her warbling on "Brotherhood Of Man" (inserted perhaps to give some vocal spark to the
big dance finale in which Radcliffe shined as a hoofer but obviously could not belt out over that chorus).
I keep coming back to the idea that the best actors didn't overplay roles that can be rather broad. Perhaps
it has to do with the sleek, Sixties-mod look of the sets by Derek McLane and excellent lighting by HowellBinkley for this How To Succeed . They create a vivid, genuine corporate world, as opposed to what I
remember as a more cartoonish feel for the Broderick revival. (Which I also enjoyed.) It has the feel Iimagine the new musical Catch Me If You Can will be shooting for.
Ashford's strong staging and choreography are filled with grace notes and clever touches, from the
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mailroom clerks passing around packages with their feet to the hilarious "Grand Old Ivy" (in which
Radcliffe pantomimes playing football and is carried backwards in slow motion to amusing effect) to thatrousing climax "Brotherhood Of Man," in which our hero really delivers on his toes, thanks to very clevermoves that show him off to the best possible effect.
And yet, the dancing overall was solid but not spectacular. So how can a show where the male lead isn't
really a singer and the female lead didn't wow and the main villain underwhelmed get three stars? Hey,
that's the beauty of live theater. A great show delivering on the technical front with panache and boasting
one of the more tuneful scores in Broadway history can be a lot of fun, especially with a charismatic lead,
powerhouse vocals or not.
And if Radcliffe chooses his next role wisely -- a romantic comedy or flat-out farce, I think -- he will
continue to grow as an actor and keep packing them in. Just like How To Succeed surely will. And when
he steps away from the show (as inevitably he will) and they need to find a replacement, might I suggestNeil Patrick Harris? (You can see Harris in a concert version of Company at LIncoln Center April 7-9. )
THE 2010-2011 THEATER SEASON (ratings on a four star system)
Angels in America revival at Signature *** out of ****
Arcadia with Billy Crudup *** 1/2
Between Worlds/Entre Mundos * 1/2
Beautiful Burnout at St. Ann's Warehouse **
Blood From A Stone ** 1/2
The Broadway Musicals Of 1921 at Town Hall ***Devil Boys From Beyond **
The Diary Of A Madman with Geoffrey Rush at BAM ***Double Falsehood **
The Dream Of The Burning Boy ** 1/2
Driving Miss Daisy **
Elf *
Elling **
A Free Man Of Color ** 1/2
Gatz ***
Ghetto Klown ***
Good People with Frances McDormand **
The Grand Manner **
The Great Game ***
Gruesome Playground Injuries ***
The Hallway Trilogy: Nursing **The Hallway Trilogy: Paraffin ***The Hallway Trilogy: Rose ***How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying ***The Importance Of Being Earnest ** 1/2
The Interminable Suicide Of Gregory Church *** 1/2
John Gabriel Borkman * 1/2
La Bete ** 1/2
Les Miserables ***
Lombardi **
Macbeth with John Douglas Thompson **
The Merchant Of Venice *** 1/2
Middletown ***
The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore *
Mistakes Were Made ** 1/2
Nixon In China *** 1/2
The New York Idea **
The Nightingale and Other Short Fables at BAM ***
Other Desert Cities **
Our Town with Helen Hunt ***
The Pee-wee Herman Show ***
The Road To Qatar *
Room ***
The Scottsboro Boys ****
Small Craft Warnings zero stars
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Comments 23 Pending Comments 0View FAQThree Sisters (w Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard) *** 1/2
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AT THE NEW YORK MUSICAL FESTIVAL
Blood Ties ***
Fellowship * 1/2
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Frog Kiss *** 1/2The Great Unknown ** 1/2Nighttime Traffic **Our Country *PopArt *
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Without You *** 1/2
*****
Thanks for reading. Michael Giltz is the cohost of Showbiz Sandbox, a weekly pop culture podcast that
reveals the industry take on entertainment news of the day and features top journalists and opinionmakers as guests. It's available free on iTunes. Visit Michael Giltz at his website and his daily blog.
Download his podcast of celebrity interviews and his radio show, also called Popsurfing and alsoavailable for free on iTunes. Link to him on Netflix and gain access to thousands of ratings and
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425 Fans
78 Fans"despite silly concerns about songs like 'A Secretary is Not A Toy'."
HAPPY TO KEEP HIS DINNER WARM is also among the dated, sexist songs who's offensiven ess
you deem "silly". Nice of you to erase a half century of battling for sexual equality with the word
"silly."
"Ellen Harvey has a blast as Miss Jones, especially with her warbling on 'Brotherho od Of Man'
(inserted perhaps to give some vocal spark to the big dance finale"
Have you EVER listened to the original cast album, or seen the movie (which preserves forever
Robert Morse's magnificen t, unmatachab le performanc e)? Miss Jones warbling was "inserted" by
Frank Loesser in the original. It has ALWAYS been part of the number - ALWAYS!
You want a "silly" concern? Okay, here's silly: In the first Harry Potter movie, Daniel liberates a
snake from the reptile house in a zoo. Now Daniel opens on Broadway, and, the same week, a
cobra "escapes" from The Bronx Zoo. Coincidenc e? I think not!
There. That's silly. 50 years of feminist gains are not.
And while I don't doubt Radcliffe is good in the role, surely there was at least one American actor in
New York who could have toplined in this quintessen tially American role. (Not one word have you
written on whether Daniel has successful ly concealed his British accent so utterly, utterly wrong for
the role.)
But it is nice to have Loesser's great score being perfomed again, even if the sexism now grates
rather than amuses.
Strangely, I have never seen the movie and I've never heard the original cast album. My
only experience is with the Broderick revival. I half suspected it was a standard choice to
highlight Miss Jones but didn't have the time or money to check it out -- hence my"perhaps." Thanks for setting me straight. Can you tell me how those songs play in thefilm? They're so good it's easy to imagine them performed in a winking manner even at thetime that subtly acknowledg es the behavior of the corporate execs as questionab le. Didn't
anyone see the lascivious execs as targets at all of satire? Today ,sexual politics just don'tcome into it for me. It's like objecting to Mad Men because everyone smokes and the men
chase the secretarie s around the office during holiday parties. Nobody thinks it's acceptableRecency | Popularity
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425 Fans
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424 Fans
425 Fansbehavior and we're not indulging in fun by watching Mad Men. "Happy To Keep His Dinner
Warm" is more complicate d for me. Choosing to stay at home and tend to a spouse (and
maybe kids) is a perfectly valid choice surely. The most competent employees throughoutthe show are the secretarie s who know everything about what's going on, though there's no
sense they deserve or even want better. but I'd be happy to my hubby's dinner warmmyself, so don't see it as limiting. I think the songs transcend the era they were written in.
"Can you tell me how those songs play in the film?"
For Heaven's sake, Netflix the movie and see for yourself. If you haven't seen
Robert Morse play this role, you haven't seen this role. You don't even have towait for the disc. Netflix will stream it right into your computer (I just checked. It willstream). You could be seeing it right now, instead of reading this, and see whatwas originally intended, since it preserves the Broadway performanc es of most of
the original cast (Sadly, Charles Neslon Reilly does not play Bud Frump in themovie.), and all the Bob Fosse choreograp hy is preserved as well.
Without realizing it, you identified what's still creepy about HAPPY TO KEEP HISDINNER WARM: "there's no sense they deserve or even want better." That's justit, OF COURSE they WANTED better, OF COURSE they DESERVED better, butnot in this show. There is not one female excutive in the show. Most of the womenare smarter than the men (But not the boss's sexpot, of course), yet they arecontent to receive less pay and recognitio n? No, that was the myth the show never
questions. "De slaves, Dey like being slaves. Security! Dem Damn Yankees ruineddeir lives by freein' 'em."
The whole show is so cynical in a charming way. It's cynical about business and corporatepolitics and who gets ahead and why, I can't imagine why it's hard to think the show is alsocynical about the role of women. It's certainly easy to play it that way today. (Not that thisone does that as such.) Happily the gains of women, which still have far to go (especiall y
around the world) won't be held back by this show. I should have mentioned that Radcliffe' s
American accent was smooth and didn't raise an eyebrow, one more point in his favor. LikeBroderick, he's no musical comedy star waiting for more big roles, but a valid stageperformer, which was more than I imagined after seeing his first three or four turns as harrypotter. Absolutely other performers could kill in this revival, hence my mention of NeilPatrick Harris, who is no older than John Stamos was when he took over for Broderick.He'd be sensationa l in this show. Thanks again for properly correcting my lack of musical
theater knowledge on that arrangemen t.
the movie in its entirety is posted in parts on youtube -- i just recently watched it iffor no other reason than because I found the new version kind of sloppy. I think MrRadcliff did a fine job, I had more issues with music production and choreograp hy
as a whole. It will sell tickets, so what do I know. .
But there is no satire in the show to even suggest that the women want a better
life or broader choices., let alone eqiuality. I was alive then. The reason we have
greater femist roights now is because women back then were NOT happy to keep
their dinners warm. In fact, in the household I gew up in in the 1950s and 60s, itwas dad who kept the dinner warm, because Mother got home form her job later
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Tallulah Morehead 07:52 PM on 4/05/2011
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425 Fansthan he did every week. And Mom didn't work because they needed two incomes.
it was because staying home doing housework, cooking, and watching daytime TVBORED HER OT OF HER MIND!
Radcliffe may bring off an accent, it's still a quintessen tially American role which
should be played by an American, at least in America. (I could see Radcliffe
playing it in the West End. He wants to play Boradway? Fine. Play a Brit, as he didin EQUUIS) NPH is a good casting idea.
But Watch HOW TO SUCCEED the movie. Robert Morse stamped the role as
surely as Brando stamped Stanley Kowalski. No one else can touch him. (and I'veseen several others try.) He's in MAD MEN for a reason. (That Robert Morse is
also one of my favorite human beings, a truly classy, thoughtful gentleman in every
way, helps.)
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the problem is the "brotherho od" from the original is gone. Its some weird big band swing
kitsch something -- it is warbling in the new version. the choreograp hy is large and gimicky
-- its a camp chorus line. Not in love with the costuming either -- its 40s meets Wham. MrRadcliff worked overtime (including an American accent) and for better or worse has to
carry it himself, and its kind of awkward. Trying to break down the "sexist" part of it -- seems like they are done with a kind ofderogatory wink to the menial little secretary pool instead of the original intention.
Well, most revivals insist on re-orchest rating and re-arrangi ng the music.
Sometimes, as in the 1994 revival of DAMN YANKEES, they do some good work
there. (The rejiggerin g of NEAR TO YOU into a trio instead of the original duet
resulted in a hauntingly beautiful rendiditio n of that song.)
The re-arrangi ng of BROTHER HOOD OF MAN also changes the style (and
enlages) the warbling of Miss Jones in the Borderick revival as well. Just terrible.
Also something of a "swing" arrangemen t, which was already hopelessly dated
when the original opened on Broadway. Swing was the 1940s, not the 1960s.Loesser's original arrangemen ts, on the original cast album and in the movie, are
vastly better.
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Oh and the cobra joke was hilarious. Proves you're no muggle.
Understand , I have no problem with Daniel Radcliffe himself, nor as an actor. He's
clearly a fine, intelligen t, concientio us young man with solid liberal-hu manist
leanings, and a very good actor. Ever seen his DAVID COPPERFIEL D, in which
he plays opposite Maggie Smith long before there were any HARRY POTTERmovies? I have. He was a good actor from apparently , birth onwards. I just think
that, on Broadway, J. Pierpont Finch ("the usual spelling") should be played by anAmerican, and the troublesom e aspects of the show should be discussed, not
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Tallulah Morehead 08:05 PM on 4/05/2011
237 Fans
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78 Fansdismissed. I'm not saying the show should be rewritten, nor winked at in the
playing, but that around the play, the sexism it contains but does not address,should be discussed.
Whoever is managing him is doing a great job. Doesn't hurt that he's exceedingl y talented.
Another suggestion for his replacemen t: Zac Efron. (Might be too pretty, but he's certainly a triple-
threat.)
Zac is too pretty....
He has to figure out what BradPitt did with his career to not get stuck in the Pretty Boy
roles...Which tend to emasculate ...lead actors.
Also, the role calls for major comedy chops, as Robert Morse has, not merely being apretty boy who can sing a bit. Zac Efron would be horribly boring in the role.
Disagree. He proved he could be funny in Hairspray. I bet he could do this, too.
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Glad to see Daniel Radcliffe getting generally good reviews. He's a talented, hard-worki ng actor and
he seems like a nice young man. I hope he continues to make a smooth transition from child star toadult working actor.
He's already made some interestin g profession al choices. It will be fun to see what's next for him. I
know my kids, who are all huge Harry Potter fans, would get a kick out of seeing him on stage. I'm
sure there are a lot of similar young fans discoverin g musical theater in New York this spring and
summer.
Agreed. That's the best part of his appearance in the show -- lots of Potter fans will get tosee live musical theater they might have waited years to see or never bothered.
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But wouldn't it be better if they saw a really good musical production , rather than a
sad approximat ion of a show that can be done much better when properly cast?
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Daniel Radcliffe , How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying , John Larroquette ,
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Amazing Inspiring Funny Scary Hot Crazy Important WeirdTheater: Daniel Radcliffe "Succeeds"
on Broadway
Actor Daniel Radcliffe will turn 22 during his run in the
new revival of How To Succeed in Business WithoutReally Trying (on July 23, to be exact). If he wanted to,
he could probably turn 23 and still be in it -- the showfits him like a glove and audiences are eating it up.Heck, they cheered the chorus girls the night I caught itand you just know an audience is having fun when theystart applauding loudly even before the movie and TVstars appear for their curtain call.
For the record, Radcliffe is trying and does succeed
pretty darn well -- and without grading him on a curve.
He moves well and his adequate voice is okay enough forthe not-so-vocally demanding role of that corporate
schemer J. Pierpont Finch. ("F-I-N-C-H," as he so helpfully makes clear to all and sundry.) MatthewBroderick was the last person to lead a revival of the show on Broadway and they pair off well together.
Neither is a born singer but the great score by Frank Loesser is easy on the lead. Both have charm to
spare (something Radcliffe reveals here more than ever before) and an easy complicity. Neither is terriblytall, which is especially useful for our hero now; he may be running rings around the competition as herises swiftly to the top of the World Wide Widget company ("www" which gives the whole show a modernflair), but he's also small. Even though he's smarter than anyone else, you can't help feeling he's anunderdog.
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The show -- rather sexless in an interesting way - feels as modern as ever, despite silly concerns about
songs like "A Secretary is Not A Toy." Looking out for yourself, seeing a company as a stepping stone
rather than a home, seeing your coworkers as competitors instead of friends, being so focused on career
you don't even bother with a personal life -- sounds familiar, doesn't it?
It helps when the tale of a window washer rushing up the ladder of success is filled with fun numbers like
'Coffee Break" and "Rosemary" (in which our hero unexpectedly discovers romance, only to soon put itaside while he leaps ever higher).
Radcliffe's Broadway debut was in Equus , in which he showed a certain amount of stage presence despite
being cast as a rough, country lad, a role he most certainly was not suited for. He's grown tremendously
here and owns the stage rather charmingly, right down to mouthing "cheers" during his curtain call.
Two other crucial roles don't score highly. Rose Hemingway is okay as the secretary who loves him and
longs to keep his dinner warm (in New Rochelle!), but certainly doesn't put her stamp on the role or everget beyond a vague niceness. Worse, the main foil for Finch is supposed to be the boss's nephew, BudFrump. He's the corporate climber we're supposed to dislike -- our hero gets by on his wits and suckingup (cleverly) while Bud just complains to his mother, who is the sister of his boss's wife. But ChristopherJ. Hanke fails to nail almost any of the humor in his part. He's a handsome fellow but his voice is so-soand his delivery poor. Lines that should kill just sort of peter out, though he has a good physicalcommand of his body and does well in the dancing.
The other key roles are much better. Emmy winner John Larroquette makes his Broadway debut in solid
form as the boss, J.B. Biggley. Without overplaying it, he milks every laugh out of every line he's given.
Director and choreographer Rob Ashford even makes smart use of Larroquete's height compared toRadcliffe in the rousing Act One tune "Grand Old Ivy." His mistress is played by Tammy Blanchard, whoalso shows wise restraint in a part that can be pure caricature. Their romantic number together -- "LoveFrom A Heart Of Gold" -- gets by purely on the chemistry of the two. As a bonus of sorts, Larroquette'svoice is so modest it makes even Radcliffe's singing seem robust.
MIchael Park (who was exceptional in this season's excellent new play Middletown ) does strong work as
a corporate exec and deserves bigger roles in the future. And Ellen Harvey has a blast as Miss Jones,
especially with her warbling on "Brotherhood Of Man" (inserted perhaps to give some vocal spark to the
big dance finale in which Radcliffe shined as a hoofer but obviously could not belt out over that chorus).
I keep coming back to the idea that the best actors didn't overplay roles that can be rather broad. Perhaps
it has to do with the sleek, Sixties-mod look of the sets by Derek McLane and excellent lighting by HowellBinkley for this How To Succeed . They create a vivid, genuine corporate world, as opposed to what I
remember as a more cartoonish feel for the Broderick revival. (Which I also enjoyed.) It has the feel Iimagine the new musical Catch Me If You Can will be shooting for.
Ashford's strong staging and choreography are filled with grace notes and clever touches, from the
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mailroom clerks passing around packages with their feet to the hilarious "Grand Old Ivy" (in which
Radcliffe pantomimes playing football and is carried backwards in slow motion to amusing effect) to thatrousing climax "Brotherhood Of Man," in which our hero really delivers on his toes, thanks to very clevermoves that show him off to the best possible effect.
And yet, the dancing overall was solid but not spectacular. So how can a show where the male lead isn't
really a singer and the female lead didn't wow and the main villain underwhelmed get three stars? Hey,
that's the beauty of live theater. A great show delivering on the technical front with panache and boasting
one of the more tuneful scores in Broadway history can be a lot of fun, especially with a charismatic lead,
powerhouse vocals or not.
And if Radcliffe chooses his next role wisely -- a romantic comedy or flat-out farce, I think -- he will
continue to grow as an actor and keep packing them in. Just like How To Succeed surely will. And when
he steps away from the show (as inevitably he will) and they need to find a replacement, might I suggestNeil Patrick Harris? (You can see Harris in a concert version of Company at LIncoln Center April 7-9. )
THE 2010-2011 THEATER SEASON (ratings on a four star system)
Angels in America revival at Signature *** out of ****
Arcadia with Billy Crudup *** 1/2
Between Worlds/Entre Mundos * 1/2
Beautiful Burnout at St. Ann's Warehouse **
Blood From A Stone ** 1/2
The Broadway Musicals Of 1921 at Town Hall ***Devil Boys From Beyond **
The Diary Of A Madman with Geoffrey Rush at BAM ***Double Falsehood **
The Dream Of The Burning Boy ** 1/2
Driving Miss Daisy **
Elf *
Elling **
A Free Man Of Color ** 1/2
Gatz ***
Ghetto Klown ***
Good People with Frances McDormand **
The Grand Manner **
The Great Game ***
Gruesome Playground Injuries ***
The Hallway Trilogy: Nursing **The Hallway Trilogy: Paraffin ***The Hallway Trilogy: Rose ***How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying ***The Importance Of Being Earnest ** 1/2
The Interminable Suicide Of Gregory Church *** 1/2
John Gabriel Borkman * 1/2
La Bete ** 1/2
Les Miserables ***
Lombardi **
Macbeth with John Douglas Thompson **
The Merchant Of Venice *** 1/2
Middletown ***
The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore *
Mistakes Were Made ** 1/2
Nixon In China *** 1/2
The New York Idea **
The Nightingale and Other Short Fables at BAM ***
Other Desert Cities **
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The Road To Qatar *
Room ***
The Scottsboro Boys ****
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*****
Thanks for reading. Michael Giltz is the cohost of Showbiz Sandbox, a weekly pop culture podcast that
reveals the industry take on entertainment news of the day and features top journalists and opinionmakers as guests. It's available free on iTunes. Visit Michael Giltz at his website and his daily blog.
Download his podcast of celebrity interviews and his radio show, also called Popsurfing and alsoavailable for free on iTunes. Link to him on Netflix and gain access to thousands of ratings and
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425 Fans
78 Fans"despite silly concerns about songs like 'A Secretary is Not A Toy'."
HAPPY TO KEEP HIS DINNER WARM is also among the dated, sexist songs who's offensiven ess
you deem "silly". Nice of you to erase a half century of battling for sexual equality with the word
"silly."
"Ellen Harvey has a blast as Miss Jones, especially with her warbling on 'Brotherho od Of Man'
(inserted perhaps to give some vocal spark to the big dance finale"
Have you EVER listened to the original cast album, or seen the movie (which preserves forever
Robert Morse's magnificen t, unmatachab le performanc e)? Miss Jones warbling was "inserted" by
Frank Loesser in the original. It has ALWAYS been part of the number - ALWAYS!
You want a "silly" concern? Okay, here's silly: In the first Harry Potter movie, Daniel liberates a
snake from the reptile house in a zoo. Now Daniel opens on Broadway, and, the same week, a
cobra "escapes" from The Bronx Zoo. Coincidenc e? I think not!
There. That's silly. 50 years of feminist gains are not.
And while I don't doubt Radcliffe is good in the role, surely there was at least one American actor in
New York who could have toplined in this quintessen tially American role. (Not one word have you
written on whether Daniel has successful ly concealed his British accent so utterly, utterly wrong for
the role.)
But it is nice to have Loesser's great score being perfomed again, even if the sexism now grates
rather than amuses.
Strangely, I have never seen the movie and I've never heard the original cast album. My
only experience is with the Broderick revival. I half suspected it was a standard choice to
highlight Miss Jones but didn't have the time or money to check it out -- hence my"perhaps." Thanks for setting me straight. Can you tell me how those songs play in thefilm? They're so good it's easy to imagine them performed in a winking manner even at thetime that subtly acknowledg es the behavior of the corporate execs as questionab le. Didn't
anyone see the lascivious execs as targets at all of satire? Today ,sexual politics just don'tcome into it for me. It's like objecting to Mad Men because everyone smokes and the men
chase the secretarie s around the office during holiday parties. Nobody thinks it's acceptableRecency | Popularity
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425 Fans
78 Fans
424 Fans
425 Fansbehavior and we're not indulging in fun by watching Mad Men. "Happy To Keep His Dinner
Warm" is more complicate d for me. Choosing to stay at home and tend to a spouse (and
maybe kids) is a perfectly valid choice surely. The most competent employees throughoutthe show are the secretarie s who know everything about what's going on, though there's no
sense they deserve or even want better. but I'd be happy to my hubby's dinner warmmyself, so don't see it as limiting. I think the songs transcend the era they were written in.
"Can you tell me how those songs play in the film?"
For Heaven's sake, Netflix the movie and see for yourself. If you haven't seen
Robert Morse play this role, you haven't seen this role. You don't even have towait for the disc. Netflix will stream it right into your computer (I just checked. It willstream). You could be seeing it right now, instead of reading this, and see whatwas originally intended, since it preserves the Broadway performanc es of most of
the original cast (Sadly, Charles Neslon Reilly does not play Bud Frump in themovie.), and all the Bob Fosse choreograp hy is preserved as well.
Without realizing it, you identified what's still creepy about HAPPY TO KEEP HISDINNER WARM: "there's no sense they deserve or even want better." That's justit, OF COURSE they WANTED better, OF COURSE they DESERVED better, butnot in this show. There is not one female excutive in the show. Most of the womenare smarter than the men (But not the boss's sexpot, of course), yet they arecontent to receive less pay and recognitio n? No, that was the myth the show never
questions. "De slaves, Dey like being slaves. Security! Dem Damn Yankees ruineddeir lives by freein' 'em."
The whole show is so cynical in a charming way. It's cynical about business and corporatepolitics and who gets ahead and why, I can't imagine why it's hard to think the show is alsocynical about the role of women. It's certainly easy to play it that way today. (Not that thisone does that as such.) Happily the gains of women, which still have far to go (especiall y
around the world) won't be held back by this show. I should have mentioned that Radcliffe' s
American accent was smooth and didn't raise an eyebrow, one more point in his favor. LikeBroderick, he's no musical comedy star waiting for more big roles, but a valid stageperformer, which was more than I imagined after seeing his first three or four turns as harrypotter. Absolutely other performers could kill in this revival, hence my mention of NeilPatrick Harris, who is no older than John Stamos was when he took over for Broderick.He'd be sensationa l in this show. Thanks again for properly correcting my lack of musical
theater knowledge on that arrangemen t.
the movie in its entirety is posted in parts on youtube -- i just recently watched it iffor no other reason than because I found the new version kind of sloppy. I think MrRadcliff did a fine job, I had more issues with music production and choreograp hy
as a whole. It will sell tickets, so what do I know. .
But there is no satire in the show to even suggest that the women want a better
life or broader choices., let alone eqiuality. I was alive then. The reason we have
greater femist roights now is because women back then were NOT happy to keep
their dinners warm. In fact, in the household I gew up in in the 1950s and 60s, itwas dad who kept the dinner warm, because Mother got home form her job later
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Tallulah Morehead 07:44 PM on 4/05/2011
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Michael Giltz 12:29 AM on 4/01/2011
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garystartswithg 01:02 AM on 4/01/2011
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Tallulah Morehead 07:52 PM on 4/05/2011
424 Fans
425 Fans
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425 Fansthan he did every week. And Mom didn't work because they needed two incomes.
it was because staying home doing housework, cooking, and watching daytime TVBORED HER OT OF HER MIND!
Radcliffe may bring off an accent, it's still a quintessen tially American role which
should be played by an American, at least in America. (I could see Radcliffe
playing it in the West End. He wants to play Boradway? Fine. Play a Brit, as he didin EQUUIS) NPH is a good casting idea.
But Watch HOW TO SUCCEED the movie. Robert Morse stamped the role as
surely as Brando stamped Stanley Kowalski. No one else can touch him. (and I'veseen several others try.) He's in MAD MEN for a reason. (That Robert Morse is
also one of my favorite human beings, a truly classy, thoughtful gentleman in every
way, helps.)
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the problem is the "brotherho od" from the original is gone. Its some weird big band swing
kitsch something -- it is warbling in the new version. the choreograp hy is large and gimicky
-- its a camp chorus line. Not in love with the costuming either -- its 40s meets Wham. MrRadcliff worked overtime (including an American accent) and for better or worse has to
carry it himself, and its kind of awkward. Trying to break down the "sexist" part of it -- seems like they are done with a kind ofderogatory wink to the menial little secretary pool instead of the original intention.
Well, most revivals insist on re-orchest rating and re-arrangi ng the music.
Sometimes, as in the 1994 revival of DAMN YANKEES, they do some good work
there. (The rejiggerin g of NEAR TO YOU into a trio instead of the original duet
resulted in a hauntingly beautiful rendiditio n of that song.)
The re-arrangi ng of BROTHER HOOD OF MAN also changes the style (and
enlages) the warbling of Miss Jones in the Borderick revival as well. Just terrible.
Also something of a "swing" arrangemen t, which was already hopelessly dated
when the original opened on Broadway. Swing was the 1940s, not the 1960s.Loesser's original arrangemen ts, on the original cast album and in the movie, are
vastly better.
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Oh and the cobra joke was hilarious. Proves you're no muggle.
Understand , I have no problem with Daniel Radcliffe himself, nor as an actor. He's
clearly a fine, intelligen t, concientio us young man with solid liberal-hu manist
leanings, and a very good actor. Ever seen his DAVID COPPERFIEL D, in which
he plays opposite Maggie Smith long before there were any HARRY POTTERmovies? I have. He was a good actor from apparently , birth onwards. I just think
that, on Broadway, J. Pierpont Finch ("the usual spelling") should be played by anAmerican, and the troublesom e aspects of the show should be discussed, not
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garystartswithg 12:49 AM on 4/01/2011
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Tallulah Morehead 07:59 PM on 4/05/2011
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Michael Giltz 12:59 AM on 4/01/2011
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Tallulah Morehead 08:05 PM on 4/05/2011
237 Fans
1834 Fans
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78 Fansdismissed. I'm not saying the show should be rewritten, nor winked at in the
playing, but that around the play, the sexism it contains but does not address,should be discussed.
Whoever is managing him is doing a great job. Doesn't hurt that he's exceedingl y talented.
Another suggestion for his replacemen t: Zac Efron. (Might be too pretty, but he's certainly a triple-
threat.)
Zac is too pretty....
He has to figure out what BradPitt did with his career to not get stuck in the Pretty Boy
roles...Which tend to emasculate ...lead actors.
Also, the role calls for major comedy chops, as Robert Morse has, not merely being apretty boy who can sing a bit. Zac Efron would be horribly boring in the role.
Disagree. He proved he could be funny in Hairspray. I bet he could do this, too.
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Glad to see Daniel Radcliffe getting generally good reviews. He's a talented, hard-worki ng actor and
he seems like a nice young man. I hope he continues to make a smooth transition from child star toadult working actor.
He's already made some interestin g profession al choices. It will be fun to see what's next for him. I
know my kids, who are all huge Harry Potter fans, would get a kick out of seeing him on stage. I'm
sure there are a lot of similar young fans discoverin g musical theater in New York this spring and
summer.
Agreed. That's the best part of his appearance in the show -- lots of Potter fans will get tosee live musical theater they might have waited years to see or never bothered.
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inmyhumbleopinion 12:10 PM on 3/31/2011
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LeftLeanWing 07:32 PM on 3/31/2011
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Tallulah Morehead 04:18 PM on 4/06/2011
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inmyhumbleopinion 06:19 PM on 4/06/2011
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Michael Giltz 12:30 AM on 4/01/2011
425 Fans
But wouldn't it be better if they saw a really good musical production , rather than a
sad approximat ion of a show that can be done much better when properly cast?
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