Theater Review | 'How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying': Wizard of Corporate Climbing

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Instead of teaching some unlikely, nondancing celebrities to do the cha-cha, you train them to star in a big Broadway musical, with fancy sets and chorus lines. It could be called Singing, Dancing and Acting With the Stars on Broadway (With Fancy Sets and Chorus Lines).

O.K., maybe the title needs work. But if you want to see a prototype for an entry in this series, take a look at the new production of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, which opened on Sunday night at the Al Hirschfeld Theater. Its leading man is Daniel Radcliffe, the little wizard that could from the Harry Potter movies; and while Mr. Radcliffe is clearly not to the musical manner born, I would give him, oh, a 6 out of 10.

Theres little doubt that audiences will feel like rooting for Mr. Radcliffe in Rob Ashfords charm-free revival of Frank Loessers 1961 musical about corporate ladder climbing. This 21-year-old British actor, who made a creditable Broadway debut as the psycho stable boy in Equus in 2008, conscientiously hits his choreographic marks, speaks his lines quickly and distinctly (with a convincing American accent) and often sings on key.

You can almost hear an unseen coachs voice whispering to Mr. Radcliffe, telling him when to do what. And because you so feel the effort and eagerness with which Mr. Radcliffe responds to that voice, you truly want him to succeed, just as you hope a favorite athlete or hip-hop artist will avoid elimination on Dancing With the Stars.

But you dont particularly want his character in the show to succeed, and that really is a problem. He portrays the self-invented J. Pierrepont Finch, a boyish man without a discernible past who by systematically following the rules of a book that shares its title with this musical works his way ever upward at the World Wide Wicket Company in New York City.

How to Succeed, which won the 1962 Pulitzer Prize for drama, was rather refreshing for its time in that Ponty (as he asks people to call him) was just as calculating and amoral as some other top-of-the-heap businessmen in real life. And he didnt have to die or repent or even apologize for doing so well, so coldly.

But the shows book writers (Abe Burrows, Jack Weinstock and Willie Gilbert) failed to give Ponty any defining traits beyond all-consuming ambition. It was left to whoever played him to provide the extras, like a personality. Robert Morse, who created the role on Broadway, endowed him with an irresistible impish energy that is evident even in the so-so 1967 movie. Matthew Broderick brought to the 1995 Broadway revival a take me Im yours passivity that verged on the robotic but won him a Tony anyway.

Mr. Radcliffes performance goes even further, purging Ponty of any individualizing quirks. Hes a tabula rasa who absorbs his professional bibles lessons on whom to stroke and how. This blank-slate aspect is unconditionally supported by the prevailing blankness of Mr. Radcliffes face.

Whenever Ponty smiles at his latest stroke of good fortune (a change in expression wittily underlined by music and lighting), its a wee bit chilling. You understand why this guys co-workers resent and fear him. Hes like some super automaton who has been thrust into their midst both to mock and eliminate them.

I suppose theres a case to be made for reconceiving How to Succeed as a variation on Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Certainly, Derek McLanes sets, color-coded visions of modernist honeycomb architecture (matched by Catherine Zubers interchangeable off-the-rack business suits and secretarial outfits), would seem to support the notion of an assembly-line world.

But generally, this production doesnt have a sensibility to call its own, unless you count the evident feeling of relief that thanks to the success of Mad Men you dont have to make excuses for enjoying the bad behavior of sexist cads in neckties from the early 60s. As both director and choreographer, Mr. Ashford, who took on the same era with similar results in last seasons revival of Promises, Promises, keeps the show moving nimbly enough. (The original book, to which this version sticks closely, is as well built as Hedy La Rue, the shows resident lust object, played here by Tammy Blanchard.)

Most of the supporting cast is passable and generic. As J. B. Biggley, the head of World Wide Wicket, John Larroquette (best known for televisions Night Court) provides some funny throwaway line readings, though he also frequently throws away clear diction. Rose Hemingway is pretty and squeaky as the secretary who sets her cap for Ponty. Christopher J. Hanke, who plays Pontys rival (and the bosss nephew), is a natural male ingnue trying to pass himself off as a character actor. Rob Bartlett is both grumpy and twinkly as two different managerial types.

Only Ellen Harvey, as Mr. Biggleys seen-it-all-secretary, and Ms. Blanchard, who gives an original comic spin to her bombshell character, have some distinctive flair. Oh, yes, the recorded voice of the newscaster Anderson Cooper is heard as the narrator, exuding an appropriate deadpan wryness.

The dancing features a lot of the dervish twirls and 90-to-180-degree kicks that Mr. Ashford favored in recent London revivals of Evita and Guys and Dolls, as well as in Promises, Promises. (High kicking and twirling are evidently common to all times and places.) Loessers songs are wonderful, of course, top-of-the-line models of tuneful wit and economy. But they arent rendered here with the conviction that might make them ring new.

That makes Mr. Radcliffe the only reason to see the show, and contrary to what the title suggests, this young actor really, really tries. (He even does a somersault and lets himself be passed through the air for a football fantasy sequence.) His effortful performance is sure to stir maternal instincts among women of all ages (and probably some men too) and comradely protectiveness among his fans.

And who knows? perhaps with time this game, engaged performer will come up with a real character to play here. Meanwhile, when he leads the shows big finale, the satirical rouser Brotherhood of Man, you can be forgiven for thinking it might better be titled Brotherhood of Manikins.

HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS

WITHOUT REALLY TRYING

Music and lyrics by Frank Loesser; book by Abe Burrows, Jack Weinstock and Willie Gilbert, based on the book by Shepherd Mead; directed and choreographed by Rob Ashford; music direction and arrangements by David Chase; sets by Derek McLane; costumes by Catherine Zuber; lighting by Howell Binkley; sound by Jon Weston; hair and wig design by Tom Watson; orchestrations by Doug Besterman; music coordinator, Howard Joines; production stage manager, Michael J. Passaro; associate director, Stephen Sposito; associate choreographer, Christopher Bailey; production manager, Juniper Street Productions; general managers, Alan Wasser-Allan Williams, Mark Shacket; associate producers, Stage Ventures 2010 Limited Partnership; executive producer, Beth Williams. Presented by Broadway Across America, Craig Zadan, Neil Meron, Joseph Smith, Michael McCabe, Candy Spelling, Takonkiet Viravan/Scenario Thailand, Hilary A. Williams, Jen Namoff/Fakston Productions, Two Left Feet Productions/Power Arts, Hop Theatricals LLC/Paul Chau/Daniel Frishwasser/Michael Jackowitz and Michael Speyer-Bernie Abrams/Jacki Barlia Florin-Adam Blanshay/Arlene Scanlan/TBS Service. At the Al Hirschfeld Theater, 302 West 45th Street, Manhattan; (212) 239-6200; telecharge.com. Running time: 2 hours 40 minutes.

WITH: Daniel Radcliffe (J. Pierrepont Finch), John Larroquette (J. B. Biggley), Tammy Blanchard (Hedy La Rue), Christopher J. Hanke (Bud Frump), Rob Bartlett (Mr. Twimble/Wally Womper), Mary Faber (Smitty), Ellen Harvey (Miss Jones), Michael Park (Mr. Bratt), Rose Hemingway (Rosemary Pilkington) and Anderson Cooper (the Voice of the Narrator).