By Andy Lawell
This spring, students are getting a lesson in big business from an unexpected place.
How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, by Frank Loesser, follows the story of young, bright-eyed window cleaner J. Pierrepont Finch, who, after finding a book that claims it will tell him how to succeed in business (without really trying), decides to take up big business. Finch, starting in the mailroom, works his way up the corporate ladder, dealing with unexpected issues in the business world like relationships with attractive secretaries, getting on the executives’ good sides, and fighting the boss’s nepotism-minded nephew for higher positions.
“I picked How To Succeed for a combination of reasons,” Mrs. Burrows, theatre teacher and director of the musical, said. “More than anything, I feel like it was to highlight the male talent we have this year in the performing arts department. But I also chose it because it was just recently revived on Broadway fairly successfully, so I thought it would be timely and something people would want to see.”
The 2011 Broadway revival featured Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe as Finch, the male lead. The revival was nominated for eight Tony awards, including Best Revival of a Musical, Best Choreography, and Best Direction of a Musical. It ran for 437 performances.
“I mean, don’t get me wrong. The process was very involved for this musical because it’s a dance-heavy musical, so there was a lot of choreography to learn and rehearse. The actors would rehearse between five or six days a week, depending on what character you played and what songs he or she was in,” Burrows said. “It’s really been a process to get it all down and put together the way we want it onstage, but I think we’ve managed to represent pretty well what Coronado theatre has to offer.”
Auditions for How To Succeed were in late January and had a very strong turnout. Many students auditioned with a wide range of talents and experiences, which led for a very diverse cast; for example, the male lead is played by choir and theatre III student Ryan Caviola, junior, while Rosemary, the female lead, is played by freshman Maddie Rowles.
“When I first got the part I was shocked, and everyone around me was so happy for me. I was surprised because it’s kinda rare for someone my age to get a part like this. But I was ecstatic, and my parents were, too,” Rowles said. “I’ve been working very hard. And it’s very cool to see that come through onstage.”
Rowles surprised the auditors for the musical with her audition; here was this freshman, new to theatre at Coronado, auditioning with dance skill and musical talent that would be impressive for even a third or fourth year theatre student.
“I’ve danced for about five years, and three of those years were competitive,” Rowles said. “And I’ve been singing for four years. I think I’m going to enjoy theatre at Coronado.”
Alongside her onstage is Caviola, in his third primary role at Coronado, as Finch. In addition to them, Ben Viton, senior, Bryson Labar, sophomore, and Victoria Thomas, senior, are showcased as Bert Bratt, Bud Frump, and Hedy Larue respectively. All three are new to the genre of musical theater.
“Well, for one thing, there’s a ton more singing and dancing than in a straight play,” Thomas said. “I’d always done acting, vocals, and dance separately, so it was definitely an experience learning to pull all of those things together.” Thomas is a theatre IV student and, in addition to having been in previous non-musical productions at Coronado, she recently assistant directed this year’s fall play, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead.
However, despite how important the actors are to the production, everyone acknowledges that absolutely nothing would get done without the band and orchestra conducted by Mr. Watson, who will provide the live backtrack for the entire show, and the technical theatre students, who build the sets, do lighting and sound, and make costumes for the cast.
“I don’t know really what to say,” technician Gavin Hamilton, junior, said. “It’s not something you do really for recognition for doing it, it’s something you do to try to put on the best show you can for the audience. Everyone works really hard. And that’s not something I have to say to make us sound good, which I personally take pride in. The techs truly work very hard to make the show look and sound as good as possible. Its one of those things that is either there or not in a performance, and I think it’s definitely there for this one.”
Hamilton, a tech II student, has worked a total of four theatre productions, as well as several band, choir, guitar, and orchestra concerts. He specializes in lighting for How to Succeed but also does set building and sound.
How to Succeed was directed by Mrs. Burrows, with assistant student direction from Andrew Lawell, senior, vocal direction from Mr. Fleischer, choreography from Rommel Pacson, and a live orchestration built of band and orchestra students conducted by Mr. Watson.
The show opened April 29 and runs through May 2.
