Review:

How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying

   Why are these damn musicals so long?????

    Routinely - or at least over the past two years - the CHS All-School Musical has run three hours or more.   Now, they can film these plays in under two hours, so what gives?   Well, part of it is the stage crew - in a movie they can cut all the black when sets are being changed.  But when the play is being performed live, the darkness does factor in.

    Another - and possibly larger - factor is that Thomas Paster, the director of the musicals, seems reluctant to cut almost anything out.  Now I've heard that a couple of songs from this year's show were in fact cut; but despite that, there were plenty of moments in this show - and in those of years past, particularly last year's Damn Yankees - that probably could have been cut for time considerations.  The show began at about five or ten after eight, and finished at quarter past eleven - and of course that means that nobody gets out of the building before 11:30.

    But I don't really think I should judge the play on its length - although I think I already have.  I should really judge the play on its acting, music, and plot.

    I can't really criticize the plot per se, but I must admit that I was left not liking several of the characters.  Not that I "thought they were mean" or something stupid like that; I just didn't like the way they had been written in the first place.  Case in point: Wally Womper, chairman of the board at Worldwide Wicket Corporation (the fictitious company in the play).  Womper was played by Joaquin Cotler, who's a great guy, and who, as it turns out, is both a good singer and a good actor.  (The singer part I guess we knew from his band.)  But Womper, as a character, is just bad.  He's suddenly thrown in at the end and has no meat on him.  Cotler does what he can with him, but there's not much there.

    The plot is pretty basic: J. Pierrepont Finch (Dante Sterling here) is looking to make it in the world of business.  With a book to help him, he ascends from the mailroom to vice-president of advertising by buttering up his bosses and stabbing colleagues in the back ever-so-gracefully.  This arouses the ire of Bud Frump (Eric Neher), nephew of company president J.B. Biggley (Ben Tannen), who is also looking to move up in the world - but by getting his mother to call Biggley's wife.  Meanwhile, Finch is being admired by Rosemary Pilkington (Caitlin McTague), a secretary who can't seem to get noticed by Finch as much as she wants, because he focuses too much on his career.

    Finch rises into the VP job but finds that his ad campaign is a failure when the boss' mistress Hedy LaRue (Jessica Cohen and plenty of padding) reveals the location of hidden money (the incentive for people to tune in) on live TV.  This results in the tearing apart of the Worldwide Wicket buildings, which causes the stock to drop five points (a whole five points?).  Finch appears to have lost his job when the intervention of chairman Womper and a catchy tune allows him to keep it - and later ascend into Womper's position as chairman of the board.

    But the second act seems unrehearsed compared to the first act (possibly because the first act in itself is so long the actors probably got tired) - or perhaps the second act is just poorly written in comparison.  Personally, I lean toward the second.  Unless a lot was cut, very little can explain for the disjointed nature of the second act, including the sudden marriage of Womper to Hedy LaRue, whom he had called a "bubbleheaded tomato" just fifteen minutes earlier.  The play also ends with Finch announcing that Womper has resigned - which Womper denies having done and yet apparently doesn't care that he has.  What?  That really annoyed me.

    The acting is good (particularly the comical roles played by Ben Tannen and Zach Klein), the singing is good (particularly from Sterling), and the play in general is worth viewing.  But the second act can't possibly compare to the first act in any regard, and you'll probably end up being annoyed with the play since that's the part you saw last.

    It's a good performance, but the play itself could have been better. B

The Columbia High School  performance of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying can be seen later this season on CCN (channel 26 South Orange and 35 Maplewood).