How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying

This was great fun from start to finish.  Start, in this case, being Michael Legget as J. Pierrepont Finch descending to the stage on a scissor lift as he cleaned the windows of an office block.  The story is Finch’s rise from Window Cleaner to corporate Vice President by means of flattery, trickery and effrontery with the aid of the pocket guide-book of the title.  It satirises the corporate America of around 1960, where all the executives were men and the only roles for women were secretaries, dreaming of marrying the boss, or personal assistants.  The latter came in two flavours, the fiercely efficient, represented by Miss Jones (Lucie Evans) or those hired by philandering bosses, such as the air-headed Hedy (Ali Titcombe).

The era was beautifully realised in this production in costume, hair and accessories - lots of wonderful horn-rimmed spectacles and the like, and Finch’s rival Bud Frump (Tom Perren) wearing the slicked-down hair, glasses and bow tie of  Clark Kent.  The set was also neatly done, with various office locations being reconfigured on-the-fly in centre stage, with one side of the apron set aside for the office of the company boss, J.B. Biggley (Ian Rix) and on the opposite side of the stage, the elevator.  This was, of course, just an exit behind a pair of sliding doors, but the effect was excellent and made believable by the cast treating it as a lift - everyone stepped in, turned and faced the doors and waited for the doors to close before (presumably!) making their exit proper.

The score is great, without really having any show-stopping tunes.  What it does have is so many changes of colour that the four reed players were almost juggling their instruments.  Plaudits also to Charlotte Gallagher for her violin playing.  The singing was good throughout, epitomised by the trio “Been a Long Day” with Rosemary (Stephanie Jones) trying to get Finch to notice her and Smitty (Abbie Guy) acting as exasperated matchmaker.

Amongst the other highlights, a great moment of choreography, with Lucie Evans standing on a desk being pushed from side to side as a sort of singing metronome.  Direction and choreography came together very neatly in the opening stop-motion sequence.  Then there were Finch’s “light-bulb” moments - a spotlight, a big smile and “Ting.  I’ve had an idea.”

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