Uneasy Laughs In Porchlight's 'How To Succeed'

By Melody Udell in Arts & Entertainment on May 7, 2014 7:00PM

It’s hard to watch Frank Loesser’s Pulitzer- and Tony-winning musical comedy, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, without the occasional wince. Sure, the show is a full-blown satire—one giant wink to days thankfully gone by—but it doesn’t make the blatant sexism and absurdity of the 1960s workplace much easier to stomach. That said, Porchlight Music Theatre’s small stage revival is doing its best to riff on the Mad Men-era notion of vampy secretaries and limitless ambition.

It’s unnerving watching J. Pierrepont Finch, played by the well-cast Tyler Ravelson, go from window-washer to bottom-rung mail clerk to high-powered company executive, all thanks to his lucky timing, corporate smarm and handy self-help book (voiced by Chicago news anchor Bill Kurtis). But the more you try and hate him, the more you’re somehow rooting for him. Or at the very least, you’re morbidly curious how the enterprising Finch will figure out his next move up the corporate food chain. Ravelson keeps us on our toes—Finch is never really the nice guy, but he’s not a corporate bully, either.

Ravelson’s Finch lacks a certain suaveness, but he’s wiry and flitting, energetically bouncing around Jeffrey Kmiec’s retro, hard-working set. Finch makes it clear that there’s no room for romance while he’s busy climbing the corporate ladder at the World Wide Wickets company. But of course, Finch isn’t the only company employee with a manual for achievement. His love interest, Rosemary (a winning Elizabeth Telford), has a finish line of her own. But for Rosemary, crossing that finish line means a ring, a house in the suburbs and a husband prone to late nights—whether working or otherwise. She hits notes both funny and heartbreaking in her ballad “Happy to Keep His Dinner Warm”—a parody, sure, but wince-worthy nonetheless.

Most of Loesser’s other songs are a bit livelier, and without as much sting as Rosemary’s big number. “A Secretary Is Not a Toy” and “Coffee Break” could easily be throwaway numbers, but the infectious ensemble works overtime to give them their due. Brenda Didier’s choreography is energetic and impressive considering the somewhat difficult black box theater space she’s working with.

Because every parody needs an over-the-top semi-villain, it seems, Porchlight has found one in John Keating, who makes an ideal Bud Frump, the sniveling boss’s nephew who’s too busy plotting against the rising star Finch to work hard and get promoted on his own right. Keating’s Frump is hilariously flamboyant, at times even creepy, and it’s easy to see why he’s both the bratty office tyrant and court jester.

In a thankless role, Sharriese Hamilton as Smitty makes the most of her diminished part, thanks to a brassy voice and take-no-prisoners demeanor. And Fred Zimmerman is a spot-on Biggley, the out of touch company president who turns to knitting and his curvy new receptionist, Hedy La Rue (Emily Ariel Rogers), to relieve stress.

How to Succeed may be winking at the audience the whole time, but you can’t ignore the jarring resemblance to today’s corporate culture, where bad ideas are overvalued, good ones are hard to come by, and the glass ceiling is still fully in tact. These issues are on full display in the show’s rousing 11 o’clock number, "Brotherhood of Man." Just try to avoid tapping your toes or forcing back a smile when Iris Lieberman, playing the unruffled top secretary Miss Jones, tap dances her way around the good ol' boys club. The infectious number is How to Succeed at its best—a spoon full of satire and a couple laughs help it all go down.

The show runs through Sunday, June 1, at Stage 773, 1225 W. Belmont, tickets available through 773-327-5252 or online.