Daniel Radcliffe to Star in Broadway Revival of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
Daniel Radcliffe will make his Broadway musical debut as J. Pierrepont Finch in a revival of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Directed and choreographed by Rob Ashford, the production will open on Broadway in spring 2011 in a theater to be announced.
Radcliffe, who received excellent reviews for his 2008 Broadway debut performance in Equus, reportedly took part in a reading of How to Succeed in December 2009. Further casting for the 2011 revival will be announced shortly.
Based on a satirical self-help book, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying has a book by Abe Burrows, Jack Weinstock and Willie Gilbert and a score by Frank Loesser. The show centers on a young window-cleaner, J. Pierrepont Finch, who begins a meteoric rise from the mail-room to Vice President of Advertising at the World-Wide Wicket Company. Finch’s unorthodox and morally questionable business practices jeopardize not only his career but also his romance with Secretary Rosemary Pilkington. Loesser’s score includes such hits as “I Believe in You,” “Happy to Keep His Dinner Warm,” “The Company Way,” “Been a Long Day,” “Rosemary” and “Brotherhood of Man.”
How to Succeed originally opened on Broadway in October 1961 starring Robert Morse (who went on to star in the 1967 film version and now appears in Mad Men, a show with a similar setting). The show won seven Tonys and became one of only eight musicals to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. A 1995 Broadway revival directed by Des McAnuff starred Matthew Broderick as Finch and ran for 548 performances at the Richard Rodgers Theatre.
Radcliffe, who has played the title role in all eight films based on J.K. Rowling’s bestselling “Harry Potter” books, will return to Broadway after completing filming on Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the final film in the series. He received Drama League and Drama Desk Award nominations and was named Broadway.com's Star of the Year for playing Alan Strang in Equus, a production that originated in the West End in 2007. Radcliffe’s other credits include the Australian independent feature December Boys and the role of Jack Kipling in the telefilm My Boy Jack.
The 2011 revival of How to Succeed will be produced by Broadway Across America (John Gore, Thomas B. McGrath, Beth Williams), Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, the team behind Rob Ashford’s current Broadway revival of Promises, Promises.
