Purdue Theatre, PMO collaborate
with "How to Succeed ..."
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Continuing the relationship established two years ago, Purdue Theatre and Purdue Musical Organizations join forces again to bring "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" to the Loeb Playhouse.
Tickets are now on sale. Performance times are Feb. 16, 17, 23 and 24 at 8 p.m. and Feb. 18 and 25 at 2 p.m. A low-priced sneak preview will be Thursday., Feb. 15, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets for regular evening performances are $14 for the general public and $10 for Purdue students and senior citizens. Matinee tickets are $12 for the general public and $8 for students and seniors. Sneak preview tickets are $5.50. Tickets can be purchased at the Loeb Box Office, (765) 494-3933 or 800-914-SHOW.
Matinees for high school and middle school students are Wednesday and Thursday, Feb. 21 and 22 at 11 a.m. Tickets for the matinee are available only from Purdue Theatre, (765) 494-3084.
"How to Succeed...," the fourth musical to win the Pulitzer Prize for drama, is a satire of the business world as seen through the eyes of J. Pierrepont Finch, a young man looking for an easy way to climb the corporate ladder. He rises from window washer to chairman of the board of the World Wide Wicket Company, relying on his "self-help" approach rather than on education, ability or intelligence.
Director Kristine Holtvedt, associate professor of theatre, and musical director Jonathan Swoboda, PMO assistant director, head the creative team, as they did for the 1998 collaboration, "Into the Woods." They are joined by Chicago lighting designer Angelo Petrato; New York choreographer Kate Swan; costume designer Joel Ebarb, assistant professor of theatre; scenic designer Chris Dunham, a second-year graduate student; and sound designer Ian Hunter, also a second-year graduate student.
"The musical parodies 1950s corporate America," said Holtvedt. "The authors successfully skewer nepotism, old-school loyalty, coffee break obsessions, office parties and yes-men in this send-up of the thirst for success."
Walter Kerr, critic of the Chicago Herald-Tribune in a 1961 review called the musical "crafty, conniving, sneaky, irreverent, impertinent, sly, malicious and lovely ... a musical with a mind."
"How to Succeed...," based on Shepard Mead's tongue-in-cheek manual of the same name, has a book by Abe Burrows, Jack Weinstock and Willie Gilbert and a score by composer-lyricist Frank Loesser. The original Broadway production opened on Oct. 14, 1961, and ran for 1,417 performances. The 1994 Broadway revival with Matthew Broderick and Megan Mullally (star of "Will and Grace") ran for 548 performances.
CONTACT: Lori Sparger, Purdue Theatre marketing director, (765) 494-3084; theatre@purdue.edu.
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