The most exciting dimension of this touring production, as with almost everything else that appears at the Buell, is the spectacular special effects--in this case computer graphics projected as background. Big-ticket theater tries as hard as it can to rival the movies for spectacle and glamour, and this time the effort pays off.
Of course, in the movies, special effects contribute to the illusion of realism. You can stage a really terrific alien invasion that keeps the viewer's skin crawling for two hours, simulate the end of the world by nuclear destruction, or send Superman speeding through space, and the effects will lend verity to the story being told, however empty-headed the script. In the theater, though, special effects have a very different function: They are their own reason for being. They don't add anything to the meaning of a show, other than to increase dramatically the how-did-they-do-that? factor. The helicopter in Miss Saigon didn't make anybody think that the protagonist was going to jump in and escape; it was just incredible to see a great big flying machine on stage.
But if special effects make any show more circus act than theater, How to Succeed is a delightful circus. We zoom up and down the floors of a skyscraper with all the possible views the various floors would allow projected as if outside the windows, from the steam pipes of the basement to the giant fountain outside the lobby to the endless sky at the top. When one character sings her love song, a huge colored map locates her dream house and zooms in to the wooden love birds carved on the front door. The computer graphics do tend to dwarf the performers about half the time, but they are classy enough to stand up well under the competition.
The story, of course, concerns the ambitious "Ponti" Finch (Macchio), who reads a book about how to succeed in business by starting at the lowest rung of the ladder in a big company where no one knows for sure what anyone else does. The first day he arrives, a lovely receptionist, Rosemary, falls for him on the spot. Picking him out as a winner, she fantasizes about marriage and a mansion in the comic song satirizing 1950s female expectations, "Happy to Keep His Dinner Warm."
Luck follows Finch around like a puppy, and every single time his nemesis, Bud Frump, the president's nephew, nearly scotches his plans, some little twist of fate saves him again. Finch never actually lies--he's an opportunist with just enough sweetness of temperament to endear him to us. After all, he loves Rosemary--and not for anything she can do for him. Even when temptress Hedy La Rue, the boss's mistress, tries to spark a little passion in him, all he can think of is Rosemary.
Macchio faced a challenge in the Finch character--the role was tailor-made for Robert Morse, who originated the role on Broadway. But while he doesn't have Morse's rascally munchkin cuteness, Macchio does project an agreeable innocence. He gives, from first to last, a highly polished, even charming, performance. Shauna Hicks as his love interest dashes off a brave tune or two with admirable guts and comic fervor. Richard Thomsen, a familiar character actor from the movies, gives bossman J.B. Biggley plenty of distinguished dopiness. And Pamela Blair as the sexpot La Rue makes a bodacious bimbo.
The best song of the evening, however, is reserved for Tina Fabrique as Biggley's ferocious secretary. She belts out a raucous, jazzy "Brotherhood of Man." And Roger Bart as Bud Frump glues the whole business together. Part Phil Hartman and part squirrel, his Frump is a fully functioning rat-fink whose moments of glee are worth all the other characters' total discomfiture.
This road show isn't exactly a How to Succeed for the 1990s, as the program notes assert. But it doesn't need to be. The satire rings true enough to keep us laughing, the dancing is fast and fabulous, and the special effects are their own reward.
How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, through September 1 at the Temple Buell Theatre, in the Plex at 14th and Curtis, 893-4100.
