HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING Comes to Way Off-Broadway This Summer

Following the box office successes of Camelot and Church Basement Ladies, The Way Off Broadway Dinner Theatre will continue its 2023 Season this summer with the Broadway classic How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. The toe-tapping musical comedy will open June 23rd and run through August 12th.

How to Succeed . . . began as a book, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying: The Dastard's Guide to Fame and Fortune, by Shepherd Meade, first published in 1952. It was a satiric instruction manual on how to navigate office life and get ahead. The book became a best seller.

In 1955, Jack Weinstock and Willie Gilbert adapted the book into a play. However, it was never produced. Five years later, the creative team behind Guy & Dolls, Abe Burrows and Frank Loesser, joined Weinstock and Gilbert and reworked the play into a musical.

How to Succeed . . . opened at the 46th Street Theatre on Broadway in October 1961 starring Robert Morse as J. Pierrepont Finch, Charles Nelson Riley as Bud Frump, and Rudy Vallee as J.B. Biggley. The show was a hit, with theater critic Walter Kerr saying, "Not a sincere line is spoken in the new Abe Burrows-Frank Loesser musical, and what a relief that is... How to Succeed is crafty, conniving, sneaky, cynical, irreverent, impertinent, sly, malicious, and lovely, just lovely."

The original Broadway production ran for over 1,400 performances, taking home seven Tony Awards - including Best Musical, Best Leading Actor (Morse), Best Featured Actor (Riley), and Best Direction (Abe Burrows), the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award, the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theatre Album.

Six years after its opening in New York, a film version was released starring Morse, Riley, and Vallee in the roles they created on Broadway.

How to Succeed . . . would not be revived on Broadway until 1995 when Matthew Broderick took on the role of Finch with a yet unknown Megan Mullally playing Rosemary. At the Tony Awards that season, the revival saw Broderick win for Best Leading Actor in a Musical. A second revival took to the stage in 2011, starring Daniel Radcliff as Finch and featuring John Larroquette as J.B. Biggley. Larroquette took home the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for his role.

A favorite among theatre-goers, this production marks the first time the show has ever been presented at Way Off Broadway!

Making his WOB debut is Tyler Crean, leading the cast as J. Pierrepont Finch. Joining him on stage will be Emily Signor as Rosemary, Rory Dunn as J.B. Biggley, Paul M. Cabell as Bud Frump, Merissa Joyce Dean as Smitty, and Sarah Melinda as Hedy LaRue. Rounding out the rest of the cast are Justin Barish, Betsey Whitmore Brannen, MacKenzie Brannen, Sean Crean, Raquel Luciano, Zane L. Oberholzer, Jr., Wil Spaeth, and Megan E. West.

How to Succeed . . . has a book by Abe Burrows, Jack Weinstock, and Willie Gilbert, with a score by Frank Loesser. Way Off Broadway's production is directed by Jessica Billones, with choreography by Dee Buchanan and music direction by Jordan B. Stocksdale.

The show will run June 23rd through August 12th, with performances every Friday and Saturday evening and Sunday matinees on the 1st, 3rd, and 5th Sunday of each month. Tickets for dinner and the show on a Friday or Sunday are $55 per person and $59 on a Saturday. To purchase tickets, one should contact the Box Office at (301) 662-6600.

To learn more about How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, or any of Way Off Broadway's productions, visit the theatre's website at www.wayoffbroadway.com.

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