Our sometimes corespondent Blake Devillers had the chance to see Dan Radcliffe this past weekend in one of his performances of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Her review of the Broadway musical (or, rather, more of Dan) is below. See photos of the Playbill from the musical in our gallery here.
She also had the chance to get a sneak peek at Harry Potter: The Exhibition. You can see her write up here.
Theatre Review: H2S
(Note: This is more a review of Dan in the musical, rather than the musical itself)
I like to think of myself as an experienced theatregoer. In fact, I used to be an Equity Stage Manager, so I like to think that I know a little something about theatre and performance. As such, those of us who have worked the backstage areas of that world are often cautious when we have stars as big as Dan Radcliffe and John Larroquette in a show. Yes, they draw in the larger crowds, but you are never really sure if people come to see the actual show or to see the stars.
In my case, I admit to being a bit of both. Curious to see the newest revival of a show I first performed when I was 15 (a high school production, nothing fancy), and saw again with Matthew Broderick and Sara Jessica Parker in 1995. More importantly, I wanted to see Dan sing, dance, and perform comedy. Having seen his brilliant performance in Equus in 2009, I wanted to see if he could once again shrug-off his well-worn wizard’s robes and take on a new persona.
I was pleasantly, giddily, happily surprised! Dan did a terrific job in the role of J. Pierrepont Finch balancing his comic timing off that of the more seasoned comedy of John Larroquette (JB Biggley), who was amazingly making his Broadway debut. Their scenes together were some of the best and had the audience thoroughly engaged and laughing throughout.
There has been a lot of talk in the media about Dan’s ability to dance and sing, but I wasn’t disappointed. He can more than carry a tune and was right on target with some of the more difficult harmonies in the duet ‘Rosemary’ (sung with Rose Hemingway, who plays his love interest Rosemary Pillkington, and who was also making her Broadway debut!).
True, Dan is not an experienced dancer, but the silliness of some of the numbers, along with the character’s personality, lend themselves to the type of dancing he delivered. Director and choreographer, Rob Ashford, used Dan’s strengths and slight build to deliver comical routines that reflected the essence of Dan’s character perfectly. Given that Mr. Larroquette is also no dancer, the two of them worked perfectly together in many of their routines, my favorite of the night being ‘Grand Old Ivy’ where at one point Dan jumped over the 6’2” frame of John Larroquette, who then simply stepped over the much smaller frame, 5’5”, of Dan. Visual comedy was the rule of thumb here and it did not disappoint!
Many of the musical/dance numbers are quite physically demanding, and I was impressed by the sheer stamina of Dan. He is in so many scenes, playing off other seasoned actors. Some of his best moments were against his character’s foible in the play, Bud Frump (played by Christopher J. Hanke). The two of them worked off each other’s timing, delivering one-liners and mugging to the audience to hilarious results.
Throughout the musical, Dan’s character has epiphanies where everything seems to come together in the plot with karmic ease. At these moments, the lights suddenly dim down to a spot on Dan, the sound of bells chime, and he simply turns to the audience and mugs a look that combines mirthful surprise with an ‘I told you so’ eyebrow raise. His timing in these moments is perfect, bringing the audience into the world of the play, making us laugh with camaraderie-like glee.
One can’t help but to look for similarities with his iconic alter ego, Harry Potter. However, other than some boxes and pieces of mail that fly about during the mailroom number, ‘How to Succeed’ (where Dan nearly got hit on the head by one box that was a bit out of control), and a men’s bathroom that rises up out of the floor for the number ‘I Believe in You’ (ala Chamber of Secrets), my mind never wavered in the belief that Dan was J. Pierrepont Finch.
By the end of the show, I could barely contain myself in waiting for the moment when I could stand and give an ovation to this enormously talented cast and crew. The audience initially rose to their feet for Mr. Larroquette, who then graciously stepped aside with a gesture of ‘Thanks, but it’s about to get better’, making way for Dan to take his much deserved bow. If the applause was loud for Mr. Larroquette, it was at least three times louder for Daniel and went on for longer than I have ever experienced.
After their bows, Dan and Mr. Larroquette remained onstage, with Dan gesturing for all of us to sit down. He announced that this performance was dedicated to the charity Broadway Cares: Equity Fights Aids and that donation buckets would be scattered throughout the theatre, along with items for sale (I myself bought an autographed copy of the playbill, which you can see in the photo gallery here!). During this speech, the comedy between Dan and Mr. Larroquette continued with John surprisingly asking ‘You mean, you’re British?’ to Dan. It was the perfect ending to a Broadway experience that left the audience laughing.
The show is now officially open. To get more information on Dan’s performances, and to purchase tickets (including specials for Potter fans), go here!
Thanks very much to Blake for this review!
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