This year, the Westfield High School Drama Club put together another fantastic spring musical. They performed the hit musical, “How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying”. Most would shudder at the thought of having to sit through another “old school Broadway play”, where most of the gender roles are completely stereotyped, the musical numbers are cheesy, and the lines delivered with such an exaggerated manner one could almost mistake it for a bad 1950’s B-movie.
However, isn’t that honestly the point? If so, then the WHS Drama Club was able to pull off one amazing performance three nights in a row.
The story, simply put, is that an ambitious young man by the name of J. Pierrepont Finch is reading a book entitled, “How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying“. He then gets a job in the mailroom of the World Wide Wicket Company and follows the instructions given in the book very carefully. As he starts to ascend the ranks of the company he is faced with numerous obstacles, such as having to deal with an annoyingly lazy and nepotistic man named Bud Frump, who is oddly hell-bent on ensuring that Finch stays at his entry-level position. He also constantly tries to use his uncle, the boss of the company J.B. Biggley, to try to become head of the company. Because of this, he comes up with a wicked plan to try to take Finch down.
There were many solid performances by many of the players. Sophomore Austin Welker was able to look for his inner straight man as he played the main character, J. Pierrepont Finch. The always bombastic junior, Peter Kochanek, performed amazingly well as the antagonist, Bud Frump. Both seemed to have good chemistry on stage, as they played off each other’s character traits, making for a very explosive performance by the two.
Other notable actors were senior Lexi Wegiel as the overly sexy, albeit brainless, secretary of Finch, Hedy LaRue. Wegiel seemed to be channeling the spirit of Fran Drescher in her performance, making the character of LaRue not only attractive, but very funny.
The scene stealer, however, was none other than Curran McKenzie, who played boss of the World Wide Wicket Company, J.B. Biggley. The solo scenes where Biggley was talking on the phone were welcome little interludes and, thanks to the clutch performance of McKenzie, were made so much funnier. His performance was boisterous, but not to the point where it felt like exaggeration. It felt very real and thus, very effective.
Another welcome part of the play was the live music directed by WHS band director, Patrick Kennedy. While some schools rely on instrumental recordings for their music, the WHS band was able to perform every song in the play, giving the play that extra something it needed to make it feel like a true Broadway musical.
All in all, “How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” was a great play and an enjoyable experience by all. Expect to see other great performances like these by the WHS Drama Club in the future.
