How to Succeed After "Harry"?
Thu, April 15, 2010 So anyone wondering what kind of careers the Harry Potter kids will have once the final film in the series wraps up this year has at least one answer: Playbill is reporting that Harry himself, Daniel Radcliffe, will be returning to the New York stage in a revival of the musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying in 2011.
Radcliffe made his Broadway debut two years ago in Equus (a role he also played in London), and unlike that play, which required his character to get naked and blind horses on stage, he will be tackling something possibly even scarier this time: singing and dancing.
How to Succeed is the story of a window washer, J. Pierrepont Finch, who with the help of the book "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying," learns to sneak his way up the corporate ladder of the World Wide Wickets Corporation in New York City.
The show has a pretty impressive background - it opened on Broadway in 1961, winning seven Tony Awards including Best Musical and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It was revived on Broadway in 1995 starring Matthew Broderick, who won a Tony for his performance.
A private reading of the show was held at Playrights Horizons in New York back in December, starring Radcliffe, David Hyde-Pierce and Michael Urie (Ugly Betty), and according to this report from someone in attendance - Radcliffe's singing & dancing skills are just fine. He even got a hug from Jo Loesser, the widow of How to Succeed's composer, Frank Loesser, when the reading was over.
The only production I've ever seen of this show was a high school production. At the time, I thought it seemed a bit dated. But the 1995 revival was supposed to be really good, and the show definitely has a Mad Men-type feel to it (in fact, the show's original J. Pierrepont Finch, Robert Morse, is currently one of the stars of Mad Men) - so it shouldn't have much of a problem connecting with an audience now, especially with Harry Potter in the lead role.
Since I'm still kicking myself for missing Radcliffe's performance in Equus, which I heard was fantastic, I will definitely be checking this out. As a theater geek, I always find that a lot of actors are at their most awesome when performing on stage, so I can't miss it.
Reader Comments (15)
I saw that play, after seeing him naked I haven't been able to enjoy harry potter at all anymore, his tuq was very distracting
A friend of mine saw Equus in London and wound up sitting in the front row - but she said that scene was so intense that they barely cared about the whole nudity aspect of it.
I had no idea it was coming, I was completely shocked, totall oposite for me, all i could think about was harry potters penis...it scarred me, good play tho
I saw a pic of him nude online, it wasn't that horrible. I can't tell if your being sarcastic Mark? I was however surpsied that he wasn't circumsized, no big deal, just verrrryyy weird to see harry potter nude!
Great article about theatre. But all anyone can talk about is Harry Potters penis? Weird. I saw Equus in 2008, it was actually a great performance by Radcliffe.
I'm sure he'll do great after the Potter Franchise ends. Even if he doesn't, he has a truck load of cash in the bank, he has nothing to be worried about.
Have you ever seen the musical Hair? Nearly entire cast gets naked before the end of Act 1. Just fair warning, in case you're planning a trip.
I saw Hair. Thats another expample of a great play.
There's an awesome video of him performing an Equus spoof (where they turned the show into a musical) at the Gypsy of the Year show in 2008, he can actually sing and dance pretty well:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nFWYsq4sMk&feature=player_embedded
Definitely need to work on his singing a bit, but he's apparently been taking lessons for awhile now.
I'm still mad I never made to Equus when it was in NY (not as mad as realized I missed seeing Hugh Jackman in Oklahoma when I was in London in 1998, but still disappointed), so I'll be seeing this for sure.
He's really talented, I'm psyched to see him opting to do more theater once Harry Potter is finished.
Hair was terrific. I'm seeing American Idiot on Broadway tomorrow night, can't wait.
Why not post a review??
I could...it's not a movie or TV, so I'm not sure it fits. I only posted this because it was Daniel Radcliffe.
You should. I'd like to read it, I'm not sure it matters that its tv or movie. Entertainment is all the same at the end of the day.
Maybe I will. You're doing a great job by the way - you're posting so fast I can barely keep up with you!
Thank you. I slowed down a little bit, I felt like I wasn't leaving enough stories for anyone else. Hopefully you decide to write the review, I look forward to reading it.
Did you check out the reviews I posted today and yesterday? They're maybe not as good as the "Dragon" review, which was great by the way, but they do convey the point I was trying to make accurately.
I'll read that if you post it.