How To Succeed At A Musical...

Last night, I went to my little sis', Sarah, musical How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying. As usual, the kids at Alburnett High School did an excellent job. Merrick, playing the lead of Mr. Finch just takes any role & runs with it. His facial expressions are priceless. I have to say I've enjoyed all the musicals they put on twice a year.

Sarah plays Miss Jones, the big boss' secretary. For her interpretation of the role, she adopted a heavy German accent, a mean snarling sneer on her face & a loud stomp when she walked. OK, I *realize* that's not the character as it was written. However, we're talking about a 5'2", 100lb high school girl here. The fact she pulled intimidating off was pretty impressive to me. I would have hated it if her character got in my face. Somehow, someone who's small & overly assertive is more intimidating than a bigger person.


The play ran about 3 hours, with a 20-minute intermission. I thought it flew by. Among the highlights were Hedy LaRue (Dana Kuehl). She got the ditzy part of the character & had fun with it. She was so dolled up that I didn't recognize her at all. Sam Baier played the big boss, J.B. Biggley. Nice, understated success for him in that role. Understated may be a bit off considering his booming voice but he did manage to almost steal the show with his less-than-obvious humor (in addition to being a world-class knitter). Smitty (Mackenzie Reed) really showed a lot of energy for the part. Probably pound for pound for pound the best actor on the stage. She doted as an excellent foil between Finch (Merrick Robinson) & Rosemary Pilkington (Cassidy LeClaire). The young lady portraying Rosemary put a ton of emotion into the role & took an initially conniving character into a more innocent person by end of the second act. I actually liked that quite a bit. Honestly, as most characters develop they tend towards disillusionment or corruption.


Great job to the entire cast. Congratulations to all of them for a great show!



***UPDATE***
Sarah e-mailed me the cast list. Here's the acknowledgements:

J. Pierrepont Finch.......Merrick Robinson
Cassidy LeClaire..........Rosemary Pilkington
Mackenzie Reed...........Smitty
Kyle Loux.......................Bud Frump
Dana Kuehl....................Hedy LaRue
Sam Baier.....................J.B. Biggley
Kyle Francios................Wally Womper/Janitor
Sarah George...............Miss Jones
Billy Meiners..................Mr. Bratt
Dugan Knoll...................Mr. Twimble
Caleb Carver.................Mr. Gatch