posted on October 15, 2009.
The University of Oklahoma Weitzenhoffer School of Musical Theatre and University Theatre present the musical comedy How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Witty and charming, How To Succeed satirizes big business and everything it holds sacred. Music and lyrics by Frank Loesser, book by Abe Burrows, Jack Weinstock and Willie Gilbert, and based on the book by Shepherd Mead. The musical opens Friday, October 23 at 8 p.m., in the Rupel J. Jones Theatre, 563 Elm Ave., in Norman. The show will continue its run at 8 p.m., October 24, 29-31 and at 3 p.m., October 25 and November 1.
Winner of seven Tony Awards and the 1962 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying is a delightfully irreverent musical that showcases Loesser’s marvelous score and Mead’s crafty book. At the center is J. Pierpont Finch, the most endearingly flawed character ever to scheme his way from window-washer to the top of the corporate ladder. With the book entitled How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying as his corporate guide, Finch finds his ticket to success. At World Wide Wicket Company its power, sex, ambition and greed…just another day at the office. Climbing to top has never been so much fun.
Veteran actor and director Shawn Churchman serves as CEO of the musical. Shawn is Assistant Professor in the School of Musical Theatre. He spent twenty years in New York City, first as an actor then director. Shawn was in one of the original companies of Forever Plaid and was a soloist at both Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall. His regional directing credits include: Naughty Marietta (Utah Festival Opera), Oklahoma! (Augusta Opera), Dames at Sea and The Fantasticks (Hanger Theatre), Little Me and The Big Bang (Oklahoma City Rep), Mame (Cohoes Music Hall), Into the Woods, HMS Pinafore, The Music Man, and The Mystery of Irma Vep among many others. In New York City: The Happy Prince (NYMF ’04), and Along the Way (Fringe Festival ’03). Shawn served as artistic director of Stage One in Wichita KS. His productions of Lend Me a Tenor and The Trip to Bountiful each won six Mary Jane Teal Awards. His liberetto Storyville was developed at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center in 2004.
Choreographer Lyn Cramer is the Weitzenhoffer Endowed Professor of Musical Theatre Dance. Lyn has been a teacher, choreographer and director for more than thirty years. While at OU, Lyn lent her talents to recent University Theatre productions of Baby, Anything Goes, Company, Pal Joey, Urinetown and many more. She directs and choreographs every season for Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma and is at the helm of the Oklahoma City Philharmonic’s Christmas spectacular A Very Merry Pops!
How to Succeed is under the musical direction of Paul Christman. Paul is Associate Professor of Musical Theatre at the University of Oklahoma. His former students have performed in many Broadway productions as well as Disneyland, Disney World, Disney Cruise Lines and Tokyo Disney. With Music Theatre of Wichita, he has been musical director/conductor for twenty-four productions since 1994.
The cast consists of Weitzenhoffer College of Fine Arts students Skyler Adams, Christopher David Allen, Kate Dinsmore, Adrianna Hicks, Shannon Hucker, Andrew Koslow, Ryan Koss, Kristina Love, Emily Luhrs, Michael Maixner, Emily Mechler, Rika Pere, Harry Perrin, Kyle Pressley, Christopher Rice, Jamard Richardson, Lindsay Rae Schwak, Ethan Spell, Chelsea Stavis, Kasey Walker, Curry Whitmire, Ryan Wood.
Other members of the production team include Jessica Pettit, stage manager, Uldarico Sarmiento, scenic designer, Jennifer Cozens, costume designer and Hope Schnick, lighting designer.
Tickets are $25 adult, $22 seniors/OU faculty and staff and $15 students with ID, and can be purchased by calling the Fine Arts College Ticket Service at (405) 325-4101, Monday through Friday, 11:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. The box office is located in the Catlett Music Center, 500 West Boyd. For accommodations on the basis of a disability call (405) 325-4101.