Actor mines corporate world for comedy in Marriott's 'How to Succeed'
As an associate artist for Chicago's TimeLine Theatre, Deerfield actor Terry Hamilton has built a reputation for serious dramatic roles. Now he gets to show off his comic chops as corporate boss J.B. Biggley in the Marriott Theatre in Lincolnshire's new production of “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.”
“Biggley is way over the top, and it's a very funny satire about business life,” Hamilton said of the Pulitzer Prize-winning 1961 musical comedy.
Hamilton won a Jeff Award for starring in TimeLine's production of the classic Broadway musical “Fiorello!” Yet his other TimeLine credits are typically more serious, ranging from Beethoven in “33 Variations” to ex-President Richard Nixon in “Frost/Nixon.”
Hamilton credits award-winning director Rachel Rockwell for nudging him to take on more musical theater work out in the suburbs. The two met when Rockwell directed Hamilton as CEO Kenneth Lay in TimeLine's acclaimed 2012 Chicago premiere of the docudrama “Enron.”
“We got to know each other there, and (Rockwell) kept saying 'I'm going to call you in for musicals' and I kept turning her down,” Hamilton said. “Finally I thought, well, that's rude and I can't keep on turning her down, so she cast me in a couple of musicals.”
Rockwell directed Hamilton in his respective Drury Lane Theatre and Marriott Theatre debuts in “Billy Elliot” and “October Sky,” both in 2015. Hamilton is glad that Marriott has invited him back to appear in “How to Succeed.”
Hamilton is amazed that the musical's songwriter Frank Loesser and book writers Abe Burrows, Jack Weinstock and Willie Gilbert could find inspiration from Shepherd Mead's satirical self-help book - which gave the show its notoriously long title.
And Marriott's cast includes a tie to that original team.
“The director, Don Stephenson, is actually Frank Loesser's son-in-law,” Hamilton said. “So he has a real connection with this play. He's also an actor - he appeared on Broadway as Leo Bloom in 'The Producers' - so this guy knows comedy like Stephen Hawking knows physics.”
“How to Succeed” stars Ari Butler in his Marriott debut as J. Pierrepont Finch, a juicy leading-man role previously played on Broadway by the likes of Robert Morse in the 1960s, Matthew Broderick in 1995 and Daniel Radcliffe in 2011. Finch is an amiable conniver who schemes his way up the corporate ladder at the fictitious World Wide Wicket Company, Inc.
Along the way, Finch encounters lots of potential career-ending distractions. They come in the forms of husband-hunting secretary Rosemary Pilkington (Jessica Naimy), interoffice rival Bud Frump (Alex Goodrich), brusque secretary Miss Jones (Tony Award-nominee Felicia P. Fields) and Biggley's shapely mistress Hedy LaRue (Angela Ingersoll).
When “How to Succeed” was first revived on Broadway, the show came in for some criticism for its dated, pre-feminist worldview - especially with songs like “Happy to Keep His Dinner Warm” and “A Secretary is not a Toy.”
“Don's approach to the material is to satirize that,” Hamilton said. “Let's laugh at it and say, 'Wow, look at how far we've come, look at how far the ethics and morals involved then and when compared to now.'”
“How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying”
Location: Marriott Theatre, 10 Marriott Drive, Lincolnshire, (847) 634-0200 or
Showtimes: Previews run Wednesday, Aug. 24, through Sunday, Aug. 28. Official opening 8 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 31. Regular run: 1 and 8 p.m. Wednesday, 8 p.m. Thursday and Friday, 4:30 and 8 p.m. Saturday, 1 and 5 p.m. Sunday. Runs through Oct. 16.
Tickets: $50-$55; senior and student discounts available. Dinner packages available for select performances.