How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying (Hayes) ★★½

Book by Abe Burrows, Jack Weinstock, Willie Gilbert. Music and Lyrics by Frank Loesser. Based on How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying by Shepherd Mead. Presented by LPD Productions in association with Hayes Theatre Co. Hayes Theatre. 28 Aug-27 Sep, 2026.

It’s won the Tony. It’s won the Pulitzer. It’s a classic comic satire of the rise of corporate culture and the smoke & mirrors that disguise the hollow fictions of capitalism – skewering the business charlatans who scam their way into positions of power, maybe even politics. It’s a show that could speak to the modern world with a wink and smile. But the new production of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying opts for a shallow, simple reading.

J. Pierrepont Finch (Jake Speer), a window-washer seeking to improve his prospects, starts reading the self-help book, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, giving him step-by-step tips on how to rise up the corporate ladder. Through a mix of cunning, gumption, and good timing, Finch manages to run rings around his boss J.B. Biggley (Simon Burke), his corporate rival Bud Frump (Max MacDonald), and the girls in the secretarial pool. But surely someone will see through his fakery? Right?

The cast is stacked with hidden treasures lurking in the ensemble, doing great work in smaller roles. Georgia Laga’aia has fast become my favourite Laga’aia for her knock-out vocals as the show’s love interest Rosemary Pilkington. She’s joined by Noni McCallum’s Miss Jones and Stacey Thomsett’s Smitty – two side roles given oodles of character and charm.

Christine Mutton’s costumes are a real stand out, hitting the bold colours and cuts of the era with flare. Dominic Foffani’s set is impressive, but suffers from a lack of practicality – the scene changes are a clunky rush of furniture rearranging that gives the show a heaviness that fights the breezy comedy.

I’ll be frank, this is simply not the kind of musical theatre I enjoy, and while it shows signs of how the medium would change over the 60s – growing deeper, telling more complex stories – How to Succeed succeeds in simply being twee and quaint. Cute 60s sit-com touches, and funny songs can only get you so far.

I just couldn’t warm to the lead character of Finch, despite Jake Speer’s performance. A character of no redeeming qualities, whose finest point is that he’s not as bad as the other male characters. It’s a low bar. And without that investment, the show’s nearly three-hour running time was keenly felt.

While not a failure on any technical level, this is a failure of ambition. In an age ruled by corporate & political charlatans who hide behind a technocratic illusion, the lessons of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying are a little tone deaf.