Review: Miten menestyä vaivatta liike-elämässä
A young man J. Pierrepont Finch (Antti Lang) bursts into the skyscraper office, which is overtly reminiscent of Mad Men , and manages to make his way towards the CEO’s stool and even a little past him. However, he does not do it outright ruthlessly, but only “ethically flexible”.
JP Finch is easily successful in business life and in the Helsinki City Theatre’s new musical this autumn because he manages to keep the audience on his side because of his virtue. He uses wit, efficient information gathering and puts himself in the company of the right people at just the right time. In that sense, JP Finch is clearly more musical-worthy than, for example, Wall Street’s Gordon Gekko or the all-time conspirator, House of Cards ‘ Frank Underwood.
Kind cousins of advertising men
The story is based on Shepherd Mead’s How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1952), which has achieved success for several decades alternately as a musical and a film. The connection to Mad Men is not too far-fetched, because in the 1960s Broadway version, the role of Finch was played by Robert Morse, whose last roles are in Cooper Mad Men.
According to the script, at the time of the book’s publication, rags to riches stories were popular, but those who are clearly successful by any means speak to them even today. However, Finch’s kind of clear-headedness is a thing of the past, and now the stories are home to genuinely contradictory conspirators.
Fortunately, however, Markku Nenoneno has brought to the musical, which leans strongly towards the past, lively side characters and lightness, which is born from many ingredients and experts. It can be found in the modernised texts by Reita Lounatvuori and Ilkka Talasranta, in the spectacularly and skilfully executed crowd scenes (crowned by Minä seuran sua) and in the music, which, in the instruments of the big band led by Risto Kupiainen, creates an electrifying, even slightly sexy atmosphere throughout the musical.
Perfectly stylish
As a result, the retro spirit cherished in style in the direction and execution transforms the old-fashioned nature of the story into nostalgia. So the puffed-up role settings of secretaries and male bosses who covet them, or the quiet satisfaction of white-collar workers with ridiculous paperwork, don’t really make me so anxious.
Instead, Markku Nenonen makes the audience laugh at Iikka Forssin’s “office rat” Bud Frump or Leenamari Unhon’s Miss Jones, who flashes her exuberant femininity from under her hard shell. The delicious excesses in the dance scenes (e.g. Walruses vs. Seals) or the jokingly highlighting of the characters’ small quirks are just right.
Antti Lang’s performance in the lead role as JP Finch is actually reminiscent of JP Finch’s performance in the play. Lang comes, treats and wins. He is suitably smooth-cheeked, seems to have excellent self-esteem, is interested in his own skills and thus his success, and seems to do everything effortlessly. It’s hardly a bad thing to consider whether Lang is more like Daniel Radcliffe or Tom Cruise. However, he probably sings better than either of them.