Review: Miten menestyä vaivatta liike-elämässä

While the National Theatre is setting up a dream team, the City Theatre’s autumn musical is about how to get into a big company and get promoted there as easily as possible. In 1952, the American Shepherd Mead wrote a parodic guide on how to succeed effortlessly in business. In the hands of Abe Burrows and composer Frank Loesser, the popular booklet was turned into a successful musical. The work, which has also been seen in Finland, has now been given a fresh look in the hands of director Markku Nenonen. Higher and higher The musical has features of satire. Behind the cheerful music and glowing smiles, there is a lot of slant towards the compulsive syndrome of success and the American dream. The central character, Finch, Antti Lang, is a poor but enterprising young man. He diligently studies Mead’s book and decides to try his luck. The advice in the booklet is naïve and arrogant, but it seems to work. So Finch finds himself in a job interview with a large company without any experience or education. And what does the company do? What does it matter! After all, the most important thing is bureaucracy and hierarchies, the stairs of which are climbed higher and higher. Jani Uljas’ set design opens up as a huge office with valuable wooden panels. The epoch can be seen in old typewriters and desk phones. Elina Kolehmainen’s colorful costumes are genuine and stylish from the 50s and 60s, like from the Mad Men series. Nenonen’s dance choreographies are fun and insightful. There are many kinds of people in the company with whom it is worth staying on good terms. They include the comradely Mr. Bratt, Kari Mattila, the boss of the whole place, Biggley, the excellent Esko Roine, the annoying sloth Frump, Ilkka Forss, and the romantic-hungry Rosemary, Anna Victoria Eriksson. Rosemary plays an important role as a complement to the American dream; After all, a woman must have a man and a man a woman. As the events unfold, the deck will be shuffled by the charming Hedy, the brilliant Kaisa Mattila, through whom we will be able to prove whether it is possible to advance in the company along the thigh, as the saying goes… Rogue-like characters Lang sovereignly makes the most of his rogue-like role. An opportunistic, joking smile flashes every time a plot works and the next step is reached. Roine takes home the points with a lot of professionalism. The support song Vanha tammi (Old Oak), sung with Lang, is absolutely hilarious with its dances and gems of the performance! Forss is an excellent counterbalance as a weak upstart; He is the funny scoundrel of the show. Mattila’s vamp-like but silly character is particularly convincing. The sexy villain is at the same time heartfelt and wins the sympathy of the audience. The 13-piece orchestra led by Risto Kupiainen swings quite well. The songs sounded mostly handsome. The song Kahvittaa has a playful Latin atmosphere. At the same time, the group dances an excellent number in their caffeine cravings. Pungent satire At first, the City Theatre’s musical seems like harmless revelry and worship of capitalism. Underneath the surface, however, the performance is a well-made, pungent satire that has a sharp edge even today. At the end, we sing about loyalty, about how we are “one family” in the company. But the chorus adds a point: “You’ll be fine if you just have a good brother!” That’s a guideline for the business world and why not for the geopolitical situation as well.