Commentary on How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying by Frank Loesser

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Does it truly take a lot of work to make it in the workforce or can you just used charm and wit to get high up in a company? This very idea is explored in how to How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying. The play is about starting from the bottom and getting to the top of a big corporation without having to do real work. Based in the early 1960’s in New York City the plot follow J. Pierrepont Finch starts off as a window washer who has a book about making it the business world. He ends up in getting an entry level job at World Wide Wicketts Corporate Headquarters working in their mail room. He uses a book to help him reach higher positions in the office without really having to try. The play show cases his success, trials and how the things he does affect the company throughout the play.
While many characters can be the protagonist or even the antagonist in this play I feel that the Protagonist of How to Succeed… is J. Pierrepont Finch who is played by Ben Fisher because the situations and setting focuses in on him and the other characters all connect directly to him in some way; on the other hand the protagonist would be trying to make it in the big leagues of business without trying. You can see this in the way there is interaction between Finch and other characters. For example Finch starts off working in the mailroom with Bud Frump played by Zeke Bennett and Twimble played by Anthony Conley-O’Donnell. When Twimble gets promoted he offers his job Finch who turns to his book for the answer which leads to him moving higher up in the company to working as a clerk. As Finch rises in the company his love connection with Rosemary who is played by Natasha Gutterud begins to grow. Yet, Finch is still more focused on getting t...

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...od out because he used charm and just the book to advance in the company. I think young adults and adults who are into economics, how companies work or even realistic plays would like the production that was put. It was simple and gave across a clear point. I think that people who grew up in the sixties and worked during the time period would enjoy the play. I feel that they would have a different understanding of it because they grew up in the time period and lived through what was going. Over all the play head a straight forward point that in my opinion put J. Pierrepont Finch as the protagonist because everything revolved around him, he had a simple objective and every set or choice he made effect something or someone. Whereas the antagonist was reaching high positions in the company because that was the main thing that was in Finch is way at achieving his goal.

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