Nick Jonas & Michael Urie in HOW TO SUCCEED... Thoughts? — Page 3

I have to say, I was there myself and well...I was honestly disappointed with Darren Criss in the role and his performance.

Beau Bridges, I can't even talk about. He was a hot mess. Vocally poor, in terms of acting, so poor, no energy, no acting going on, more a concentrated effort to remember lines...he wasn't funny or entertaining or enjoyable at all. There was a point he flubbed a line and couldn't get back on track and tried to 'save it' by literally saying "we got a lot of...we got....we got a lot of stuff here..." and looked at Michael Park I think and was like "what do you think?" and let him kind of save him and paraphrase the line back at him. It was pretty tragic. And I have no beef with Beau Bridges prior to this, I think he's fine, but he has no place being in this show. As a previos poster said, without the charm that Dan and John brought, things like Grand Old Ivy were just like "God, when will it end?!" - and I remember really enjoying that number when I saw the show over Labor Day weekend!

Back to Darren, yes, he is talented and I am a fan of his still and think he's quite incredible at many things, but I found his interpretation of the role, to be frank with no intention of being rude, quite boring. Considering his history and training (he grew up doing musicals in San Fran and went on to be a Theatre major at University of Michigan), I was shocked that he does not seem fit for the stage. What I saw was a man playing Finch for film. And even if that were the case, I'd still be bored by his performance. Lackluster is the word that comes to mind. Forgettable. Unfortunate that people have to pay so much to see a good high school performance of the role more-or-less.

I was pleasantly surprised over Labor Day weekend seeing Daniel Radcliffe in the role with the way he played it and how great he was on the stage - more than anything, he was always giving 110% and had such a great energy (I remember watching him and turning to my friend saying "wow...is it me or is he like, hardcore working his a$$ off?!"), and he found a great quality of Finch where he is manipulative yet you are still charmed by him and rooting for him (a 'Harold Hill' quality, if you will). He was truly a leading man driving the entire show (at least by the time I saw it after he'd been in the role for quite some time) backed by an amazing cast; not the case with Darren. He played the role as more of the straight man - very naive as opposed to finding that Harold Hill quality in Finch. All the things that happen to this character due to his ambition and cunning were played more like "oh man, look at my luck!" as if he'd accidentally fallen upon good fortune rather than "yup, I planned that - now I'm gonna go back to playing naive and keep up my manipulation of this entire situation" (I'm speaking most specifically of the blackout moments with the pinspot on Finch whenever he manipulates a situation and feigns ignorance). I never believed he had orchestrated anything that happened to him. He played it as if he had accidentally tripped into puddles of sunshine; as if everything was happening around him and he was trying to keep up with it; he wasn't driving the show, the situations...he was just kind of there, reacting to everything very safely in his acting choices.

And there were scenes you could see the people Darren or Beau were on stage with do something and then just kind of drop it after it hung in the air for a moment and wasn't picked up or reacted to by Criss or Bridges. It made me sad to see those moments particularly.

Criss was great with the dancing I thought, and sounded...fine, but honestly his voice is much too thin for broadway - at least for this role; maybe more of a pop musical would work for him in the future - having seem him live in several things, I have to say that he sings MUCH better than this role showcases for him vocally.

I just expected him to really blow it out of the water considering his background in theatre and am still shocked by how unimpressive he was.

I'm hoping that he was just nervous or it was early and he was afraid to take risks or something. I really do hope he's better than the performance he gave on Tuesday night. Still a fan and rooting for him, but I'm not going to be one of those fans that thinks he can do no wrong. He wasn't anything impressive and almost feels miscast in the role. I hope he gets better though or that, next time he's on Broadway, it's in a role that is more suited for him and really shows his strengths. He's much more talented than his performance in this role shows.

Also, it broke my musical theatre soul a little to hear all the tweens laughing and loving every little thing he did, even when he gave poor deliveries of certain things that are supposed to be charming or funny. They were just handing it to him, all he had to do was show up. C'mon people - have some kind of standards please...

And after one of the numbers (I think Rosemary) some girl in the house left box shouted something like "I love you Darren" just as the applause was dying down. The people around me that were old enough to drink at least were like "she needs taken out and shot. Enolugh already." Lots of people around us were being shushed cause they were giggling and being ridiculous over every little thing he did, there were girls crying at merely being in his presence (I WISH I was making that up), the phraes "he's so cute!" was overheard by me far too often after he'd say something in the show (after he'd say ANYthing in the sohw) ...it's gotten out of control the all out worship of him. He is talented. He is kind of adorable. But he is not the second coming, nor is he great in this show, in this role. Far from it from what I saw Tuesday night. Yeesh.

Just know if you go that it's a rough audience to be in due to the teenagers and they're worship of the D-Criss.

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I much preferred Criss's vocals, as well as his interpretation of the role. He had a more slimy personality, which /i think fits Finch better than Radcliffe's more earnest acting. I'm sure the mistakes will get better over time, too bad he doesn't have very long.

Over time? He's in this for three weeks, guys. Stop using that as an excuse for him not being great.

He didn't "only have two weeks to learn the lines". He knew MONTHS AGO he was doing the part. I'm sure they gave him a script.

I've worked in summer stock where you have ONE WEEK of rehearsal. You come in the first day with your lines already memorized.

^Once again, I'll just stress: I wouldn't let the reviews on here discourage you too much if you know you like Darren. I'll wait to see him myself before I say anything else, but all I know is that on Glee, too, there are people who think he's terrible, and I enjoy him greatly, so it's all a matter of personal taste.

Maybe you'll find you really don't like his take on it after all, but at least try going in with an open mind and see for yourself, if it was something you were interested in seeing to begin with.

This is my outlook in general, not just with Darren. I think putting too much stock in other peoples' negative opinions can sometimes cause people to discard something they might otherwise have really enjoyed.


(For the record, if I remember correctly weren't quite a few people on here pretty harsh on Dan at first too? Maybe not, but I thought I remembered him not getting a great reception on here either until a bit later)

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Updated On: 1/5/12 at 03:08 PM

I have to agree that Criss's voice was very thin and not well-suited for the role. However, I liked his interpretation of Finch very much. I wouldn't use the word "slimy" to describe how he played it, as I found him more innocent and agreeable, particularly in the first act. I know that I'm in the minority here, but I enjoyed Bridges' performance acting-wise (singing-wise it was atrocious), although I wish he had a better grasp on remembering his lines, his ultimate downfall.

In regards to the fangirls, all I can say is wow. Exiting the theater itself involved a tremendous amount of skill due to the mob of screaming girls gathering right outside the doors. Also, Jane Lynch was in the audience last night, and her presence caused pandemonium during intermission with girls screaming and people in the mezzanine running to peek over the balcony, desperately trying to catch a glimpse of her. It was madness.

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My outlook on limited-engagement star casting has always been this- if you wanted to see How to Succeed and you didn't like Darren, you got to see a show that still has a lot of strong things going for it but was missing a leading man that pulled it all together. If you wanted to see Darren Criss, you get that- he's a likeable and charismatic performer, if a bit miscast according to reviews. Seeing him in the show is not the sort of thing that will make you hate him or the show itself.

But if you're going in to see if Darren Criss is the definitive Finch, in the definitive production of H2$, you're more than likely not going to find that.

I saw a Wednesday afternoon performance of Hugh Jackman Back on Broadway just before Christmas. He talked too much to the audience, and even his singing and dancing was not as good as expected. Ok, it was well into the run & he was probably tired.

Because it was Wednesday afternoon, middle aged women made up most of the audience. The female Darren Criss fans could not have been more annoying than the female Hugh Jackman fans. They laughed at every joke and applauded very loudly after every song. I ask several women why, the answer: "We just love Hugh!"

It's just such a shame that hardly anybody has gone to see HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING. They've gone to see Daniel Radcliffe or Datren Criss, not one of the great shows written for the musical theater.

Jordan, I agree with you but at the same time, that seems to be the way it is for many/most revivals nowadays. (And I guess it's not only a new thing, not sure how many people went to see the original musical for Robert Morse but surely some did, not to mention other shows that became hits because people went to see a performer over the show--of course it's worse now, and more often about a non theatre performer, but it's not a uniquely modern situation).

I'm outside the theater now waiting for rush seats next Wednesday.

I ask several women why, the answer: "We just love Hugh!"

I love it when people survey random audience members.

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