How to Succeed In Business Without Really Trying
is based on a 1952 book
by Shepherd Mead. The book is written as a set of instructions to the reader
and it is meant to satirize self-help books. The musical adaptation of
How to
Succeed in Business
is also recognized as a
satire
.
DEFINING SATIRE
• A satire is a work of art that exposes human shortcomings (e.g. vices,
abuses, injustices).
• It usually makes extensive use of humor—including forms of ridicule,
irony, parody, and caricature. (Elliot, 2004)
• Many satires are written as a way to inspire social reform or to change
society in a positive way.
• To
satirize
something is to attack or ridicule it through satire.
SATIRE IN YOUR WORLD
What are other examples of satire that you can recognize in popular
culture (TV, blogs, movies, theater)?
What does
How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
satirize?
What changes do the authors hope to see in society? Support your answer
with specific examples from the musical.
What kind of change do
you
want to see—in your community, society,
or our country? If you were asked to create a satire, what issue would
you want to satirize?
Elliott, Robert C (2004),“The nature of satire”, Encyclopædia Britannica.
“[FINCH] smiles out front. NOTE:This smile is the first of several that Finch uses throughout the show.These smiles are very important.They are
communications between Finch and the audience.They tell the audience when Finch has successfully worked one of his ploys.The smile is a gentle,
Mona Lisa smile. It should look like a cat that just swallowed a canary and is happy about it.”
– Stage directions, Act 1, Scene 2
How to succeed in SATIRE ...
FRANK
LOESSER
by Albert Evans
It takes many kinds of people to create a musical, but a show’s composer and lyricist is especially
responsible for its character and legacy. The man who is responsible for the music and songs of
How to
Succeed
also takes credit for many beloved songs that are still performed around the world—including a
holiday song that you may have heard before…
F
rank Loesser was a short,
pugnacious tough guy who
peppered his speech with
New York street slang and carried
himself like one of the lovable
hoodlums from his own musical
Guys and Dolls
. Meeting him, you
might assume he was a lower-class
denizen of the outer boroughs,
someone who had worked his way
up the show-biz ladder driven by
hunger and chutzpah.
But if Frank took you home to meet
the folks, you would enter a cultured
Manhattan residence and shake
hands with his father, a well-known
professor of music; his mother,
who gave lectures on modern
literature; and his older stepbrother,
a renowned concert pianist. Frank
was the outlier of the family — not
exactly a black sheep, but the son
who chose a different path and
created a persona to match.
Loesser joined the Air Force in World
War II, and wrote morale-boosting
songs like“Praise the Lord and Pass
the Ammunition”— one of the first
hits for which he wrote both words
and music. Others would follow,
including“Baby, It’s Cold Outside,” a
song he had written to perform with
his wife at Hollywood parties.
1950 saw the debut of the long-
running
Guys and Dolls
, one of
Broadway’s undisputed classics.
After a return to Hollywood to write
the charming songs for the movie
musical
Hans Christian Andersen
,
Loesser wrote the score and the
book for
The Most Happy Fella
, a
deeply-felt drama of near-operatic
scope, followed by a delicate
and now nearly-forgotten fantasy,
Greenwillow
. In 1961
How to
Succeed in Business Without Really
Trying
would round out his Broadway
career with another long-running
smash.The show went on to win
seven Tony
®
Awards and the Pulitzer
Prize for Drama.
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