History Theatre / HowToSucceedInBusinessWithoutReallyTrying

* AffectionateParody: "Rosemary" is one of "Maria" from ''WestSideStory'' -- not only do they sound the same and involve (roughly) the same name, but Finch has the same overreaction that Tony does... without even getting a kiss!

TheMovie version starring Robert Morse, Rudy Vallee, and Sammy Smith (reprising their respective roles of Finch, Mr. Biggly, and Mr. Twimble/Wally Whomper from the Broadway original) came out in '67. The show was revived on Broadway in '95 with Creator/MatthewBroderick as Finch and Creator/WalterCronkite reading the book, for which Broderick won a Lead Actor Tony. Its 50th-anniversary revival in 2011 starred Creator/DanielRadcliffe of ''Film/HarryPotter'' fame. In what may be a CastingGag, Radcliffe was replaced by Creator/DarrenCriss, of ''Series/{{Glee}}'' and ''Theatre/AVeryPotterMusical'', in January 2012 for a two-week run, to be replaced again by NickJonas.

TheMovie version starring Robert Morse, Rudy Vallee, and Sammy Smith (reprising their respective roles of Finch, Mr. Biggly, and Mr. Twimble/Wally Whomper from the Broadway original) came out in '67. The show was revived on Broadway in '95 with Creator/MatthewBroderick as Finch and Creator/WalterCronkite reading the book, for which Broderick won a Lead Actor Tony. Its 50th-anniversary revival in 2011 starred Creator/DanielRadcliffe of ''Film/HarryPotter'' fame. In what may be a CastingGag, Radcliffe was replaced by DarrenCriss, of ''Series/{{Glee}}'' and ''AVeryPotterMusical'', in January 2012 for a two-week run, to be replaced again by NickJonas.

The story starts out with a kid named J. Pierrepont Finch, a window-washer at the World Wide Wicket company (no, that's not a StealthPun, this was TheSixties). He's reading from the eponymous book, quotes from which are often provided by a disembodied Narrator. After a CrashIntoHello with the president of the company, Finch gets a proper job. Now, with only advice from the book, {{Indy Ploy}}s and a TwinkleSmile to aid him, Finch must work his way up the corporate ladder, with the help and/or opposition of (amongst others): Bud Frump, nephew of WWW current president J.B. Biggley; FemmeFatale Hedy [=LaRue=], who is having an affair with Biggley but causes [[HelloNurse instant attraction]] from just about any male character; Rosemary Pilkington, his LoveInterest; and his own plans and schemes, which have a tendency to [[GoneHorriblyRight Go Horribly Right]].

TheMovie version starring Robert Morse, Rudy Vallee, and Sammy Smith (reprising their respective roles of Finch, Mr. Biggly, and Mr.Twimble/Wally Whomper from the Broadway original) came out in '67. The show was revived on Broadway in '95 with Creator/MatthewBroderick as Finch and Creator/WalterCronkite reading the book, for which Broderick won a Lead Actor Tony. Its 50th-anniversary revival in 2011 starred Creator/DanielRadcliffe of ''Film/HarryPotter'' fame. In what may be a CastingGag, Radcliffe was replaced by DarrenCriss, of ''Series/{{Glee}}'' and ''AVeryPotterMusical'', in January 2012 for a two week run, to be replaced again by NickJonas.

* AffectionateParody: "Rosemary" is one of "Maria" from ''WestSideStory''--not only do they sound the same and involve (roughly) the same name, but Finch has the same overreaction that Tony does... without even getting a kiss!
%% * AllMusicalsAreAdaptations

* BasedOnAnAdviceBook: Well, [[FauxToGuide sort of.]]

* BettyAndVeronica: Rosemary and Hedy for Finch
%% * BookEnds
* BrainlessBeauty: Hedy [=LaRue=]
* BrickJoke: Venezuela. When the head of Finch's department, Mr. Gatch, is caught with Hedy and Finch takes over the office, someone calls and asks where Gatch went. Finch replies that he's been transferred to an out-of-town office, and concludes the call with "Venezuela!". And when Hedy corners him in J.B.'s office, she hits on him says that he's going places, to which he replies, "yeah, Venezuela!"

%% * CannotTellALie: Hedy
%% * {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Rosemary

%% * CrowdSong
%% * DanceLine

* FemmeFatale: Hedy
* FirstGirlWins: Rosemary
* FootballFightSong: "Grand Old Ivy", sung by Finch and Biggly as Finch is pretending he went to Biggly's alma mater.
* FourthDateMarriage: Slightly justified, since it is the sixties, but still. Finch realizes he's in love with Rosemary and proposes to her on the spot. Of course, then it's then subverted by Hedy showing up and Rosemary leaving Finch almost immediately, so... (Of course, then that's subverted by Rosemary coming back in to chase Hedy off and kisses Finch again.)

* GoldDigger: All of the women, as exemplified by "Cinderella, Darling"
* GospelRevivalNumber: "Brotherhood Of Man"
* GrandeDame: Mr. Biggly's secretary, Miss Jones, has some affinities with the type.

* ManipulativeBastard: '''''FINCH'''''. And also Frump, but he's...[[SmugSnake not]] [[ButtMonkey quite]] as successful.

* {{Meganekko}}: Smitty
* MickeyMousing: "Gotta Stop That Man"

* {{Nepotism}}: Budd Frump; bonus points for actually being a nephew (the root of the word "nepotism")
* NonActorVehicle: both played straight and ''inverted''. The role of Finch involves as much acting as singing, not to mention some dancing, and skill in one can compensate for lack of ability in the other. This is part of why it's a popular show for high-school theatre (or amongst film actors trying to break into Broadway).

%% * RepeatWhatYouJustSaid
* RhythmTypewriter: "A Secretary Is Not A Toy"

%% * SexySecretary

* SillyLoveSongs: Every Broadway musical is required to include at least one, and this show's silly love is "I Believe In You"; it's sung twice, first by J. Pierrepont Finch [[AcquiredSituationalNarcissism to himself]], and then by Rosemary as a pep talk when it looks like everything has gone wrong and J. Pierpont is probably going to get fired.
* StepfordSmiler: Rosemary looks like she's going to become one (see her EstablishingCharacterMoment, "Happy To Keep His Dinner Warm"). This is clearly played for laughs. It's a tongue-in-cheek portrayal of a 60's housewife.

* ValuesDissonance: [[invoked]] Invoked and {{Lampshaded}} in a recent Broadway production. When some of the misogyny was booed, Alan Cumming snapped to the audience, "Hey, it was TheFifties!" That ThrowItIn line became used in every performance of the run since.

TheMovie version starring Robert Morse, Rudy Vallee, and Sammy Smith (reprising their respective roles of Finch, Mr. Biggly, and Mr.Twimble/Wally Whomper from the Broadway original) came out in '67. The show was revived on Broadway in '95 with Creator/MatthewBroderick as Finch and Creator/WalterCronkite reading the book, for which Broderick won a Lead Actor Tony. Its 50th-anniversary revival in 2011 starred DanielRadcliffe of ''Film/HarryPotter'' fame. In what may be a CastingGag, Radcliffe was replaced by DarrenCriss, of ''Series/{{Glee}}'' and ''AVeryPotterMusical'', in January 2012 for a two week run, to be replaced again by NickJonas.

* AllMusicalsAreAdaptations

* BasedOnAnAdviceBook

* BookEnds

* CannotTellALie: Hedy
* {{Cloudcuckoolander}}: Rosemary

* CrowdSong
* DanceLine

* FavouritismFlipFlop
* FauxToGuide

* ManipulativeBastard: '''''FINCH'''''. And also Frump, but he's...[[SmugSnake not]] [[ButtMonkey quite]] as sucessful.

** Specifically, the orchestra imitates the sound of an electic razor by playing the tune ''on kazoos.''

* TheMusical

* {{Nepotism}}

* [[ReassignedToAntarctica Reassigned To Venuzuela]]: The fate of anyone whom Mr. Biggley finds with Hedy.
* RepeatWhatYouJustSaid

* SexySecretary

* ShoutOut: Hedy Larue in the 2010 revivial looks quite a bit like another [[Series/MadMen gorgeous redhead secretary from the same time period]]...

* StepfordSmiler: Rosemary looks like she's going to become one (see her EstablishingCharacterMoment, "Happy To Keep His Dinner Warm"). This is clearly played for laughs. It's a tongue and cheek portrayal of a 60's housewife.

* TwinkleSmile

* ShoutOut: Hedy Larue in the 2010 revivial looks quite a bit like another [[MadMen gorgeous redhead secretary from the same time period]]...

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/HowToSucceed_1234.jpg]]

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/HowToSucceed_1234.jpg

* FootballFightSong: "Grand Old Ivy"

* InformedAttractiveness: Hedy. Or not, depending on who's playing her.

* ValuesDissonance: {{Lampshaded}} in a recent Broadway production. When some of the misogyny was booed, Alan Cumming snapped to the audience, "Hey, it was TheFifties!" That ThrowItIn line became used in every performance of the run since.

TheMovie version starring Robert Morse, Rudy Vallee, and Sammy Smith (reprising their respective roles of Finch, Mr. Biggly, and Mr.Twimble/Wally Whomper from the Broadway original) came out in '67. The show was revived on Broadway in '95 with Creator/MatthewBroderick as Finch and WalterCronkite reading the book, for which Broderick won a Lead Actor Tony. Its 50th-anniversary revival in 2011 starred DanielRadcliffe of ''Film/HarryPotter'' fame. In what may be a CastingGag, Radcliffe was replaced by DarrenCriss, of {{Glee}} and AVeryPotterMusical, in January 2012 for a two week run, to be replaced again by NickJonas.

* RoleAssociation: The 2011 production. Go to this show and just listen to the crowd reaction when [[Film/HarryPotter Harry Freakin' Potter]] first enters the stage.

* BobFosse: Someone else was hired, but proved insufficient. Fosse did the work basically unacknowledged because taking credit would have imploded the other guy's career.

* LyndonJohnson: In the film version, when Rosemary tells Ponty that she doesn't care if he ends up as a window-washer or President of the United States, there is a quick cut to Ponty washing the windows of the White House, and leaning in to say (with a significant grin), "Good morning, Mr. President," to a Johnson-lookalike.

* HeyItsThatGuy: Robert Morse, the original Ponty, plays Bert Cooper on the likewise business-oriented ''MadMen''.
** Not to mention [[DanielRadcliffe Harry]] [[Film/HarryPotter Potter]] ([[CastingGag and later]] [[DarrenCriss Harry]] [[AVeryPotterMusical Potter]]) starring in the 2011 revival.

* NonActorVehicle: both played straight and ''inverted''. The role of Finch involves as much acting as singing, and skill in one can compensate for lack of ability in the other.

* [[ReassignedToAntarctica Reassigned To Venuzuela]]: The fate of anyone whom Mr. Biggley finds with Hedy

** Not to mention [[DanielRadcliffe Harry]] [[HarryPotter Potter]] ([[CastingGag and later]] [[DarrenCriss Harry]] [[AVeryPotterMusical Potter]]) starring in the 2011 revival.

* RoleAssociation: The 2011 production. Go to this show and just listen to the crowd reaction when [[HarryPotter Harry Freakin' Potter]] first enters the stage.

* FourthDateMarriage: Slightly justified, since it is the sixties, but still. Finch realizes he's in love with Rosemary and proposes to her on the spot. Of course, then it's then subverted by Hedy showing up and Rosemary leaving Finch almost immediately, so...

* FourthDateMarriage: Slightly justified, since it is the sixties, but still. Finch realizes he's in love with Rosemary and proposes to her on the spot.

TheMovie version starring Robert Morse, Rudy Vallee, and Sammy Smith (reprising their respective roles of Finch, Mr. Biggly, and Mr.Twimble/Wally Whomper from the Broadway original) came out in '67. The show was revived on Broadway in '95 with MatthewBroderick as Finch and WalterCronkite reading the book, for which Broderick won a Lead Actor Tony. Its 50th-anniversary revival in 2011 starred DanielRadcliffe of ''Film/HarryPotter'' fame. In what may be a CastingGag, Radcliffe was replaced by DarrenCriss, of {{Glee}} and AVeryPotterMusical, in January 2012 for a two week run, to be replaced again by NickJonas.

* ShallowLoveInterest: Rosemary