"From its rousing overture until the evangelical 'Brotherhood of Man,' which brings the evening to a foot-stomping end, 'How to Succeed' is very nearly a nonstop delight."
-NY Times
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Marcia Milgrom Dodge is directing "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" at UCLA's Freud Playhouse. (Photo Credit: Gary Friedman, Los Angeles Times / May 11, 2010)
Marcia Milgrom Dodge was trying to get some sleep; the director-choreographer had only five days to stage the new Reprise Theatre Company production of "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying." But at 5:45 am Pacific time, Dodge's husband called to tell her she'd received a nomination for best direction of a musical for "Ragtime." She was astonished.
"I'm floating," Dodge says. "It's a dream come true."
J. Pierrepont Finch, the wily young hero of "Succeed," rises to the top of the Worldwide Widget Co. in mere days. For Dodge, 55, the Tony nomination marks the culmination of a three-decade career that only recently led to her first directing gig on Broadway. "Marcia may not be a teenager," says Terrence McNally, who wrote "Ragtime's" book. "But she has a big, big future."
Right now, Dodge is just trying to get her latest show on its feet. Sitting in rehearsal at Screenland Studios in Burbank, she watches carefully as actors fling themselves onto the floor during the "Coffee Break" sequence.