So when Grandy says the story of the rise of a window-washer to high-powered executive, told in the Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning musical, still resonates more than half a century after its Broadway debut, he brings a singular perspective not only because of his varied career but because of his early role as J. Pierpont Finch, the window-washer, in a tour of the musical 35 years ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe themes work, the jokes work. The songs always work. It\u2019s still relevant in a kind of gently provocative way,\u201d says Grandy, who plays company president J.B. Biggley in the CRT production. \u201cA lot people would look upon this and say, oh, that old war horse; it\u2019s a period piece \u2013 you dress up like \u2018Mad Men\u2019 and do the show. The message of this show is as relevant today as it was when Vance Packard was writing \u2018Hidden Persuaders\u2019 and you had [the management book] \u2018The Organization Man\u2019 and things that were defining American business and cutthroat capitalism. That\u2019s what makes this show almost timeless.\u201d<\/p>\n He also draws parallels between politics and show business.<\/p>\n \u201cTheatrical training is wonderful training for politics. Politics is terrible training for the theater,\u201d he says, \u201cIt is not a reversible process because the things you learn in politics fly in the face of what you learn as an actor. The operating unit of organization in the theater is the ensemble. Those are people who have to listen to one another and respond accordingly and work to interlock a dialogue that is your play or TV show. The unit of organization in politics is the caucus, where you usually wind up fighting with each other before you even get to the part where you\u2019re planning a strategy against your enemies. It is absolutely antithetical.\u201d<\/p>\n As he left politics and began thinking about a return to acting, at age 50 Grandy earned an MFA from the Washington Shakespeare Theater and George Washington University. For 11 months, he was immersed in Shakespeare each day. Following his work in Storrs, he will portray Escalus in \u201cMeasure for Measure\u201d in Wilmington, N.C. He is enjoying his first time as a guest star in a university-based production.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s great fun. It\u2019s a delight to see people just putting their toe in the business; it\u2019s so much fun. It\u2019s pretty invigorating for me,\u201d says Grandy. \u201cI am awed by the voices of these kids in this production. Riley Costello, who is playing Finch, has this angelic tenor voice. I couldn\u2019t get close to that when I was playing Finch. I was an actor who sings. This guy is a singer. Sarah [Schenkkan as Rosemary] and Ariana [Shore as Hedy LaRue] are singers. We\u2019re loaded with great vocal talent. I am pleased to be doing the comic role at this point. I don\u2019t remember our show being quite that operatic.\u201d<\/p>\n Grandy sees characteristics of some politicians he has known in his businessman character on stage.<\/p>\n \u201cMy impression of Biggley is despite the fact he has vaulted himself to the top floor he is terribly insecure, nervous,\u201d he says. \u201cHe reminds me of a lot of the people I knew in politics who had clawed their way to the top and were either committee chairs or high up in the leadership, and they had done it by, in some cases, not very pretty ways. They always have the sense that something is gaining on them. That\u2019s, kind of to me, who Biggley is. There\u2019s a Nixonian quality to this guy.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHow to Succeed\u201d is directed by CRT artistic director Vincent Cardinal and also stars Broadway performer Riley Costello, who led CRT\u2019s \u201cPeter Pan\u201d last summer; Sarah Schenkkan, who last appeared at CRT in \u201cGuys and Dolls\u201d and is currently playing Eleanor Browder in the new Amazon series \u201cZ;\u201d and Tina Fabrique, who is reprising the role she played as Miss Jones in both the Broadway and National Tour productions of \u201cHow To Succeed\u2019s\u201d popular first revival. She last appeared at CRT in \u201cThe Sunshine Boys\u201d and \u201cHairspray.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Fred](\"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/H2S-PR4-002-1024x683.jpg\")
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