On March 17, the Park Players Theatre Company presented their spring musical, “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” in the Gloria Logan Auditorium at Salem High School.

Members from the Plymouth-Canton Educational Park orchestra and marching band played along flawlessly with the actors for all 20 songs. The cast’s vocals were beautiful and each note was perfectly sung. The script was very entertaining and full of humor. The cast did a great job portraying that humor into their roles. Overall, the Park Players did an amazing job with their spring musical.

“We had a bit of first night jitters working against us, but we have a really strong cast all around, and we were able to start quite strong,” said Joshua Raiford, Canton senior, who played the role of business man, J.B. Biggley.

“How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” is a musical that takes place in 1961 about a man named J. Pierrepont Finch (played by Plymouth junior Anirudh Keshamouni) who starts off as a janitor in New York City. With the knowledge he gains from a book with the same name as the show, Finch decides to try his hand as a businessman. He uses his charming personality to climb up the ladder of the World Wide Wicket Company that is run by J.B. Biggley. Finch meets and falls in love with a secretary, Rosemary Pilkington (played by Salem junior Hayley Martin), who encourages him to continue his business journey throughout the play.

Finch’s first job at the company is in the mail room with Mr. Biggley’s nepotism-minded nephew, Bud Frump (played by Salem senior Justin Muse) and Mr. Twimble (played by Canton senior Ethan Wolf) who has been in the mail room for 25 years. Finch continues to use his book to get out of the mailroom when Mr. Biggley’s mistress, Hedy LaRue (played by Plymouth junior Morgan Gagnon) is hired as a secretary.

As Finch moves up the business food chain, he must balance befriending Mr. Biggley, hiding his love for Rosemary and turning against Hedy’s advances toward him.

“Opening night went splendidly. I have never felt more prepared to open a show, and that definitely showed as soon as we hit the stage,” said Gagnon. “We were full of energy, yet very collected as a cast. We knew what we had to do, and we knew how to do it. It was really great just getting out there and getting to have fun with it.”

“My favorite song is ‘Brotherhood of Man.’ It’s really fun to see my character, Miss Jones, who is this really stern and orderly woman, burst into song and dance on a table,” said Amber Mero, Salem sophomore, who portrayed the role of Mr. Biggley’s secretary, Miss Jones. “You can feel the energy and see the pure enjoyment on our faces when we perform, and it’s a great moment for the show.”

“My favorite song in the musical would probably have to be ‘I Believe in You,’ due to the clever choreography and the fact that Ani [Keshamouni] has this amazing ability to own the stage,” said Raiford.

“This show has really helped me as an actress and as a person. I usually play these fun and outrageous characters who are all smiles, but Miss Jones is the opposite of that. She is a straight face and no laughs kind of gal,” Mero said. “It’s been a great opportunity to expand my abilities and challenge myself.”

“I chose to be a part of this musical mainly because this is my last chance to perform with this theatre company and with this group that has become somewhat of a second family to me,” said Raiford.

The Park Players performed “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” again in the Gloria Logan Auditorium last weekend, March 24 and 25.