SnitchSeeker.com - Exclusive: SnitchSeeker talks to Daniel Radcliffe on 'How to Succeed' production

SnitchSeeker chatted with actor Daniel Radcliffe in early February about his rehearsals and involvement in the Broadway revival of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, which began previews on February 26, 2011. He discussed some of the more difficult aspects of his training, including mastering his dance routines, adjusting to the American accent, and singing on stage. Dan revealed that he was one of 29 actors on stage - including John Larroquette, Rose Hemingway, and Tammy Blanchard - for the production, which rehearsed in a studio before transferring to the Al Hirschfeld, home of the musical, in late February.

The 21-year-old Harry Potter and Broadway star noted that he avoided watching and listening to previous renditions of How to Succeed, including the 1967 film adaptation starring Tony-award winning actor Robert Morse, and some advice he received from Matthew Broderick, who portrayed J. Pierrepont Finch in the 1995 revival of the musical, for which he also received a Tony award in the Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical category. All that, as well as a breakdown as to how he got involved in the production - dating all the way back to Equus previews - and what attracted him to playing Finch, can be read below.

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SnitchSeeker: How are rehearsals right now?
Dan Radcliffe: It’s going well. We’re into our third week actually in the rehearsal studio. Working a musical is so different from anything I’ve done before. Just the scale of rehearsals is so massive. You’ve got one room for singing all the time, one room for scene work and then one room where we rehearse the numbers. It’s such a different thing being in a show with a cast of 29 people, which certainly seems to me very, very big. It’s pretty amazing. It’s going very well. As I said, it’s like nothing I’ve done before. It’s very intense. We’ve got a lot to get done, but it’s pretty thrilling, to be honest.

SnitchSeeker: Have you been to Al Hirschfeld and starting rehearsing there yet?
Dan Radcliffe: Oh, no. I went through once like four days ago just to put some stuff in my dressing room, but other than that I’ve once been there so far. We move into the theater in a couple of weeks or so when we start doing the mechanical rehearsal period before we start previews. But no, we haven’t actually moved into the theater yet. Apparently a lot of the set has been moved in, it’s in there now. And I drove past it and saw my big face in the window. Strange, but great moment.

SnitchSeeker: What’s been the most challenging for you – the singing, the dancing or getting the American accent down?
Dan Radcliffe: I think probably the dancing is the thing that is the most challenging. Particularly because when, since we’re in the rehearsal period, stuff is changing all the time. So I’ll learn a step. I’ll practice it and learn it and get it into my body, and have it fully muscle memorized, as it were, and then the number will change and I’ll have to try and forget that and learn something new. So the dancing is definitely the trickiest part so far. But it’s also one of the most fun parts in the whole show, as well.

The choreography’s so clever and so much fun, and so exciting and so physical. The dancers in our show, the male ensemble, generally do not stop. Particularly coming up to the end of the show there are two dance numbers which are both incredibly physical and have about seven minutes in between. So it’s going to be really challenging. Which, in a way, is quite good because I’m doing the dance alongside all these guys and if I’m having a problem, what’s wonderful to see that they’re all saying this is genuinely hard stuff. So the fact that they’re finding it as difficult as I am … well not as difficult as I am, it comes more naturally to them, of course, but the fact that they are saying this is really tricky stuff is very encouraging that I’m managing to keep up with them so far.

SnitchSeeker: Have you seen the 1967 movie version with Robert Morse?
Dan Radcliffe: No, I haven’t. After we did the reading last year, when the prospect of actually doing this became very real, I was banned from listening to any previous classical recordings or watching the film because I have a tendency to … If I pick up on the way something is sung or performed then that comes into my own performance. I want it to be my version of the character, rather than a recollection of somebody else’s.

SnitchSeeker: I saw you meet Matthew Broderick at the Deathly Hallows premiere last year. Did you get any tips or advice, because he played Finch before in the ‘90s?
Dan Radcliffe: He just said you’re going to have a blast so just have fun. I asked him had he ever done a musical before that. He said no that was his first time and there was nothing else quite like it. So that’s what I intend to do. Because normally around this stage when we’re in rehearsals I’m just thinking about the first performance and thinking, “Oh God, what’s going to happen?” and just getting very nervous really. Certainly that’s how I was both times that we did Equus, but I’ve made the decision to just relax and try and enjoy it because it is so much fun. The first time you do a musical, it’s never going to feel this way again. So I’m just going to try and enjoy it as much as I can, I think.

SnitchSeeker: What made you want to play Finch in the first place? What was it about the character that drew you to him?
Dan Radcliffe: I think he’s a pretty irresistible character to everyone in the play and everyone who reads it. He’s one of the original anti-hero characters. Everything he does is morally reprehensible and yet he does it. And also because at no point, really I don’t think at any point in the script does he lie or actually deceive anyone. He’s just got the incredible ability to make everybody feel like they are the center of the universe, which endears him to all of them. It’s one of the many things that makes his rise to the top so very rapid.

SnitchSeeker: What have you taken from your previous roles, such as Alan Strang and Harry Potter, that you brought to playing Finch and to this production?
Dan Radcliffe: I don’t think anything really. I don’t think I think, “Oh what did I do in that that I can bring to this?” That’s not really how I’ve approached it, I don’t think. I’ve just gone in and having read the script and having had someone to stand near the character, then working with Rob [Ashford, director] and working with the other actors during the rehearsal period, that’s when you find more and more about him. I don’t think there have been any influence from other characters I’ve played, particularly not Alan Strang.

SnitchSeeker: Can you go through a breakdown of when you first got into it? You’ve said Rob Ashford was interested because he heard you sing the Milky Bar song in Equus. Did it begin from that, and how did it unfold?
Dan Radcliffe: Well, it wasn’t actually Rob, it was Craig Zadan and Neil Merin, the producers, that came to Equus in previews in New York and came backstage and said, “Oh, you can sing!” And I just went, “Well, I can sing the Milky Bar song,” because that was all I’d done up to that point, and wasn’t really sure that was qualification enough to do a Broadway musical. But they were determined. They just kept saying, “Well, we’ve got to find something to do with you.” You know, when you’re in previews in a play, lots of people come backstage and say very nice things of that sort of ilk, so you’re tendency is to just go, “Oh, well, thank you very much. Lovely to meet you,” and that’s the last you hear of it normally. But Craig and Neil were just very, very persistent, as all good producers should be.

They brought How to Succeed to us and then they set up a meeting with myself and Rob Ashford. Then after that, a few months later, we had the reading of the show, which took place in New York just before Christmastime 2009. Then last year was just continuing with my singing and dance lessons, all working up to this point, really.

SnitchSeeker: How’s the American accent?
Dan Radcliffe: I think it’s pretty good. I’ve been working on that as well for the past year. The Rs are always the hardest. Words like “world,” those are the tricky things. But yeah, generally speaking, I’m very pleased with it and everyone in the show is very pleased with it. As far as I’m concerned, it’s in really, really good shape. So, I dare say, I think you won’t be recoiling in too much horror.

SnitchSeeker: What about singing and keeping the accent? Is that a challenge?
Dan Radcliffe: No that’s actually, in a way, that’s some of the easiest stuff. Although there is a tendency sometimes to, if you’re getting really into the song, the accent can slip away slightly. But no, generally speaking, I don’t think that’s too much of an issue. That’s why I’ve got David Chase, one of the best - if not the best - musical director on Broadway badgering me about it constantly. And I’m glad to have him doing so.

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Tickets for How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, which has now begun previews and opens on March 27th, can be ordered at Broadway.com. For special fan exclusives and discount tickets, head to the official fan page for the musical.