Full casting has been announced for the thrilling new production of Frank Loesser and Abe Burrows’ How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, which runs at Southwark Playhouse (Borough) from 12 May - 17 June.

How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying is a comic gem that took Broadway by storm in 1961, winning both the Tony Award for Best Musical and a Pulitzer Prize. It boasts an exhilarating score by Frank Loesser - one of America’s great composer/lyricists, also responsible for Guys & Dolls (currently a massive hit at the Bridge Theatre) - including ‘I Believe in You’, ‘Brotherhood of Man’ and ‘The Company Way’.

A satire of big business and all it holds sacred, it follows the rise of J. Pierrepont Finch, who uses a little handbook called How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying (voiced in the Southwark production by Michelle Visage of Ru Paul’s Drag Race fame) to climb the corporate ladder from lowly window washer to high-powered executive, tackling such familiar but potent dangers as the aggressively compliant “company man”, the office party, backstabbing co-workers, caffeine addiction and, of course, true love.

Joining the previously announced Tracie Bennett, who will play the male role of J.B. Biggley, President of the World Wide Wicket Company, are: Annie Aitken (Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella, Hope Mill Theatre) as Hedy LaRue, Taylor Bradshaw (Spring Awakening, Almeida Theatre) as Mr Bert Bratt, Allie Daniel (Legally Blonde, Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre) as Rosemary Pilkington, Gabrielle Friedman (recent graduate) as J. Pierrepont Finch, Elliot Gooch (Dorian: A Rock Musical, The Other Palace) as Bud Frump, Grace Kanyamibwa (The Book of Mormon, UK tour) as Miss Jones, Danny Lane (Only Fools and Horses, West End) as Mr Twimble/Mr Wally Womper, Milo McCarthy (Birds and the Bees, UK tour) as Mr Milton Gatch, and Verity Power (Trump L’Oeil, Upstairs at the Gatehouse) as Smitty.

The musical is directed by Georgie Rankcom, with choreography by Alexzandra Sarmiento, musical direction by Natalie Pound, set and costume design by Sophia Pardon, lighting by Lucía Sánchez Roldán, sound by Joshua Robins, orchestrations by Stuart Morley, and casting by Peter Noden.

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