The eccentricities and anachronisms of the business world will be in the the spotlight this weekend, when Upper Arlington High School students take to the stage for the 2012 musical.

The comedy, “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying,” opens at UAHS tonight (Thursday), and organizers say the cast and crew are ready for the curtain to go up.

“I think we’re ready for an audience. It’s really coming together,” said David Bahgat, stage director and a UAHS alumnus. “Once you add in all the costumes and the set, the orchestra and the lights, I think it’s all going to mesh really well.”

Written by Frank Loesser, Abe Burrows, Jack Weinstock and Willie Gilbert, “How to Succeed” pokes fun at the male-dominated American business world of the 1950s. The musical follows the rise of window washer J. Pierrepont Finch (played by senior Jason Crouse), who uses the titular book to climb the corporate ladder at the World Wide Wicket Co.

Beginning his career in the company’s mailroom, Finch is quickly promoted while outsmarting his rival (and the boss’s nephew), and gaining the love of one of the company’s secretaries. When he finally reaches a point where his book will no longer help him, Finch is forced to rely on his own wit and cunning.

Musical committee co-chair Tracy Crouse said the students have been rehearsing their roles and trying to pick up the musical’s subtle humor since December.

“They’ve been working a lot on their comedy. Sometimes it’s hard for young kids to do comedy, and to really make it funny, but this is going to be really entertaining,” Crouse said. “It’s a pretty male-heavy cast, because it’s centered mostly around a lot of businessmen, but there are some numbers that are just the girls, so there is a mix to it.”

This year’s cast and crew had to put in their homework to get a feel for the era in which “How to Succeed” is set, vocal music director Erik Kauffman told ThisWeek.

“(Bahgat) has done a great job of doing research ahead of time and spending time with the kids, not only to encourage them to do some of their own research, but he also brought in a lot of resources for them,” he said.

“David made a great point that when people try to do this show, the mistake is to make it too contemporary, to not have a good understanding of the time period it’s set in,” he said. “The whole staff has been working really hard to get down the authenticity of the time period this musical is written for.”

“How to Succeed” opens at 7:30 p.m. tonight (Feb. 23) at UAHS, 1650 Ridgeview Road, and will continue through Sunday evening with 7:30 performances each night. Tickets cost between $10 and $16, and can be purchased at the show, by calling 614-487-5240 ext. 7464, or online at http://uavocalmusic.org.

lrice@thisweeknews.com

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