Cabot House Goes Corporate

“A secretary is not a toy!”

Future corporate moguls in the audience would do well to take heed when John F. Pararas ’08-’09 sings that very message in Cabot Musical Theatre’s production of “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.” The show will go on Thursday and Friday in the Cabot House Junior Common Room.

Originally three hours long, the musical opens on Thursday as a lighter, two-hour version. The production is full of Cabot House spirit, from the cast to the production staff and the director.

Susan Livingston, a Cabot House administrator, says, “We are unique in Harvard undergraduate theater in that when we say a house production, it truly is only Cabot House students, administrators, and me.”

Several cast members, including Yin Li ’08 and Brittany C. Behrens ’08 are Cabot Musical Theatre veterans, having participated in the Theatre’s past productions of “Grease” and “West Side Story.” “I started off as a hoodlum in West Side Story, and now I play the male lead. It’s been a tremendous experience,” Li says.

The Cabot production is the cast’s first exposure to “How to Succeed.” “We had our own vision, and we weren’t constrained by previous models. None of us knew what it was supposed to look like. We used our imagination,” Li says.

In the musical, Li plays J. Pierpont Finch, whose humorous climb up the corporate ladder provides the story’s momentum. “It’s a show that’s full of energy. It’s funny and definitely something worth seeing,” says fellow castmate Matthew T. McClure ’09.

Livingston says, “There’s a lot about the corporate world and humor that may be found in it.”

There are songs, such as “The Company Way,” that are applicable to future cubicle residents, as well as laughs at amusing corporate stereotypes, including the dumb blonde secretary who sleeps her way through the company and the boss who is overly fond of his alma mater, “Old Ivy.”

“It’s going to be extremely ridiculous, fun and goofy, and a great way for people to end their semester,” Li says.

With Harvard’s yearly outpouring of seniors set to graduate and swell the ranks of investment bankers, this musical will surely strike a chord.