The problem with searching for a child actor who looks like Hogwarts master wizard Harry Potter,for the actor, is you need an actor who looks like Harry Potter. Thin, nerdy, near sighted, so much of his power directed inwards out.
And what happens is the child actor becomes an adult actor and is still thin, nerdy, near sighted, so much of his power directed inwards out. Such is the case of Daniel Radcliffe. Such is the finishing end of the Harry Potter saga, only one of the three, the girl, appears to have the looks for a long time career.
Appears to.
Daniel Radcliffe's on point performance as the apex of a first rate ensemble cast in Frank Loesser's light hearted big corporation satire "How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying" currently on Broadway, is the sort of charming yet self-effacing song and dance that makes an actor out of a star.
I have seen two other productions of the musical by the great Loesser; in the movie, Robert Morse's over thinking J. Pierrepont Finch breaks down the third wall by bringing the audience in, as he smiles and winks. In the mid-1990s Broadway production, Matthew Broderick was an instant mix of Candide and Ferris Bueller, an innocent in conning drag. Both played, the window washer with a handbook climbing the corporate ladder in 1960s New York, as a star turn.
Daniel Radcliffe doesn't.
For one thing, he has John Larroquette's scene stealing boss, JR Biggley, and for another thing, Radcliffe is used to being the head of an ensemble after so many years at Hogwarts. He isn't scared of letting other actors shine. And, finally, he knows just how much star power he has. He doesn't need to act up to act well -his presence alone does a lot for him.
The book, given an extra fillip contextually because of the hit TV show "Mad Men", is a funny succeeding upwards story, though a bit flawed. The first act at 90 minutes is really long, though it doesn't flag, and i don't know where else to put the break. The second act is 60 minutes and its worst song, "Cinderella Darling" opens and sags the second act and it doesn't recover until maybe "Pirate Man" or definitely "Brotherhood of man".
All of the music is good not great, somewhat hgenric orchestrated Broadway pop. There is no mind bender like "Love Be A lady Tonight" or "If I Was A Bell" from Loesser's earlier "guys And Dolls" but there is any number of show stoppers, three in the first act, plus the best song of the night "Been A Long Day". The Finch and Biggley "Grand Old Ivey" is beyond funny, and while Morse was a bit funnier, you can see Morse's brain ticking as he fakes having graduated from the same college as his boss, Daniel's is more energetic, and more pure fun.
Indeed, fun is the word for this funny, pleasurable Broadway Musical. Radcliffe doesn't throw himself into the role, he is too English to be pushy, but he wins it over by giving into it, by playing it as written.
It is beyond a star turn, it is like a great pitcher in baseball letting the fielders make the outs for him.