By Steven Suskin
13 May 2012

	Cover art for "Nick Jonas: Songs from How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying."

Nick Jonas: Songs from How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying [Broadway Records]
As you might have heard, Frank Loesser's How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying was revived on Broadway last spring starring Daniel Radcliffe. What do you do when Harry Potter jumps on his broomstick, or whatever, and flies back across the sea? The producers brought in Darren Criss (of "Glee") for three weeks, followed by teen heart-throb Nick Jonas (of The Jonas Brothers). With Jonas onstage every night at the Al Hirschfeld and all those Jonas fans on hand, how many folks are likely to go to the lobby concessionaire and ask for a copy of Radcliffe singing the songs?

The enterprising folks at Broadway Records — the new label which just entered the fray with Frank Wildhorn's Bonnie & Clyde — put two and two together (or rather put Jonas together with tracks from Decca Broadway's Radcliffe album) to bring us "Nick Jonas: Songs from How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying." Five songs, that is: "How to Succeed," "Company Way," "Rosemary," "I Believe in You" and "Brotherhood of Man."

(Not included are Finch's other songs, the duet "Grand Old Ivy" and the trio "Been a Long Day.")

Of course, things don't always work out according to plan. It was not anticipated that How to Succeed, starring Nick Jonas, would close (May 20) less than two weeks after this mini-CD hit the market (May 8). But that's Broadway.

	Nick Jonas
	photo by Joan Marcus

The orchestra tracks come from the original 2011 sessions, albeit in re-edited, remixed and remastered form. (In the interest of accuracy, I have gotten this information directly from the record producers.) Jonas recorded his vocals this past February; Rose Hemingway (Rosemary) and Rob Bartlett (Twimble) — who are on the first album — rerecorded their duets, live with Jonas.

Additionally, several ensemble members came in for the new recording of the title song. The big group numbers — "I Believe in You" and "Brotherhood of Man" — use material from the 2011 sessions, joined with new vocals by Jonas.

It is impossible to judge Jonas' performance on the basis of five tracks. Let us say that he sounds pretty good here, especially on "Rosemary" and "I Believe in You." If memory serves, he seems closer in style to Darryl Hickman (who replaced Bobby Morse in 1963) than to Broadway Finches Morse, Matthew Broderick or Radcliffe. But that's merely by way of observation. Nick Jonas fans — especially those who buy a theatre ticket to see their man in How to Succeed" — are reasonably likely to want to pick up this mini-CD of five songs.

(Steven Suskin is author of the recently released updated and expanded Fourth Edition of "Show Tunes" as well as "The Sound of Broadway Music: A Book of Orchestrators and Orchestrations" (now available in paperback), "Second Act Trouble" and the "Opening Night on Broadway" books. He also pens Playbill.com's Book Shelf and DVD Shelf columns. He can be reached at Ssuskin@aol.com.)