THE HUDSUCKER PROXY
Music by Stephen Weiner, Book and Lyrics by Glenn Slater
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Cast Size: 7 leads (6M, 1W); ensemble of 14 (8M, 6W)
synopsis
The Hudsucker Proxy is based upon the Coen Brothers Film, and is an American Fairy Tale. Originally a parody of the classic Frank Capra films of the golden era of the 1950 films, this is the tale of a small town boy who makes good, does bad and learns to be good again.
The Hudsucker Proxy tells the tale of young Norville Barnes, fresh out of school with his MBA from Muncie, Indiana and ready to take on the world as he arrives in New York City. Hopelessly naive, innocent and yet ambitious, he secures employment at the monolithic Hudsucker Corporation, run by the ruthless Sid Mussberger following the CEO's plunge to his death (Waring Hudsucker).
Sid concocts a plot to depress the stock by putting a moronic/puppet CEO in place who will cause the stock to plummet while he and the greedy Board buy it cheap, depose the CEO and put Sid in charge - and become multi-billionaires in the process. All they need is a chump - and they find it in Norville who gets promoted from hapless mail clerk to CEO in one day.
But Norville has an idea - a big idea that he is pedaling - a circle drawn on a piece of paper that he keeps on insisting, if realized could bring the entire world together. The circle turns out to be the hoola hoop. Meanwhile, an ambitious reporter named Amy Archer catches wind of the scam going on over at the Hudsucker Corporation, and initially gets herself through the door masquerading as Norville's secretary, intent upon exposing him, what she thinks is his idiocy and the scam. But she falls for his idealism, optimism and big heart and soon begins to fall in love with Norville.
Norville, emboldened by the success of his hoola hoop which takes the world by storm, begins to embody the very virtues of greed, narcissism and selfishness that permeates Sid and the Board members, and his actions pull he and Amy apart. Sid devises a scheme to depose Norville once and for all, and it almost works.
In the end, Norville is saved at the last minute after he loses all hope and plunges to his near-death, stopped in mid-air by Waring Hudsucker himself who has come down from heaven to try to save Norville and give him a second chance. In the end, Norville grabs that chance, and reunites with Amy, wiser about the perils of only clamoring for success at the cost of real happiness, and reunited with the love of his life, a big idea sets out to lead the Hudsucker Company with humanity, decency and newer ideas that will rock the world.
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