How to be entertained in Wantagh

Broadway will be coming to Wantagh next week, as the high school Drama Club will be presenting “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.” There will be five shows, with curtain opening Wednesday night.

The cast of more than 40 students has been rehearsing since September. After operetta-style plays the last two years, Director Heather Romano decided it was time for something a little more upbeat. “I try every four years to give each group a diverse musical theater experience,” she said. “We had the right cast for this one.”

Senior Tyler Dema has the lead role of Finch. Romano said it is impossible to do the play without an actor of Dema’s caliber to play that part.

Dema said his character is a con artist who tries to manipulate others, yet is also the protagonist. Dema said he has to sell Finch as a likeable person. “I love my character,” he said. “It’s good for me as an actor to have the challenge of testing myself.”

“How to Succeed” is a musical by Frank Loesser based on Shepherd Mead’s 1952 book of the same name. The story centers on Finch, a young and ambitious man who tries to rise from window washer to chairman of a company. The musical’s original Broadway run was 1961-65, and it was revived in 1995 and 2011.

“It’s just a feel-good, classic Broadway-type musical,” Dema said. “It’s family friendly and everyone can come.” Dema is particularly looking forward to the last big dance number of the show, “Brotherhood of Man.”

Kevin Pugh, a senior, will play Bud Frump. This is his sixth production at Wantagh High School, and first that will involve a lot of singing. Pugh’s character is the story’s antagonist.

“It’s really fun not to worry about the audience liking me,” he said. “I can be very much like my character. We’re both sarcastic, we’re both pretty stubborn.”

Pugh said this is his biggest role to date, and is excited about performing in a fun and uplifting production for his final year.

Tylar Benedetto, who plays Rosemary Pilkington, said this production is bittersweet, as she and her fellow cast members have become really close over the past four years.