NBC scored a media touchdown with its Super Bowl ad — a promo for its shows, using the show-stopping song from the smash Broadway Musica “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” called “The Brotherhood of Man.” It is witty, fun, slick, smart — and will rank as one of the best ever:
Here’s an abridged version of the show stopper as performed by the cast of the Broadway revival last year on David Letterman — starring Daniel “Harry Potter” Radcliffe, in a role that won him rave reviews (Radcliffe had to learn how to dance AND do a perfect American accent and he did both). Be sure to watch this since this is what the NBC ad is based on:
Here’s the Today segment where they also it did it, but had an interview with Radcliffe — talking with his normal accent (an even shorter version performed outside):
Here’s the full show-stopper on the CD (not abridged and it IS a show stopper). Even if you watched the above, listen to it in its entirety.
I’m on a national tour in my other incarnation which ends at the end of May. I have the CD of the Broadway show with me. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!
For a roundup of the best Super Bowl commercials from 2007 – 2011 GO HERE.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.