When Pebblebrook High School's latest musical opens Thursday night at the Cobb County Civic Center, don't think it came to fruition easily.

Much like the rest of the Metro Atlanta area, the cast and crew of “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” was shut down for days due to the wintry weather at the beginning of the year. Having put together the production in just a shade over three weeks, it doesn't look like they've missed a beat.

Even with the weather delays, you may expect nothing less out of Cobb County's art magnet school. But the production is not part of the curriculum. Pebblebrook's musicals are an extracurricular and never rehearsed during class time. The long hours logged have all been on the students' own time.

“I wouldn't have done it when I was in high school,” said Cobb County Center for Excellence in Performing Arts director Frank Timmerman, who is also “How to Succeed's” musical director. “I really have a lot of admiration for these kids.”

Besides the six-hour rehearsals after school this week, leading up to tonight's opener, there were also 14-hour and nine-hour days to make up for lost time. Even the technical theater students that can work on set design during school hours have had to play catch-up. While the cast's call time was 9 a.m. last Saturday, the crew had already been working for an hour.

Yet, the haste doesn't show. At the cast's first dress rehearsal Tuesday, the only things that looked even slightly frazzled were a few hemlines here and there. Sam Yabrow, playing lead Pierrepont Finch, looked poised to climb the corporate ladder in his suit and fedora. Charli Cohen, sharing the role of Rosemary Pilkington with Jenny Koon, looked smitten with both Finch and her flat-fronted skirt. And the set. Well, the set looked more modern than a Piet Mondrian composition.

All this nostalgia might go over the head of some teenagers. But after doing shows like “Aida,” a modern musical featuring a score by Elton John, “High School Musical” and “Footloose,” performing a classic like “How to Succeed” is still seen as a privilege. Having similar themes and costumes to the popular television series “Madmen” doesn't hurt either.

“Everyone was hoping to do this production last year,” said Cohen, speaking for her fellow leads as well. “We were really excited to get to do it our senior year.”

And in a sense, Pebblebrook is ahead of the curve in doing the 1960s musical. Having once been revived on Broadway in the mid-1990s with Matthew Broderick and Megan Mullally as leads, it is again starting another run in the spring with Daniel Radcliffe as Finch. And even though Pebblebrook had no trouble gaining the rights to stage the production in 1998, Timmerman was surprised Music Theatre International allowed it this go round.

“Usually shows that are on Broadway go into restriction for amateur and school performances,” Timmerman explained.

While there is no precasting to speak of, Timmerman and the other directors do carefully select each performance knowing which students can potentially fill each role. They also aim to broaden the students' skill set by alternating between traditional musicals and more modern ones.

“We're training kids who want to go on and pursue this at the college level and make careers out of it,” Timmerman said. “We have to look at it not just out of what will have audience appeal, but also what will be good for students and their training.”

Yabrough, Cohen and Koon all plan to continue their performing arts educations, and are vying to do so at one of the nation's top musical theatre programs. All three seniors hope to follow several Pebblebrook alumni's footsteps and attend the University of Michigan. Michigan auditions over 700 students per year for their program and accept a mere 20. The director from the school will fill a seat unannounced one night during the run of “How to Succeed” to scout the talent, something Timmerman sees as a compliment.

“It's similar in the way football recruiters go around,” he said. “It's unusual for a high school to have something like that happen. We are really lucky to have him come down here to do that and value what we're doing to take the time.”

One Pebblebrook graduate that went onto Michigan is Cary Tedder. Tedder is currently traveling with a production of “West Side Story” that is also in Atlanta this weekend at the Fox Theatre.

Not all the students are going to go onto the success of Tedder, but remember that in the first act when the cast breaks out in a hysterical chorus, desperate for a caffeine boost in “Coffee Break,” know they may be speaking from experience.

Putting on a production of this caliber doesn't happen by not really trying.

“How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying” will run in the Jennie T. Anderson Theatre at the Cobb County Civic Center January 27-30 and February 3-6. Shows are at 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and 3 p.m. Sunday. The musical is the first performance in the Anderson Theatre's 2011 Encore Series.

Update 6:51 p.m. on Jan. 26, the names of the cast members were changed to the correct spellings.