Audiences have loved Frank Loesser's musicals for years—most notably his Guys and Dolls and the Pulitzer Prize-winning How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. However, THE MOST HAPPY FELLA was a startling rediscovery, even for Loesser fans. What made the new HAPPY FELLA different? Its size. The whole evening was re-thought on a more human scale. For example, the original production had an orchestra of 36 musicians, but this new version was accompanied by two pianists playing an arrangement supervised by Loesser himself. Also, because it was performed in the intimate Booth Theatre, the audience had no trouble hearing every word. Scaling down the production brought out the story at the heart of HAPPY FELLA, which Loesser adapted from Sidney Howard's Pulitzer Prize drama They Knew What They Wanted. Set in California's Napa Valley in the 1920s, it chronicles the romance of Tony Esposito, a middle-aged vineyard owner and his much-younger new bride, whom he calls Rosabella.
January 24 - August 30, 1992
