The Most Happy Fella

Summary of the musical The Most Happy Fella :

A waitress from San Francisco, Rosabella, has a secret admirer. After months of exchanges of letters, she finally asks him to send her her photo. Fearing that she doesn't like him due to his old age, Tony - an old Italian-American vineyard - sends her the picture of his right-hand man, Joe. When Rosabella decides to visit him, a tragedy occurs. Tony is in a car accident and on the verge of death.
While Rosabella is furious with Tony for cheating on her, she finally agrees to honor their mail order contract - but not until she has slept with the youngest and most stylish hired hand, Joe, whom Tony had her in. sent the photo. As Tony heals from his accident, Rosabella ends up really falling in love with this kind old man. When Rosa finds out that she is pregnant with Joe's baby, however, things get complicated. Can True Love Overcome Betrayal?

The musical is available in full on Youtube:
General information
  • Style : Romance, Tragedy
  • Theme : United States, Italy, Opera, Love
  • year of creation : 1956
Music
  • Composer : Frank Loesser
  • Lyricist : Frank Loesser
  • Librettist : Frank Loesser
  • Author (other) : Sidney Howard
  • famous songs : "Ooh! My Feet!", "I Know How It Is", "Somebody, Somewhere", "The Most Happy Fella", "The Letter Theme", "Standing on the Corner", "Joey, Joey, Joey" , "Soon You Gonna Leave Me, Joe", "Rosabella", "Abbondanza", "Aren't You Glad?", "Don't Cry", "Fresno Beauties", "Love and Kindness", "Happy to Make Your Acquaintance", "Big D", "How Beautiful the Days", "Warm All Over", "I Like Everybody", "My Heart Is So Full of You", "Mamma, Mamma", "Song of a Summer Night ", "Please Let Me Tell You", "Nobody's Ever Gonna Love You", "I Made a Fist".
  • Famous performers : Robert Weede, Jo Sullivan, Art Lund, Susan Johnson, Shorty Long, Mona Paulee, Zina Bethune, Bernadette Peters, Norman Atkins, Paula Stewart, Libi Staiger, Art Lund, Jack DeLeon, Inia Te Wiata, Shuler Hensley, Laura Benanti, and Cheyenne Jackson.
kinships
  • Inspired by another work : The musical is based on the play "They Knew What They Wanted" by Sidney Howard, first performed in 1924. The play won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
  • Exists in film : The 1979 revival was filmed by the American television network PBS and available on DVD. Musical comedy The Most Happy Fella is also available in full on Youtube.
Awards
  • Appointments and Awards : The original 1957 production won 1 Theater World Award. The 1992 revival won 1 Tony, 1 Drama Desk and 1 Theater World Award.
  • Number of years on display : 1
  • Number of performances : 676
Currently on stage