A Daniel Fish Most Happy Fella?- Page 2

[After Eight]

Posted: 12/24/19 at 8:25am

“As long as the creators or their successors are fine with directors radically reimagining older shows, I’m fine with it too, whether or not I end up liking those versions.”

 

Are you equally fine with others not being fine with it?

And remember, one person's “radically reimagining” is another person's “destruction.”

[kdogg36]

Posted: 12/24/19 at 8:45am

After Eight said: "Are you equally fine with others not being fine with it?”


Of course. I was disagreeing, not attacking.

“And remember, one person's “radically reimagining” is another person's “destruction.”"

For me, I could choose to simply ignore the radical production and my relationship with the work itself would be unaffected. But I admit that I’m not what most people would call neurotypical, so others may have different feelings. 

Updated On: 12/24/19 at 08:45 AM

[jonah3500]

Posted: 3/31/20 at 7:57pm

Tickets are on sale now. Also, it looks like it's been retitled to "Most Happy," and there's more description of the show on the website now:

"Frank Loesser’s musical theater masterpiece, The Most Happy Fella, is a celebration of love, a meditation on longing, and above all: an examination of the lengths we’ll go to satisfy our desires. In Most Happy, director Daniel Fish sets Loesser’s lyrical score for eight performers who gather on a stage design inspired by Florent, the iconic restaurant that—for more than 20 years—was a hub for entertainment, activism, and community in the heart of Manhattan’s Meatpacking District. Plot fades away, leaving behind music, voice, and raw emotion. Fish, along with Daniel Kluger and Nathan Koci—his musical collaborators from the Bard SummerScape production of Oklahoma!—give audiences an entirely new way to experience the songs of an American musical treasure. "

Side note: I called them and they said they will offer refunds if necessary.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 3/31/20 at 8:10pm

At least this time it’s being retitled so no one will be under the impression this is a presentation of the show as written and intended by the author.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 4/1/20 at 12:06am

smart of the estate to retitle it. it might even give him more flexibility.

what's the train to Bard like from the city?

[ggersten]

Posted: 3/25/21 at 9:27am

bumping this to link to a Sullivan clip of the original broadway cast.

https://youtu.be/4nn_kGQdoq8

Updated On: 3/25/21 at 09:27 AM

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 3/25/21 at 10:25am

"That said, he has many projects lined up, including an opera in France next year, a film inspired from the meditative city walks he’s been taking during the pandemic, and a song cycle video production with composer Ted Hearne and visual artist Rachel Perry for UCLA’s Center for the Art of Performance. His production of “Oklahoma!” is scheduled to reopen the Ahmanson Theatre at the end of August, though Fish is aware that all dates are now written in sand.

“A colleague said to me last week, ‘I just wish someone had told me in March that it’s going to be one year or 16 months, and then I would have thought about things differently.’ It’s this constant state of postponement and uncertainty. As a result, I’m working on 10 different things, but none of them are going anywhere. It’s very different than going into a room with people and making something. I’m envious of writers and painters right now, but, for better or worse, I have to do it in a room with people. And I can’t do it in a virtual room, or I’m just not that interested in doing it in a virtual room.”

From a recent interview... it mentions Most Happy at the beginning but it isn't listed in his future projects at the end. Is this still going forward?

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2021-03-02/covid-theater-shutdown-anniversary-daniel-fish-culture-clash

The part about plot fading away and focusing on the music made it sound like a concert/song cycle.

[fashionguru_23]

Posted: 3/25/21 at 6:00pm

On a podcast this week, where Mary Testa was the guest, she mentioned this as an upcoming project of hers that sounded like they are hoping to do later this year.

[jkader]

Posted: 3/26/21 at 5:53am

According to the Broadway World,
Fish's production is set to open this summer. Details are currently being discussed with Frank Loesser's estate. Fish has said that this production will be not be conventional, and is encouraging performers who identify as transgender, nonbinary or queer to audition.

Updated On: 3/26/21 at 05:53 AM

[LarryD2]

Posted: 3/27/21 at 9:21am

Bard Summerscape, which was originally set to produce this last year, sent out a season announcement press release that didn't include mention of it. Does anyone know if it's moving venues or if they're just waiting to formally announce until all the details are ironed out with the Loesser estate?

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 3/27/21 at 9:55am

FranklinDickson2018 said: "Not everything that starts at Bard has to come to Broadway does it? I mean this could go nowhere?

Interesting that this would happen after Jo Sullilvan Loesser had passed away.....

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Daniel-Fish-to-Direct-THE-MOST-HAPPY-FELLA-at-Bard-SummerScape-20191220

Quote from NYT:

Expect “a nontraditional treatment of the existing material,” a SummerScape spokesman said, “with an emphasis on Loesser’s exquisite score.”

Had I felt that the Fish "Oklahoma" had emphasized R & H's "exquisite score" I would be less alarmed.

I know I know..... no one is forcing me to buy a ticket.

"

I actually think his Oklahoma did emphasize the exquisiteness of the score.
Above all, its timelessness.

 

[lachri5]

Posted: 4/29/21 at 11:54am

Just received an email from Fisher Center that this production is back on Aug 5-7 starring Tina Fabrique and Mary Testa: https://fishercenter.bard.edu/summerscape/

[Owen22]

Posted: 4/29/21 at 12:04pm

lachri5 said: "Just received an email from Fisher Center that this production is back on Aug 5-7 starring Tina Fabrique and Mary Testa:https://fishercenter.bard.edu/summerscape/"

Oh PLEASE let that picture be the poster!!!!!

[George in DC]

Posted: 4/30/21 at 11:40am

^ I'd buy that poster. You couldn't pay me to sit through it though.