THE MOST HAPPY FELA! at Encores! — Page 3

EricMontreal22, there are a few very short snippets of the 'Big D' choreography scattered throughout this Broadway.com video:

http://www.broadway.com/videos/155410/our-most-happy-fella-video-will-make-you-feel-warm-all-over-and-make-laura-benanti-roll-her-eyes/#play

ETA - there's also a fair bit of the number in this rehearsal video, though it cuts elsewhere before the real dancing starts.

http://www.broadway.com/videos/155391/in-rehearsal-the-most-happy-fella-with-shuler-hensley-laura-benanti-cheyenne-jackson-more/#play

Updated On: 4/5/14 at 06:08 AM

I love reading what people had to say about this production. I'm sorry I couldn't make it up to NYC to see this. Too bad Encores isn't two weekends.

I saw the 2 piano revival in '92. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Just downloaded and listed to the revival cast recording today. I forgot just how wonderful the score to this show is.

---

Another hole--err...gap!--filled. This show was not part of my landscape, and so I had no expectations, fears or hopes.

The orchestra was magical, and the score was transporting. Honestly, I was thrown by the complexity and unpredictable variety of the music. Right off the bat, the Overture knocked me for a loop--this was not 'Guys and Dolls'. (I mean--I KNEW it wasn't 'Guys and Dolls', but it wasn't what I expected from a Loesser overture). 'Oooh! My feet!' seemed to put us back on track, but then 'Somebody Somewhere' was so complex and stirring. By the time we got to "Joey Joey Joey" I gave up trying to categorize what I was hearing and just gave in to the joy of listening. I see now why so many of you say it is a favorite show--what a rare and beautiful bird!

As others have said, "Songs of a Summer Night" is just beyond beautiful.

I LOVED the performances of 'Abbondanza'--especially the endearing and appealing Zachary James.

I confess the book annoyed me at first--the gimmicks which move the plot forward are clumsy and Joe and Maria are simultaneously too crucial to eliminate, yet too thin to come to any kind of life. And their exits--particularly Maria's--are almost comically abrupt and un-resolved.

Ultimately, though, I found the last 2 scenes--originally their own Act??--so moving and redemptive that I let go of my quibbles with the book. I was choking back tears along with all the Hadassah Theater Guild yentas sitting around me.

I confess that I'm skeptical that the book can support a Broadway run, which makes me all the more grateful to Encores! for giving us the chance to see such a wonderful, wonderful show.

---

Updated On: 4/5/14 at 03:28 PM

I know nothing about this show, and had no interest until I read what Whizzer and everyone else is saying. Now I can't wait to see it Sunday night.

Song of a Summer Night was gorgeous! It was staged and sung beautifully. I don't think I breathed until it was over.

Updated On: 4/6/14 at 08:23 PM

I learn quite a bit on this message board. As I stated earlier, I was not familiar with this show. I knew a few of the songs, but gee did I have a terrific time. Laura, Heidi, Shuler and the entire cast were all fantastic. I loved the choreography, and I can't say enough about the orchestra and Loesser's score. Many thanks to those who posted reviews, prompting me to buy a ticket. This was a great way to end the weekend.

Seeing those clips of this production REALLY made me wish that PBS could have somehow filmed this show. I wonder if union rules would have prevented it. What a shame that such a stunning production could only last for four days of performances.

I saw the 7:00 show on Sunday, and I can only reiterate what others have said. I loved it and, judging from the response, so did most of the audience. Benanti and Hensley were superb--absolutely gorgeous singing. The comedy numbers--Big D, etc.--were a stitch. I don't now how much rehearsal time they had, but this was a fully realized performance that is as good as anything on Broadway now. It's too bad it won't transfer, but I suppose there is no audience for something like this in a longer run.

What was at the back of the stage? I couldn't quite tell if there was anything happening back there. I was way up in the balcony but still had an awesome view of the orchestra and the front of the stage.

I don't think there was anything at the back of the stage except projections of fanciful drawings of Napa fields right behind the back row of the orchestra (brass and percussion).

Don't ruin my rep.

Ha!

Newintown I'd love to hear more about how you compare it to South Pacific. I've never thought of that before, but they do definitely both share a nearly hyper-romanticism. Still South Pacific to me has always seemed one of the least operatic of R&H's scores, which sounds odd I know since one role is nearly always played by an opera singer (and I assume was written for one.) People have commented before how the relative failure of Allegro seems to have allowed Rodgers to temper Hammerstein's desire to keep on being more adventurous with the structure of their musicals--and of course with SP and King and I they seem to have perfected the "well made musical."

Eric, after Sunday's show I was comparing and contrasting Fella and South Pacific, starting with the romantic similarity of "Some Enchanted Evening" and "My Heart Is So Full of You." But then, going further, it seemed to me that Loesser's music is so much more "American" than Rodgers' - who isn't particularly "European," but whose music lacks some of those rhythms and dissonances that make the work of Copland, Gershwin, Bernstein and Loesser sound so "American" (to me).

I also find Loesser's music to be more harmonically complex than Rodgers' - "Joey, Joey, Joey," for instance, goes to some really odd and unexpected places, and has some truly unearthly (to use a cliché) harmonies (for which, perhaps, Don Walker takes more credit than Loesser?).

And then there's the different ways each show explores the "exotic" - "Bali H'ai" in SP with its harp runs (yet still in a simple sort of slow fox-trot basic figuration), and "Abbondanza," "Sposalizio" and "Benvenuta" in Fella, as well as Tony's broken English songs like "Plenty Bambini."

But one thing that strikes me as particularly operatic in Fella is the subservience (often) of the lyric to the music, with many instances of multiple repetitions of a simple lyric, over and over again, set to gorgeous music. I think that Hammerstein's lyrics are dealt with very differently.

Stuff like that was what I was mulling - I know that's contrasting more than comparing. The initial similarities that brought it to mind, I guess, were the exploration of the "foreign" and the large, sweeping, lush nature of both scores, and how both shows are about learning to love someone despite yourself.

Updated On: 4/8/14 at 02:19 PM