The Most Happy Fella (OBC, and in general)

[inlovewithjerryherman]

Posted: 12/26/05 at 12:12am

I got the OBC for Christmas, and wow...what a GORGEOUS score. There's everything from operatic arias to belty character songs to brassy production numbers. I adore it. Robert Weede is just sensational as Tony. What a voice. Jo Sullivan, another amazing voice. And Susan Johnson's belting is thrilling. Just...I'm lot for words.

I'm considering getting the Studio cast now, with the complete score, and maybe the two piano revival recording. Any opinions on any of the recordings or the show in general?

[jasonf]

Posted: 12/26/05 at 12:17am

LOVE the score. The OBC is the best recording of it. The studio one is OK, but I like the OBC better. The two pianos one - I liked it because it was the first one I got - but once I got the OBC that was the end of that...

Joey Joey Joey and Rosabella are two of my all time favorite songs.

I wonder - did Loesser have a thing with a woman named Rose? "Rosabella"...."Rosemary" -- both beautiful songs...

Posted: 12/26/05 at 12:27am

i think charles pistone is amazing on the revival recording as are spiro and liz larson.
i happen to be a VERY close friend of Charles and i know he ABSOLUTELY LOVED that show. As far as the two pianos..no one plays better than that Tim Stella! AMAZING!

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 12/26/05 at 12:29am

I'd skip the revival disc. It's pretty dull, and at one disc, has many cuts.

[inlovewithjerryherman]

Posted: 12/26/05 at 12:50am

"Big D" has been in my head ALL day. LOVE IT.

VERY perceptive, jasonf. I wonder what his wife's name was.

Also completely off-topic, has anyone else noticed just how many heros in the musical theatre are named Tony and heroines Maria?

Anyway, back to MHF, I'd just like to get the studio one for the pure sake of having the whole score and the humongo orchestra playing humongo orchestrations. I heard Karen Ziemba was miscast though, and the man and woman playing Tony and Rosabella are no Robert Weede and Jo Sullivan. I guess I just wnat to know if, me loving the score as is, is enough to consider spedning 50 freaking bucks on it.

Posted: 12/26/05 at 12:50am

i don't think anything about Frank Loessers music is dull. i also think the two pianos sound awesome. i like the simplicity of it and for someone who would rather hear the highlights..nad not ALL of the rececitive, its really good. i recommend it. its just another version of the show that some people MIGHT be interested in. its different from the other ones..so in my opinion, don't skip it.

[inlovewithjerryherman]

Posted: 12/26/05 at 12:55am

lol I'm probably gonna end up buying them all...Christmas hasn't been over for an hour and I'm already set to save and blow some 75 bucks...lol.

Loesser makes some really cool musical choices in this show...like, Cloe's music always sounds so dissonant, and then when she sings with Herman, who's always upbeat and melodic, they overlap in this beautiful way, particularly in that counterpoint, "Supposin' I Should Have to Say Goodbye".

gah. Genius. Yay Frank.

EDIT: When the NBC was actually on Broadway, was it actually performed with two pianos or a full orchestra? And if it was the latter, why two pianos for the recording? Updated On: 12/26/05 at 12:55 AM

Posted: 12/26/05 at 1:11am

I know Cheyenne Jackson was in it at one point due to audio on his site- where was he in the show?

[inlovewithjerryherman]

Posted: 12/26/05 at 1:29am

Cheyenne, whom I love, in case you can't tell...

<----------------------------------------------

played Joey in a production of The Most Happy Fella at the Fifth Avenue Theatre. Good role for him, I must say. There are pics on his website, the one at the top with him in his cowboy hat is actually from the show.

Posted: 12/26/05 at 2:03am

Cheyenne is AWESOME!

[elmore3003]

Posted: 12/26/05 at 9:08am

I was the editor on the complete studio cast recording. The original Broadway production in 1956 had a full orchestra of around 35 players, and the orchestrations by Don Walker (credited) and Red Ginzler (uncredited) are beautiful. The studio cast has both good and bad: I love Karen Ziemba as Cleo, Emily Loesser (Frank's daughter) as Rosabella, Don Stephenson as Herman, and I wish that Louis Quilico had been in better voice; he died about a year after the recording was released. The other thing I like about the recording is all the cut music in the Appendix; there was a lot of music written for the show and a lot got cut out of town. It's all quite wonderful.

[Jon]

Posted: 12/26/05 at 9:10am

Re the studio recoding: Karen Ziemba is NOT miscast - she is superb. She played the role at NYC opera in 1992 to rave reviews. Emily Loesser has a rather shrill soprano - not nearly as full and lush as her mother. Her hubby, Don Stephenson, does nicely as Herman. Louis Quillico as Tony is a bit too heavy a baritone for Tony. Robert Weede was almost a tenor, and was much more pleasant to listen to.

[jasonf]

Posted: 12/26/05 at 10:15am

Let me be clear - I didn't mean to disparage the two pianos recording...it was the only one I had for years and I LOVED it. That's what prompted me to go out and get the OBC in the first place (those CDs are practically an investment at the price they're sold for). The OBC is just so lush that in comparison it makes the pianos one sound clunky. It's like that new Finian's Rainbow - after hearing it all full and beautiful, the simple piano arrangements just don't cut it on a score like that. This isn't to say the piano-style CAN'T work for any show, just for these two, the scores as written are so - I have to use the word "lush" again - that the pianos just don't cut it for me.

Posted: 12/26/05 at 10:18pm

jason ..was that for me? i am sorry if my post made you feel the need to explain. i was directing that at bobbybubby...i always think its so unecessary for someone to post immediately after a post where you say you like someone and KNOW someone involved in something and then they come back with "DOn't BOTHER" or "They SUCK" (which HE didn't, but some people do)...its just rude. he could have just said it wasn't his favorite and make his own suggestion. but thats a message board for ya!

[The Distinctive Baritone]

Posted: 12/27/05 at 12:02am

Great show. I did it in a summer stock a few years ago. IMO, the OBC is the best recording. The guy playing Tony on the studio recording definitely fits the operatic baritone tradition of having a "big" sound but not necessarily one that is nice to listen to. And on the revival recording, the two pianos just don't work for me. But the OBC is great. This truly is a magnificent score.

[The Distinctive Baritone]

Posted: 12/27/05 at 12:06am

P.S.

When I did the show, the director (somehow) knew Jo Sullivan Loesser, the original Rosabella and, of course, owner of the rights since her husband has now passed. She gave us two additional songs for the show that had been cut out of town--I think they were both for Marie, Tony's sister. They kind of humanized her, showing that she was really acting in Tony's best interest, as wrong as she was.

I don't know why I posted that--perhaps someone will find that interesting!

[jasonf]

Posted: 12/27/05 at 12:20am

I did, distinctive :) I've never seen the show, but have been trying to piece together the plot as much as possible from just the audio.

[The Distinctive Baritone]

Posted: 12/27/05 at 1:10am

Cool. PM me if you have any questions :)

[elmore3003]

Posted: 12/27/05 at 8:55am

Distinctive Baritone, was this the production Kim Kowalke conducted on the Cape? I helped him out with the celesta part for that production, and I believe I faxed him my copies of the cut songs.

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 12/27/05 at 10:38am

Anyway, back to MHF, I'd just like to get the studio one for the pure sake of having the whole score and the humongo orchestra playing humongo orchestrations. I guess I just wnat to know if, me loving the score as is, is enough to consider spedning 50 freaking bucks on it.

Columbia's OBC is virtually the whole show. One scene was dropped because it was mainly visual (Cleo and Herman making out while they paste labels on the grape boxes); some dialogue was changed so as to make sense to the home listener ("Isn't that a shame? Her coming all this way and him having an accident."); and a few words were censored in deference to "family" audiences at home (Cleo's line in "Ooh My Feet" lost its line about the "big son of bitch hurts the most!") The sound quality is excellent although it was taped in May 1956 - just a few months before Columbia began recording their shows in stereo.Columbia offered the complete show on 3 Lps - that is what is on the current OBC 2 CD set - as well as a single Lp containing just the key songs. The highlights Lp sounds like a typical 1950s cast album but the complete recording reveals a show that was different and special.

The cast of the 1992 revival was also special. Somehow on CD it is less impressive than it was in the theatre. Maybe because it was heavily abridged to fit one CD, but I think the 2-piano accompaniment doesn't quite work on the Cd.

Jay's note complete recording restores some cut material and offers a 3rd CD of cut songs and alternate versions and is quite impressive...but none of the subsequent cats can match the originals.

MOST HAPPY FELLA is a wonderful show but the 2nd act is problematic because much of it is spent waiting for Tony to recover and for the love affair between he and Rosabella to take root. It is still enjoyable but not as tightly plotted as the first and third acts.

[best12bars]

Posted: 12/27/05 at 10:43am

I'm glad to see a thread about this, and to read all the info. Fascinating stuff! What a thrill to get to work on this brilliant show! I LOVE the full OBCR. It's great to have the dialogue and score preserved together, and I couldn't agree with you more about these original (magnificent) performances. I think this show didn't do better in its original run because of "My Fair Lady," which I believe opened only a week or two after "Fella" and stole all the thunder that season. Similar to A Chorus Line eclipsing Chicago. Timing is everything. It happens. The show enjoyed a "respectable" run, but wasn't the monster hit that it should have been.

I saw the "two pianos" revival when it played Los Angeles, prior to its Broadway run... and it was a revelation, and VERY well received (rightfully). I never thought the score would work scaled down, but it did. I still prefer the orchestrations... but this is an emotional story about PEOPLE, it's not a theatrical "spectacle" that relies heavily on flash to put it over. I only wish that Mary Gordon Murray (who played Rosabella in the L.A. cast) had gone with the show to Broadway. The rest of the cast was the same as Broadway. I believe the woman playing this part (Sophie???) had a scheduled leave-of-absence prior to the New York run... so Murray filled in just for the one stop. She was so incredible in the part. And as a result, when the show arrived in NYC, I was ultimately disappointed in the "original" choice for this role (Miss Sophie I-can't-remember-her-last-name).

But the show works... whether it's with a full pit orchestra, two pianos, or even a fife and kazoo. It's that good!

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 12/27/05 at 11:10am

The reason Sophie Hayden missed the L.A. engagement was that she found out while at Goodspeed that she was pregnant (but not by Joe!) She took the time off to have her baby then almost immediately plunged into rehearsals for the Broadway run.

Having seen Mary Gordon Murray in several shows over the years I am sure she would have made a wonderful Rosabella, but the chemistry between Sophie and Spiro Malas (Tony) was fantastic.

The reason the show worked so well on stage with just the twin pianos is simple: it's all about character. Oh there are a few moments (notably the orchestra lead in to "Please Let me Tell You..") where you expect that big sweeing orchestral statement but the piano version was smaller and made you really feel Rosabella's lonliness and isolation now that Tony has thrown her out.

The revival got senational reviews (20 raves and one pan. I forget who was the lone nay-sayer.) But for some reason audiences seemed less entranced. The revival of GUYS AND DOLLS came along later in the season and stole much of the thunder (and took the Tony for Best Revival) but even so, HAPPY FELLA wasn't as big a box office hit as it should have been given those reviews. (This season's SWEENEY TODD seems to be facing the same battle, but that show has always been bigger with critics and theatre fans than with mass audiences.)

At least those of you in New York get a chance to see a full production this spring at NYCO. I hope it's good.