ROC Lyric Opera revives the Broadway masterpiece ‘The Most Happy Fella’

If you are a lover of classic Broadway musicals from the 1940s and 1950s, you won’t want to miss “The Most Happy Fella.” Frank Loesser’s opera-meets-Broadway masterpiece will be given a rare, single concert performance next week at Nazareth University. For the team putting “The Most Happy Fella” together for ROC Lyric Opera, it is a long overdue revival.

The show, on Friday, Sept. 5, represents a relaunch for ROC Lyric Opera, formerly Rochester Lyric Opera, and a new collaboration between the opera company and the university’s music and theater departments.

The libretto, lyrics and music of “The Most Happy Fella” are the work of the remarkable composer and lyricist Frank Loesser (1910-1969), whose other Broadway musicals include “Guys and Dolls” and “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.”“The Most Happy Fella” came in between them, in 1956. It ran two years on Broadway, and won the New York Drama Critics Award. Despite its success, Loesser’s most ambitious production is seldom performed now.

Loesser based his show on Sidney Howard’s 1924 play “They Knew What They Wanted,” the love story of Tony, a middle-aged Italian immigrant and grape farmer in California’s Napa Valley, and a young waitress named Amy, whom Tony calls “Rosabella.” (Buffalo-based baritone Robb Zimmerman plays Tony, and soprano Susan Cotroneo, the founder and executive director of ROC Lyric Opera and a Nazareth faculty member, plays Amy.)

Tony speaks English poorly but sends her a marriage proposal by mail, including a picture of his handsome farmhand Joe instead. Amy meets Tony, finding a much older man. She does marry him (strongly opposed by Tony’s sister Marie) but runs away and becomes pregnant by Joe, who soon leaves town. Amy gradually discovers her genuine love for Tony, who decides to raise the baby as his own, ending the show as “the most happy fella.”

There are almost 40 musical numbers in “The Most Happy Fella,” from arias and ensembles that often pack an operatic punch, to some pure Broadway numbers (including the show’s 1950s close-harmony hit, “Standing on the Corner”) that prove Loesser’s way with witty lyrics. In between all those songs, the orchestra heightens the story and its emotions with underscored dialogue.

Loesser’s two-hour-plus, nearly continuous score keeps a conductor and orchestra very busy. In the words of ROC Lyric Opera musical director Raúl Mungúia, who conducts the show’s 30-piece professional orchestra, “Many older musicals from the popular canon are performed with a small combo in the pit. But here, the orchestra really justifies the numbers.” (Mungúia and vocal music director Andrew Cooke are both Nazareth faculty members.)

Mungúia admits that he, like most of the cast and production team, was not familiar with “The Most Happy Fella” when it was proposed.

“So, I came to it with an open mind, and I found it is beautiful, very smart writing!” he says. “Loesser’s harmonic language and his skillful use of musical motives is amazing, and his melodies fit the voices perfectly. I hear reminders of so many other composers—of Donizetti, of Puccini, even of Bernstein.”

“This show is such a gem, a breath of fresh air,” says actress Nicolette Hart, who is ROC Lyric Opera’s program director. “It walks the line between opera and musical. I didn’t know it well, but in learning it I am delighted by the sheer charm of it.”

Hart plays the role of Cleo, a straight-talking waitress who gets two of the score’s Broadway-style songs, “Ooh! My Feet” and “Big D” (as in “big D, little A, double L, A-S,” her home town).

“Cleo’s sweet and irreverent—I love her,” says Hart, who’s basing her characterization on another straight-talking waitress, “Flo” from the 1970s sitcom “Alice.”

Hart, who is also a professor of musical theater at Nazareth, notes that along with several faculty members, the large cast and chorus includes about 20 Nazareth students. “This production is tied to a required course I teach called ‘Page to Stage,’ in which musical theater students prepare a performance of a musical in a 10-day process,” she says.

That sounds a bit scary, but Hart says it’s a great experience for young performers.

“They learn that they’ll have to think on their feet, to be flexible, and to make bold choices about their characters,” she says.

“From Page to Stage” students usually work with brand-new material by up-and-coming writers and composers. The creator of “The Most Happy Fella” has been gone more than a half century, but Hart says this older show still offers valuable lessons for students.

“Our students come to us knowing contemporary works (think ‘Wicked,’ ‘The Last Five Years,’ or ‘Hamilton’),” Hart says. “They may originally think the classic shows like ‘Most Happy Fella’ are passé, that they don’t apply to them. But they learn that it’s important to understand the performing style of older musicals.”

Grace Plassmeyer, a Nazareth junior in the musical theater program, agrees.

“We grew up listening to contemporary shows; they’re fun, and some of us love to belt! But in our studies, we learn that you can’t neglect earlier musicals,” Plassmeyer says. “They’re still performed, and they have great stories and characters and very beautiful, melodic songs.”

Plassmeyer plays Tony’s sister Marie, a role she finds dramatically interesting.

“She is not a loving sister! But she also realizes that without him in her life, she has nothing,” she says. “I try to find a way for the audience to understand and sympathize with her.

“I’m learning quickly!” Plassmeyer says of rehearsals. “It’s so valuable learning how to work in the room with professionals. Our leads are fantastic role models, and Kristy [director Kristy Kosko] is so open to trying new things.”

“The Most Happy Fella,” in Plassmeyer’s opinion, is full of stunning songs.

“The score is so complex, but the melodies fit exactly with the plot. Loesser expresses every emotion through his music,” she says.

And Plassmeyer thinks that Loesser’s plot is not passé at all.

“This show has a timeless story, and I really think it will appeal to young people,” she says.

ROC Lyric Opera presents a concert performance of Frank Loesser’s “The Most Happy Fella” on Friday, Sept. 5 at 7:30 p.m. in Callahan Theatre at Nazareth University. Information and tickets are available here.

David Raymond is a Rochester Beacon contributing writer.

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