Customer Reviews

The Most Happy Fella (1956 Original Broadway Cast)

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THE MOST HAPPY FELLA is undoutably composer-lyricist Frank Loesser's masterpiece. Although there would be other big triumphs (GUYS AND DOLLS, HOW TO SUCCEED...) nothing quite matches FELLA for scope, dramatic intensity and sheer brilliance.

Based on THEY KNEW WHAT THEY WANTED by Sidney Howard, the story concerns vineyard owner Tony Esposito (played by opera great Robert Weede). The outstanding supporting cast includes superb belters Jo Sullivan (THE THREEPENNY OPERA) and Susan Johnson (OH, CAPTAIN!); as well as Art Lund, Shorty Long, Mona Paulee, Helon Blount, Lois van Pelt and Lillian Shelby.

The original cast album of MOST HAPPY FELLA was given the grand treatment by Columbia Records (under the inspired guidance of wunderkind producer Goddard Lieberson). The show was recorded, save for a few lines, in its complete state, and released in a lavish 3-LP boxed set complete with a copy of the full-color programme.

Sony Classical have now faithfully reissued this landmark cast album in a great 2-disc set, which will be relished by all fans of this delicious score. Standout numbers include "Ooh, My Feet!", "Somebody, Somewhere" and the rousing "Big D.".

THE MOST HAPPY FELLA enjoyed a successful run of 678 performances yet failed to win any Tony's. It was unfortunate that FELLA opened in the same season as LI'L ABNER and MY FAIR LADY, which both took out all the big awards that year.

THE MOST HAPPY FELLA is one of Broadway's greatest musicals. [SONY S2K 48010]

I knew Frank Loesser was an extremely talented composer. Under the glamorous, classic-broadway image of Guys and Dolls, you will find the work of a musical genius - i mean, just listen to the choral stuff in Sit Down and you'll know what I mean. But in The Most Happy Fella', his last fully-realized work, Loesser really topped himself. Here we have what is surely one of the greatest scores of all time. I have to say, the sheer amount of music on this score is incredible - the liner notes point out that Loesser was actually criticized for pouring years of effort into this show when the musical ingenuity he expended could have gone to create 6 more. Not only is the wonderful score represented on this CD set (pressed from 3 LPs) but so is every line of dialogue - you can actually follow the entire story, which is actually a plus, because the story is a heartbreaker. Every singer is in top form (especially Susan Johnson - I could weep for talent that later went wasted in such disastrous shows as Oh Captain and Whoop-up.) So, to sum up, BUY THIS RECORDING! You will not be sorry.

My love for the Broadway show ignited as an 11 yr old when my mother dragged me to a performance of this cast in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in about 1956. Wow! Lonely Robert Weede in love with Rosabella sang love and swear words with such gusto; Jo Sullivan (Loesser) became Rosabella; Susan Johnson and Short Long sang "Big D" like no other duo can and Shorty was the best 'girl gawker' when he sang "Standin' on the Corner;'then Art Lund opened his mouth to sing "Joey." Wow!

Well, if you want to hear THE perfect cast... singing some of the all time greatest show tunes with all of the operatic electricity of the MET, yet containing the humor and subtlety of Broadway, BUY THIS CD. There is NO substitute for this cast and this show.

Fully 80% of the show is sung, so 1956 is alive today for you to hear in an engineering masterpiece...the re-mastering of the original recording.

A DVD of the 1980 PBS production starring Georgio Tozzi is available at matsoncreative.com.

My first acquaintance with "The Most Happy Fella" was by way of one of the last of the "I Love Lucy" shows, in which a planned trip to New York to see this musical turned the plot of the episode. We only heard short excerpts from a few of the songs: "Standing on the Corner," "Big D," "Don't Cry." But hearing the musical in its entirety was clearly eye-opening. This musical is what people mean when they say something is a "classic." And I'm not even a real fan of musical comedy. This is not your typical musical. It's more on the level of "Porgy and Bess," or even one of the later 20th century operas, such as Britten's "Death in Venice." The music is complex and needs repeated listening to get the full intensity and meaning of it. The voices of Susan Johnson, Art Lund, Robert Weede, and Jo Sullivan are comparable to almost any contemporary opera singer you could name. An original cast recording, the set is extraordinarily alive and fresh, even though they were recorded 43 years ago. Clearly a winner.

I have listened to the original cast recording, starring Robert Weede, for years. No recent production compares to it vocally or dramatically, not even the old Dallas Opera TV production starring Gorgio Tozzi as Tony. First, the score is in the original key, with Weede hitting his brilliant high G's. He was an operatic baritone, not a bass, as the more recent Tonys have been. That makes for a big difference in those high notes, especially in the original, less muddy, more presence. Second, Frank Loesser was on hand to provide input into the production. He later married the leading lady, so we know he influenced her, one way or the other. Third, the cast has a feel for their roles that no recent cast can approach. They seem real, involved, not merely pros being skillful with their craft. Fourth, there is a consistent emotional intesity and comic flair that the other productions lack. It's all there. If you want to hear what this neglected masterpiece should sound like, grab this recording.
You will not regret it!

As a casual musical fan whose experience is broad but shallow, I also found this recording to be excellent. It is a recording of the entire show (with one scene heavily dependent on the visuals omitted), but it is almost all sung! The dialogue isn't the main focus of the production, or even where the "action" takes place, but are minor bits woven into the greater show, much like dialogue in an opera (e.g., Carmen) rather than a standard musical, which all too often seems to have the songs "thrown in" to the show awkwardly.

Not only does the show have wonderful music, but an entertaining, involving, and challenging story as well. One cannot help being emotionally affected, and the superb score (and wonderful cast) only intensifies this.

Buy this recording!

As I see it, cast albums serve two purposes: to preserve the score and performances for posterity, and to convey a sense of the show's arc and theatricality. Goddard Lieberson's 1956 recording of Frank Loesser's THE MOST HAPPY FELLA does both, and to a degree never seen before and rarely since. This is a very special album because, as previous reviewers have pointed out, it preserves the COMPLETE show, including all the spoken dialogue, dance music, incidental music and underscoring (minus a few moments of stage business that, on recording, would have proved incomprehensible). To be able to hear an entire show, from overture to finale, gives the listener unprecedented access to its plot and characters -- listening to this recording is the next best thing to actually seeing the original production on stage.

And thank goodness, because it's a terrific show. This is one of the best, and biggest, scores ever composed for Broadway -- in three sprawling acts, it tells a tale of pathos, romance and humor, expertly structured and executed, with delicate characterizations and a wonderfully rich vocabulary. Are there any two songs less alike than "Don't Cry" and "Love and Kindness"? or "I Made a Fist" and "How Beautiful the Days"? Yet they exist side by side in THE MOST HAPPY FELLA, all completely integral to the show because, in addition to being great showtunes, they convey plot, reveal character, and define relationships. And everything is unified by Don Walker's beautiful orchestrations. Walker wasn't known for being a very subtle orchestrator (his arrangements of Rodgers and Hart sound, as my friend put it, like heavy metal), but here he works magic and makes Loesser's music soar like Puccini.

The cast, too, is superior in almost every way. Who else but Robert Weede could play Tony, with his huge voice and huge heart? Weede was that rare creature, an opera singer who could actually act, and do both exceedingly well. Who else but Jo Sullivan could play Rosabella, with all that tenderness and hesitation that blossoms into such joy? As Cleo, Susan Johnson will floor you when she belts "I know how it is," then break your heart when she confides that "I don't know how it is." In the hands of a lesser performer the character of Joey could have been just another musical comedy sleazebag -- but somehow Art Lund turns him into a real human being, one you might feel a hint of compassion for, despite all his restless hedonism. The minor characters -- Marie (Mona Paulee), Doc (Keith Kaldenberg), the Postman (Lee Cass), Pasquale (Rico Froehlich) and the rest -- are all brilliantly acted and sung. In fact, one of my favorite moments on this recording is a tiny throwaway scene between a Country Girl and a City Boy (Meri Miller and John Sharpe): it's only a minute long, but it's hilarious and bespeaks the high quality of the ensemble as a whole.

This is a royal score, and it gets the royal treatment on this two-disc set. A lot of "big" Broadway scores never got the same deal, which is why we listen, frustrated, to the eviscerated original cast recordings of ALLEGRO, CANDIDE, FOLLIES... But THE MOST HAPPY FELLA is here to sweep us off our feet, with all its heart and soul intact.

Someone once asked Frank Loesser if he considered THE MOST HAPPY FELLA an opera. "No," he replied, "it's a musical...with a lotta music!"

And here we have virtually the entire show. (A few visual moments were eliminated since they would not make sense on a recording) All the dialogue, songs, recitative were recorded by Columbia records just weeks after the show opened triumphantly at Broadway's Imperial theatre. It was originally released in two formats: a boxed 3-Lp set of the entire show, and a single Lp of the key musical numbers. While the single Lp was more commonly found, Sony has released the complete recording as a double CD.

It's a vivid, theatrical performance. Robert Weede came from the Metropolitan Opera to play Tony and it is a perfect match of performer with character. Jo Sullivan sings gloriously as his "Rosabella" (and must have impressed the composer: he divorced his wife and married her during the run of the show.) As the heroine's best friend we have Susan Johnson, a performer who never got the attention she deserved. This was one of her few hit shows, as she often gave fantastic performances in flops liek OH! CAPTAIN and WHOOP UP. She retired from the stage and for many years show music fans cherished her few cast album performances for her distinctive belt. Her's was a perfect musical comedy voice.

Loesser combines several musical styles from standard show tunes ("Standin' on the Corner", "Big D") to operatic arias ("Rosabella", "How Beautiful the Days.") There is some spoken dialogue and some recitative. About 80 % of the show is sung.

It's a great chance to sit and listen to an entire performance of the show, undisturbed by late-comers. It's great for long trips in the car too!

This is an excellent recording. The most important feature is that, unlike other original cast recordings, it offers almost the entire play -- and that is a considerable accomplishment since this particular production had so much more music than the typical Broadway production.

In addition to the mere fact of being complete, because it is so complete it is possible to follow the plot simply by listening to the musical numbers -- again something very different from most original cast albums.

That is why listening to this dual disc is the next best thing to a frontrow seat in the theater.

Can't add much to the previous reviewers' comments, except to say that Robert Weede has a truly magnificent voice--if you like John Cullum, you'll like him. Also, darn it, why don't they give the full recording treatment to more musicals?! It's wonderful to hear the dialogue for a change--way better than piecing the story together from the libretto (and, of course, most CDs don't even bother to include one).

I've listened to the 1992 recording, and while it's not bad and would make a decent cheap substitute if you're on a budget, I think you'd be better off saving your pennies for this one. For one thing, this one has a full orchestra, while the revival scaled it all the way down to two pianos. Believe me, the emotional impact of the original is much greater.