The Most Happy Fella
Music, Lyrics and Libretto by
Frank Loesser
based on Sidney Howard's play
They Knew What They Wanted
The Most Happy Fella opened on May 3, 1956 at the Imperial Theatre, New York City and closed on December 14, 1957, running for 678 performances.
The original cast
Lee Cass as The Cashier
Susan Johnson as Cleo
Jo Sullivan as Rosabella/Amy
Marlyn Greer, Martha Mathes, Myrna Aaron, Meri Miller and Beverly Gaines as Waitresses
Lee Cass as The Postman
Robert Weede as Tony
Mona Paulee as Marie
Louis Polacek as Max
Betsy Bridge as Gladys
Shorty Long as Herman
Alan Gilbert as Clem
John Henson as Jake
Roy Lazarus as Al
Art Lund as Joe
Arthur Rubin as Giuseppe
Rico Froehlich as Pasquale
John Henson as Ciccio
Meri Miller as Country Girl
John Sharpe as City Boy
Keith Kaldenberg as The Doctor
Russell Goodwin as The Priest
Zina Bethune as Tessie
Christopher Snell as Gussie
Ralph Farnworth as Bus Driver
Musical Numbers
Overture
Ooh! My Feet!
Somebody, Somewhere
The Most Happy Fella
Standing on the Corner
Joey, Joey, Joey
Rosabella
Abbondanza
Sposalizio
Benvenuta
Don't Cry
Prelude to Act Two
Fresno Beauties
Happy To Make Your Acquaintance
Big D
How Beautiful The Days
Young People
Warm All Over
I Like Ev'rybody
My Heart is So Full of You
Hoedown
Mamma, Mamma
Prelude to Act Three
Abbondanza (reprise)
Song of a Summer Night
Please Let Me Tell You
I Made A Fist
Finale
Perhaps the amazing thing about The Most Happy Fella is that it is one of the first musicals to be almost entirely sung. Frank Loesser's score makes the show almost three hours long, which almost no melody being repeated. It is also one of the few three-act musicals that I know of (Anyone Can Whistle) being another one.
The actress who played Rosabella in the original cast later become Frank Loesser's wife and their daughter, Emily Loesser recently played Rosabella in the Jay Records complete recording released in 2000.