By Dale King
The Most Happy Fella is a most unusual stage show, and most entertaining.
To present Frank Loesser’s award-winning production (he wrote the book, music and lyrics), the Broward Stage Door Theatre in Margate has pulled out all the stops. Solidly ensconced in the director’s chair, Carbonell Award-winner Andy Rogow has assembled an outstanding cast of exceptional actors, singers and dancers. Set designer Michael McClain and Stage Door Scenic have created a vast expanse of Napa Valley backdrop.
In addition, Rogow has tapped two pianists — Dave Nagy and Michael Ursua — to provide live accompaniment for performers in this hybrid of opera and musical theater.
Loesser, who also wrote Guys and Dolls and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, based this dramatic and intensely personal love story of a May-December romance between an aging Italian grape farmer and a much younger woman on the play, They Knew What They Wanted, by Sidney Howard. He transformed the show into a musical, though it took four years to complete.
The version playing at Broward was revised in the 1990s.
While Most Happy Fella doesn’t often top the roster of Golden Age Broadway offerings, it has been revived many times. And it does contain some familiar songs, such as “Standin’ on the Corner,” which became a pop hit, and “Big D,” an ode to the city of Dallas.
Actually, The Most Happy Fella is so full of songs that one cannot say for sure if it’s a musical or an opera. Rogow says it’s the latter. But Loesser himself was quoted as saying: “I may give the impression this show has operatic tendencies. If people feel that way — fine. Actually all it has is a great frequency of songs. It’s a musical with music.”
Definition is less important here than the entertainment factor. And that comes across well.
The main character, Tony Esposito (Kyle Yampiro), and the woman who becomes his wife, Rosabella (Shay Weinberg), employ their fine acting skills and excellent vocals to keep the older-man, younger-woman plot — something of a stage cliché — from floundering.
Yampiro, the spitting image of a stereotypical Italian immigrant, scores serious points by vocalizing deeply passionate songs with a hearty, robust voice. He sings that he is “The Most Happy Fella” in the Napa Valley. He looks ahead to a wonderful life by singing a tune of obvious love called “Rosabella.” His voice weeps with sadness and rasps with anger when he realizes how he has potentially messed up his relationship with the city-wise, but world-weary Rosabella.
Love and forgiveness finally win out.
Shay Weinberg aptly portrays Rosabella. “She’s a tough yet romantic, girl-next-door who is not trapped in the bindings of an ingénue role,” Weinberg says. “Rosabella is a blast to play. I love that I get to be a soprano and indulge in a strong character complex.” Her vibrant voice carries such tunes as “Somebody, Somewhere,” “Warm All over” and “Please Let Me Tell You.”
The show is buoyed even more with fine performances by supporting players: Kyle David Pressley as Joe, the third leg of a love triangle that threatens the romantic duo; Kimberly Abrams as Cleo, Rosabella’s friend and confidante; Dean Landuis as Doc, a steady and calming influence in an emotion-filled show; Lisa Franklin as Marie and Ellington Berg as Herman.
A cast of 18 named characters and an ensemble of 13 keeps the action moving. Choreographer Andy Fiacco has carried out his role very well. Spirited dance is a major component of the overall action. Vibrant acting abilities and first-rate voices maintain the play’s focus.
It’s interesting to note that the original production was partially bankrolled by Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. The 1957 I Love Lucy episode “Lucy’s Night in Town” focuses on the Ricardos and Mertzes going to a sold-out performance of The Most Happy Fella. Three of its songs are heard in scenes showing the TV characters sitting in the theater. At one point, curmudgeonly Fred Mertz is inspired by the show’s title to remark, “The guy is not married.”
The Most Happy Fella continues through Feb. 5 at the Broward Stage Door Theatre, 8036 W. Sample Road in Margate. Tickets are $38-$42; $16 student tickets are also available. They may be purchased by calling the box office at 954-344-7765 or visiting www.stagedoorfl.org.