BWW Reviews: Joyful HAPPY FELLA at Gloucester Stage

The Most Happy Fella

Book, Music, and Lyrics by Frank Loesser, Directed by Eric C. Engel, Musical Direction by Michael V. Joseph, Choreography by David Connolly; Set Design, Jenna McFarland Lord; Costume Design, Gail Astrid Buckley; Lighting Design, Russ Swift; Production Stage Manager, Jayscott Crosley; Scenic Artist, Fabian Aguilar; Artistic Advisor, Deb Poppel

CAST: Jennifer Ellis, Bob DeVivo, Kerry A. Dowling, Drew Pulver, Timothy John Smith, Dawn Tucker, Eric Hamel, John F. King, Andrew McLeavey, TS Burnham, Joelle Kross, Deb Poppel, Zachary Magee, Meredith Stypinski, Haley Sullivan, Mark Turner

Performances through July 17 at Gloucester Stage Company; Box Office 978-281-4433 or www.gloucesterstage.org.

Gloucester Stage Company pulls out all the stops to reacquaint its audience with The Most Happy Fella, Frank Loesser's 1956 musical theatre gem which ran for 676 performances on Broadway and garnered six Tony Award nominations. Directed by Artistic Director Eric C. Engel, the cast features a panoply of Boston's finest actors, all making their GSC debut, as well as one quality import from New Jersey and four young students from the Gloucester Stage Youth Acting Workshops. Aptly calling his show "a musical with music" due to its great frequency of songs, Loesser's score comprises nearly thirty tunes, including "Standing on the Corner," "Joey, Joey, Joey," "Big D," and "My Heart is So Full of You."

The Most Happy Fella is a story about love and romance between a young woman and an older man. Set in San Francisco and a Napa Valley, California vineyard in 1927, their blind courtship through written letters is sweetly old-fashioned, preceding our modern day cyber-dating by decades. A lonely, middle-aged bachelor who lives with his maiden sister Marie (Dawn Tucker), Tony (Drew Pulver) corresponds with a waitress he met in a SF diner. Despite not knowing her name, he is smitten with the young woman (whom he calls Rosabella) and proposes marriage. Insecure about his age and his looks, in place of his own photo, Tony sends a picture of his handsome foreman Joe, played with rugged charm by Timothy John Smith. When the mail order bride (Jennifer Ellis) arrives, she is thrown for a loop by the ruse, but eventually learns to see the kindness in Tony and grows to love him.

Of course, there would be no story without a road map of twists of fate and turns of events. Tony's workmen and all of the townspeople adore him and celebrate the nuptials, but Marie feels threatened by another woman taking her place. When Tony suffers severe injuries in a truck accident the day of the wedding, it increases Rosabella's feelings of desperation. She is comforted by Joe as he battles his wanderlust and burgeoning feelings for his boss's new wife. Sensing Rosabella's loneliness and discontent during his long convalescence, Tony sends to San Francisco for her good friend Cleo (Kerry Dowling) to lift her spirits and keep her company. A secondary love story plays out between Cleo and Herman, one of the ranch hands, when they discover their common Dallas roots.

Credit Engel with making dynamic casting choices for both acting and vocal chops, as well as eliciting strong performances from a large troupe. Pulver's baritone is powerful and Ellis sings with heartfelt clarity; together their voices combine for a joyous explosion of sound, none better than in "My Heart is So Full of You" when Tony and Rosabella acknowledge their feelings for each other, love virtually bursting from their hearts. Pulver is so incredibly endearing in this song that it becomes totally understandable that this beautiful young woman would fall for him. Give Pulver (the New Jersey import) and Ellis an A+ for chemistry. Smith has an innate talent for playing the strong, silent type and his rendition of "Joey, Joey, Joey" is both bold and haunting, convincing us that the wind is his spirit guide. I wish he had more stage time. His fellow IRNE award-winner Dowling kicks things off with the comic song "Ooh! My Feet" and shines in her duets with the delightful Bob DeVivo (Herman).

Andrew McLeavey, John F. King, and Eric Hamel play multiple roles and harmonize beautifully as a trio and when joined by DeVivo in "Standing on the Corner." Tucker has a glorious soprano voice and I'm sure that she is a lovely woman, but you'll want to smack her when Marie tries to shoot down Tony's hopes for love. The remainder of the ensemble contributes mightily to the vocal sound and capably handles David Connolly's choreography in the small space. Behind a scrim stage right, Musical Director Michael V. Joseph conducts pianists Mark McNeill and Steve Bergman. The duo piano accompaniment works surprisingly well, allowing the actors greater latitude to modulate the volume of their voices befitting the songs, rather than straining to be heard over an orchestra.

Jenna McFarland Lord's minimal set features a serviceable upstage platform flanked by ramps. Scenic Artist Fabian Aguilar employs projection art work to create colorful backdrops to mark scene changes, and appropriate props fill in the gaps in the barn and the vineyard. With several cast members playing multiple roles, Gail Astrid Buckley's costume designs help define who's who, and she creates some lovely dresses for Rosabella and Marie. Resident Lighting Designer Russ Swift successfully handles numerous cues and aids the transition between scenes.

Frank Loesser wrote over 700 songs and five Broadway musicals during a life that was much too short. The lyricist/composer, who would have turned one hundred in 2010, died at the age of 59, leaving behind a catalogue rich in popular songs penned with the likes of Jule Styne, Hoagy Carmichael, Burton Lane, and Arthur Schwartz. In addition to The Most Happy Fella, his theatrical resumé includes Where's Charley?, the Tony Award-winning Guys and Dolls, Greenwillow, and the Tony Award-winning How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, currently enjoying its second Broadway revival. Now that Engel and company have done such a strong production of Fella, perhaps that Finch fellow will make his way to the North Shore. I'm all in favor of more Loesser.

Photo credit: Gary Ng (Drew Pulver as Tony and Cast of The Most Happy Fella)