Based on the film "They Knew What They Wanted" by Sidney Howard.
Frank Loesser, composer/lyricist of ?Guys and Dolls,? scored his greatest artistic triumph with this touching, dramatic and intensely personal love story about a middle-aged vintner, Tony, whose mail-order marriage proposal is accepted under the girl?s mistaken assumption a photo of his young, handsome foreman is her intended husband.BRBRHer hurt and humiliation when she learns the truth, as well as a terrible accident which nearly kills Tony as he hurries to meet her, almost ends the relationship before it begins, but a loving understanding blossoms between them during Tony?s long convalescence.
Tony Award winners Billy Crudup and Shuler Hensley will join Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart in the limited season repertoire of Harold Pinter's No Man's Land and Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot, directed by Sean Mathias, on Broadway at the Cort Theatre, 138 West 48th Street, this fall. Performances will begin Saturday, October 26 at 8pm. The official opening is Sunday, November 24, 2013. This limited season will run for 14 weeks only.
Berkeley Playhouse continues its fifth season with the Tony Award-winning GUYS AND DOLLS. Jon Tracy (Berkeley Playhouse, Aurora Theatre Company, Shotgun Players, San Francisco Playhouse, Magic Theatre) helms this musical from the Golden Age of Broadway, featuring a cast of 22, and choreography by Chris Black (Berkeley Playhouse, Aurora Theatre Company). GUYS AND DOLLS plays tonight, March 21 through April 28 (Press opening: March 23) at the Julia Morgan Theatre in Berkeley.
Berkeley Playhouse continues its fifth season with the Tony Award-winning GUYS AND DOLLS. Jon Tracy (Berkeley Playhouse, Aurora Theatre Company, Shotgun Players, San Francisco Playhouse, Magic Theatre) helms this musical from the Golden Age of Broadway, featuring a cast of 22, and choreography by Chris Black (Berkeley Playhouse, Aurora Theatre Company). GUYS AND DOLLS plays March 21 through April 28 (Press opening: March 23) at the Julia Morgan Theatre in Berkeley. For tickets ($17-60) and more information, the public may visit berkeleyplayhouse.org or call 510-845-8542x351.
Hottest Articles on BroadwayWorld.com from this weekend Sunday, February 10, 2013 - Sunday, February 10, 2013.
Today in 1959, The Most Happy Fella opened at City Center where it ran for 16 performances. With a book, music, and lyrics by Frank Loesser, the story isabout a romance between an older man and younger woman, is based on the play They Knew What They Wanted by Sidney Howard. The original Broadway production opened in 1956 and ran for 14 months. A 1992 revival, directed by Gerald Guttierrez, featured Spiro Malas as Tony, Sophie Hayden as Rosabella, Charles Pistone as Joe, Claudia Catania as Marie, Liz Larsen as Cleo, and Scott Waara as Herman.
The Actors Fund presents a very special Musical Monday, an evening with five grand ladies of musical theatre in LADIES OF AN INDETERMINATE AGE tonight, December 10, 2012. Anne Jeffreys, Jane Kean, Pat Marshall, Patricia Morison and Charlotte Rae - join together on the same stage to sing songs from their careers, talk about their co-stars, directors and composers and stray into their wicked (or not-so-wicked) adventures in the great tradition of "No Business Like Show Business."
The Actors Fund presents a very special Musical Monday, an evening with five grand ladies of musical theatre in LADIES OF AN INDETERMINATE AGE on December 10, 2012. Anne Jeffreys, Jane Kean, Pat Marshall, Patricia Morison and Charlotte Rae - join together on the same stage to sing songs from their careers, talk about their co-stars, directors and composers and stray into their wicked (or not-so-wicked) adventures in the great tradition of "No Business Like Show Business."
Lyric Stage opens its twentieth anniversary season with Frank Loesser's THE MOST HAPPY FELLA, featuring restored material and the 38 piece Lyric Stage Orchestra playing Don Walker's original Broadway orchestrations. Performances are tonight, September 7-16 at the Irving Arts Center's Carpenter Performance Hall. Tickets are available online or by calling the box office @ 972-252-2787.
Lyric Stage opens its twentieth anniversary season with Frank Loesser's THE MOST HAPPY FELLA, featuring restored material and the 38 piece Lyric Stage Orchestra playing Don Walker's original Broadway orchestrations. Performances are September 7-16 at the Irving Arts Center's Carpenter Performance Hall. Tickets are available online or by calling the box office @ 972-252-2787.
Grant Park Music Festival concert in Chicago's Millennium Park will host a a concert on July 13 and 14, 2012, entitled “Perfectly Frank: From Broadway to Hollywood.' The show is a tribute to Frank Loesser, featuring Broadway's Rebecca Luker, Marin Mazzie, Jason Danieley, Howard McGillin. Check out the cast in rehearsal below!
Among all the summer-time concerts taking place in the Chicago area this month, one concert stands out--free, accessible, chock-full of hit songs and performed by an unmatched quartet of Broadway stars. And it's only in Chicago. "Perfectly Frank: From Broadway to Hollywood" isn't happening anywhere else except the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park, courtesy of the Grant Park Music Festival. It's this weekend, and early arrival is recommended.
Among all the summer-time concerts taking place in the Chicago area this month, one concert stands out--free, accessible, chock-full of hit songs and performed by an unmatched quartet of Broadway stars. And it's only in Chicago. "Perfectly Frank: From Broadway to Hollywood" isn't happening anywhere else except the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park, courtesy of the Grant Park Music Festival. It's this weekend, and early arrival is recommended.
Pittsburgh CLO will present Fiddler on the Roof, July 13-22 at the Benedum Center. This classic tale is filled with 'memorable music, rousing dances and a touch of human wisdom.'
Summer in Chicago continues this month with the Grant Park Music Festival, led by Artistic Director and Principal Conductor Carlos Kalmar and the Grammy Award-nominated Grant Park Orchestra, along with Chorus Director Christopher Bell and the Grant Park Chorus in the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Chicago's Millennium Park. The Festival will bring performances by outstanding guest conductors and guest artists from around the world, in a month of exciting programming that includes a world premiere commission, a live concert screening of Frozen Planet, the latest hit series from BBC/Discovery Channel, a tribute concert to Broadway and Hollywood legend, Frank Loesser and other Festival favorites.
Summer in Chicago continues this July with the Grant Park Music Festival, led by Artistic Director and Principal Conductor Carlos Kalmar and the Grammy Award-nominated Grant Park Orchestra, along with Chorus Director Christopher Bell and the Grant Park Chorus in the Jay Pritzker Pavilion in Chicago's Millennium Park. The Festival will bring performances by outstanding guest conductors and guest artists from around the world, in a month of exciting programming that includes a world premiere commission, a live concert screening of Frozen Planet, the latest hit series from BBC/Discovery Channel, a tribute concert to Broadway and Hollywood legend, Frank Loesser and other Festival favorites.
In our time and place, the great Marriott Theatre to the north of Chicago, in Lincolnshire, in the collar county of Lake, has mounted a production of "The Pirates of Penzance" which officially opened this past weekend, and will run through June 10, 2012. It's directed by Dominic Missimi, a visionary musical theater director and teacher with vast experience and influence across the country, and especially here.
The New York Philharmonic presents Anywhere I Wander: The Frank Loesser Songbook, a celebration of the late legendary Broadway composer of Where's Charley?, Guys and Dolls, The Most Happy Fella, Greenwillow, and the Pulitzer Prize-winning How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Monday, March 26, 2012, at 7:30 p.m. Directed and conducted by Tony Award winner Ted Sperling, the evening will feature an all-star cast that includes Ann Hampton Callaway, Victoria Clark, Robert Morse, Bryn Terfel, a special appearance by Loesser's widow and leading lady Jo Sullivan Loesser, and others to be announced. The program will be choreographed by Andrew Palermo.
Today in 1959, The Most Happy Fella opened at City Center where it ran for 16 performances. With a book, music, and lyrics by Frank Loesser, the story isabout a romance between an older man and younger woman, is based on the play They Knew What They Wanted by Sidney Howard. The original Broadway production opened in 1956 and ran for 14 months. A 1992 revival, directed by Gerald Guttierrez, featured Spiro Malas as Tony, Sophie Hayden as Rosabella, Charles Pistone as Joe, Claudia Catania as Marie, Liz Larsen as Cleo, and Scott Waara as Herman.
The New York Philharmonic will present Anywhere I Wander: The Frank Loesser Songbook, a celebration of the late legendary Broadway composer of Where's Charley?, Guys and Dolls, The Most Happy Fella, Greenwillow, and the Pulitzer Prize-winning How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Monday, March 26, 2012, at 7:30 p.m. Directed and conducted by Tony Award winner Ted Sperling, the evening will feature an all-star cast that includes Ann Hampton Callaway, Victoria Clark, Robert Morse, Bryn Terfel, a special appearance by Loesser's widow and leading lady Jo Sullivan Loesser, and others to be announced. The program will be choreographed by Andrew Palermo.
The cast has been announced for the staged reading of FRANK LOESSER'S MUSICAL THE MOST HAPPY FELLA which begins the second season of MUSICAL THEATRE WEST'S REINER READING SERIES on September 25th at 7:00 p.m.
The cast has been announced for the staged reading of FRANK LOESSER'S MUSICAL THE MOST HAPPY FELLA which begins the second season of MUSICAL THEATRE WEST'S REINER READING SERIES on September 25th at 7:00 p.m.
Michael Reidel reports in the New York Post this morning that Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson star Benjamin Walker will be back in the New York theater loop when he leads a reading of Bus Stop next month as cowboy Bo Decker. Amanda Seyfried will co-star alongside Walker as Cherie. Shuler Hensley will also participate. Hollywood's Paula Wagner, who owns the rights to the project will produce. Scott Ellis directs. A revival of Bus Stop is reportedly bound for Broadway.
Frank Loesser's 1956 operatic musical, overflowing with melodic tunes and outstanding performances, is a showcase for the ways that a small, intimate stage can add depth and heart to an old chestnut.
Audiences of all ages will fall in love with Pittsburgh CLO's production of The Sound of Music, July 19-31 at the Benedum Center. T
'Let's see if we can do this without a microphone,' peeped Jo Sullivan Loesser, as she prepared to fill the 1,495-seat Town Hall with 'Somebody, Somewhere,' which she introduced in the 1956 original Broadway production of The Most Happy Fella. While the age of the widow of the great Frank Loesser is a fact you'll not find via Google, let's just say she's a few decades beyond the point where audiences would expect to hear such lovely, expressive and, yes, loud soprano tones from an unamplified voice. The house, still and silent for those few minutes of bliss, finally erupted with appreciative cheers for the brief reminder of a time when all Broadway musicals were sung that way.
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