Search - Frank Loesser :: The Most Happy Fella (2000 Studio Cast)

Worth the Wait.

michael a. willhoite | 08/09/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The Most Happy Fella is unique in all the musical theatre. It hits a happy medium, possessing the weight of opera and the sparkle of musical comedy. The new recording, while not replacing the previous ones, is now itself irreplaceable. What a masterful production this is! The casting is successful all the way, but the real surprise is Emily Loesser as Amy. Her voice is perfection, a high, bright instrument incapable of a false note. All the voices are just right, though Quilico's Tony is a bit unshaded. He's a superb singer, no doubt about it, but the earlier Tonys, Weede and Malas, were far better actors. For this is a role requiring a brilliant singer-actor. No matter: just settle back and enjoy the rich singing.The producers of this fine set have given us a bouquet of goodies at the end, comprised of deleted music and scenes. They're all wonderful, but the cream on top is Jo Sullivan's rendition of "Wanting to be Wanted." It's a revelation. One can easily see why the more lyrical "Somebody, Somewhere" was substituted, but this song of naked longing is harrowing, and most welcome. I expect to play it again and again. Her singing, by the way, is just as fresh and light as it was forty-four years ago.This is, in short, a recording not to be missed. Abbondanza!"

A great CD

Mark Falconer | New York, NY | 12/25/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Of course, I guess any full recording of this great score would be worth owning, as long as the cast members aren't completely awful. Of course, it's not the OBCR, but what is? Louis Quillco has a darker timbre than Robert Weede, but that's not a problem. The biggest problem with Quillco's performance is that he fails to delve sufficently into Tony's character arc - this is a man whom we are told is shy and easily intimidated at first, but by the third act's "She's Gonna Go Home With Me," Tony is forceful and commanding. Quillco hit all the right notes of the character, but his choices seem completely seperate. It's like he understands each scene, but not how one leads to another. This doesn't make the ending as powerful as it could be. Emily Loesser, in her mother's role of Rosabella, is quite good, I think. For never having played the character, she seems to coalesce right into this group of actors and she generally finds new and interesting character choices. She doesn't have that powerful lonliness that Jo Sullivan had - her "Somebody Somewhere" doesn't match her mother's at all. But for the rest of the show, I think she does quite nicely, especially after she realizes she loves Tony. Her "Warm All Over" is quite distinctive and very good. Karen Ziemba has been criticized as being too nice as Cleo, but personally, I think this makes Cleo a more human character and less "comic relief." I don't quite understand a few of her choices, but overall, I really like her. She seems to have real chemistry with Don Stephenson, too. Although their "label scene" is, I think, a little too over-the-top. I like Stephenson's Texas twang, and he's committed to the part. "Standing On The Corner" is kind of slow, though, and the harmonies are oddly balanced (the bass part is a lot louder than the melody.)



Now we come to the worst and best cast members. Worst: Richard Muenz. Sorry, I love you, but you are far far far too old for Joe, and you sound it. I really do think that Muenz is terrific in the '79 video, but he sounds like an old man, which really makes a lot of the ending of the first act silly. He used to have a bright, brilliant baritone, and now he quavers on the top notes of "Joey Joey Joey." Not his fault, but they should've used a younger actor. Best: Nancy Shade. She plays Tony's sister Marie, and she is the only cast member on this recording that surpasses the original, Mona Paulee. The liner notes talk about how Marie is often played as an unhappy spinster, and to my ears, Paulee does just that. Also, it's slightly unbelievable to hear her completely American accent contrasting with her "brother"'s heavily accented English. Shade uses a slight accent, but her real triumph is using her desperate love for Tony and her real belief that Rosabella will never love Tony as well as she does. This makes the final confrontation in Act Three powerfully moving.



Of course, Shade has a secret weapon: the bonus tracks. Three of the bonus tracks are cut sequences for Marie that work together to create a fully three-dimensional character. Loesser's original first Tony and Marie sequence, that culminated in "No One Is Ever Going To Love You," is incredible. When I heard it, I immediately went back and listened to it again. And then I did it again. BRILLIANT. That man is brilliant, and that song is brilliant, and this show is brilliant. That 50$-plus CD is worth it alone for that one bonus track. And the CD ends on an up note: Jo Sullivan's recording of "Wanting to be Wanted," the song that "Somebody Somewhere" replaced. "Somebody Somewhere" is a better song, but Jo Sullivan sounds so good for her age! Possibly, even better than she sounded back in the 50s (I always thought she was a bit shrill on the OCR), and her acting is just as amazing now as it was then."