Track Listing

Disc 1:

1. Overture
2. Thank You, Goodnight - Lee Cass
3. Ooh! My Feet! - Susan Johnson, Susan Johnson
4. Mock Ballet of Waitresses and Bus Boys - Lee Cass, Susan Johnson, Susan Johnson, Jo Sullivan
5. ...Cleo, I Don't Care If He Fires Me! I Know How It Is - Susan Johnson, Susan Johnson, Jo Sullivan
6. My Dear Rosabella I Don No Nothing About You Maybe He's Kind-A Crazy - Susan Johnson, Susan Johnson, Jo Sullivan
7. Wanting to Be Wanted Somebody, Somewhere - Jo Sullivan
8. ...Oh, There's the Postman/The Most Happy Fella - Lee Cass, Robert Weede
9. ...Oh, Hallo, Marie - Betsy Bridge, Mona Pulee, Robert Weede
10. What Do You Really Know About Her? - Mona Paulee, Robert Weede
11. Standing on the Corner - Alan Gilbert, John Henson, Roy Lazarus, Shorty Long
12. ...All Right. Break It up, You Guys - Alan Gilbert, John Henson, Roy Lazarus, Shorty Long
13. Joey, Joey, Joey - Art Lund
14. Soon You Gonna Leave Me, Joe - Art Lund, Robert Weede
15. ...Mamma. Mamma/Rosabella - Art Lund, Robert Weede
16. ...Hey, Cicc, Giusepp - Rico Froehlich, John Henson, Arthur Rubin
17. ...This Is Tony's Barn - Meredith Miller, John Sharpe, Robert Weede
18. Alfonso, Fiorello, Mattilda - Russell Godwin, Robert Weede
19. Sposalizio - Rico Froehlich, John Henson, Arthur Rubin
20. ...Well, Here We Are/I Seen Her at the Station - Lee Cass, Art Lund, Jo Sullivan
21. ...Hey, Ciccio! Giusepp! Giusepp - Rico Froehlich, John Henson, Arthur Rubin
22. Such Freindly Faces, Aren't You Glad - Art Lund, Jo Sullivan
23. Weel, Thank You Very Much - Jo Sullivan
24. No Home, No Job - Jo Sullivan
25. Step Back Everybody - Keith Kaldenberg, Jo Sullivan
26. Don't Cry - Art Lund, Jo Sullivan

Disc 2:

1. Prelude
2. ...But What Kind of Medicine Is It? - Keith Kaldenberg, Robert Weede
3. Take Medicine/Love and Kindness - Keith Kaldenberg
4. We Friends Now/Happy to Make Your Acquaintance - Susan Johnson, Susan Johnson, Jo Sullivan, Robert Weede
5. Oh, Cleo/I Don't Like This Dame - Susan Johnson, Susan Johnson, Mona Paulee
6. Ev'nin' Ma'am/Big D - Susan Johnson, Susan Johnson, Shorty Long
7. Domenica (Sunday) /How Beautiful the Days - Art Lund, Mona Paulee, Jo Sullivan, Robert Weede
8. Scene III. The Vineyards in June/Just Look at E'm/Young People - Mona Paulee, Robert Weede
9. Where's That Smile?/Warm All over/Olod People Gotta - Jo Sullivan, Robert Weede
10. Hey, Herman - Rico Froehlich, Susan Johnson, Susan Johnson, Shorty Long
11. Ooh! Smile, Smile, Smile/I Like Ev'rybody - Susan Johnson, Susan Johnson, Shorty Long
12. Scene V. The Vineyards in July
13. I Love Him/I Know How It Is/Like a Woman Loves a Man - Susan Johnson, Susan Johnson, Jo Sullivan, Robert Weede
14. Quanto Sono Contento! /My Heart Is So Full of You - Jo Sullivan, Robert Weede
15. Hey, Paesan/Hoedown - Robert Weede
16. Rosabella! What's-A Matter? - Susan Johnson, Susan Johnson, Keith Kaldenberg, Robert Weede
17. Ah, Omma Don Know/Mamma, Mamma - Robert Weede
18. Act III/Prelude/Abbondanza - Rico Froehlich, John Henson, Arthur Rubin
19. Hey, What Are You Doin, Fellas? - Shorty Long
20. Supposin' I Should Have to Say Goodbye, Darling/I Like Ev'rybody [Repr] - Susan Johnson, Susan Johnson, Shorty Long
21. Just the Two of Them/Song of a Summer Night - Keith Kaldenberg
22. Carissima - Jo Sullivan, Robert Weede
23. Please Let Me Tell You - Jo Sullivan
24. But What's Happening - Rico Froehlich, Robert Weede
25. So You're Finally Gettin' Out of Town/Tell Tony and Rosabella ... - Ralph Farnworth, Alan Gilbert, John Henson, Susan Johnson, Susan Johnson, Art LKund, Roy Lazarus
26. She Ain't Got No Place to Go/She Gonna Come Home Wit' Me/Tony, Tony, I - Susan Johnson, Susan Johnson, Mona Paulee, Robert Weede
27. Herman/I Made a Fist - Susan Johnson, Susan Johnson, Shorty Long
28. He's Gonna Be Tony's Bambino/Finale - Jo Sullivan, Robert Weede

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #82539 in Music
• Brand: Sony
• Released on: 1991-11-15
• Number of discs: 2
• Format: Cast Recording
• Dimensions: .44 pounds

Customer Reviews

the sparkling Frank Loesser masterpiece
THE MOST HAPPY FELLA is undoutably composer-lyricist Frank Loesser's masterpiece. Although there would be other big triumphs (GUYS AND DOLLS, HOW TO SUCCEED...) nothing quite matches FELLA for scope, dramatic intensity and sheer brilliance.

Based on THEY KNEW WHAT THEY WANTED by Sidney Howard, the story concerns vineyard owner Tony Esposito (played by opera great Robert Weede). The outstanding supporting cast includes superb belters Jo Sullivan (THE THREEPENNY OPERA) and Susan Johnson (OH, CAPTAIN!); as well as Art Lund, Shorty Long, Mona Paulee, Helon Blount, Lois van Pelt and Lillian Shelby.

The original cast album of MOST HAPPY FELLA was given the grand treatment by Columbia Records (under the inspired guidance of wunderkind producer Goddard Lieberson). The show was recorded, save for a few lines, in its complete state, and released in a lavish 3-LP boxed set complete with a copy of the full-color programme.

Sony Classical have now faithfully reissued this landmark cast album in a great 2-disc set, which will be relished by all fans of this delicious score. Standout numbers include "Ooh, My Feet!", "Somebody, Somewhere" and the rousing "Big D.".

THE MOST HAPPY FELLA enjoyed a successful run of 678 performances yet failed to win any Tony's. It was unfortunate that FELLA opened in the same season as LI'L ABNER and MY FAIR LADY, which both took out all the big awards that year.

THE MOST HAPPY FELLA is one of Broadway's greatest musicals. [SONY S2K 48010]

What a stunner
I knew Frank Loesser was an extremely talented composer. Under the glamorous, classic-broadway image of Guys and Dolls, you will find the work of a musical genius - i mean, just listen to the choral stuff in Sit Down and you'll know what I mean. But in The Most Happy Fella', his last fully-realized work, Loesser really topped himself. Here we have what is surely one of the greatest scores of all time. I have to say, the sheer amount of music on this score is incredible - the liner notes point out that Loesser was actually criticized for pouring years of effort into this show when the musical ingenuity he expended could have gone to create 6 more. Not only is the wonderful score represented on this CD set (pressed from 3 LPs) but so is every line of dialogue - you can actually follow the entire story, which is actually a plus, because the story is a heartbreaker. Every singer is in top form (especially Susan Johnson - I could weep for talent that later went wasted in such disastrous shows as Oh Captain and Whoop-up.) So, to sum up, BUY THIS RECORDING! You will not be sorry.

Absolute must-buy for Broadway lovers + DVD available
My love for the Broadway show ignited as an 11 yr old when my mother dragged me to a performance of this cast in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in about 1956. Wow! Lonely Robert Weede in love with Rosabella sang love and swear words with such gusto; Jo Sullivan (Loesser) became Rosabella; Susan Johnson and Short Long sang "Big D" like no other duo can and Shorty was the best 'girl gauker' when he sang "Standin on the Corner;'then Art Lund opened his mouth to sing "Joey." Wow!

Well, if you want to hear THE perfect cast... singing some of the all time greatest showtunes with all of the operatic electricity of the MET, yet containing the humor and subtlety of Broadway, BUY THIS CD. There is NO substitute for this cast and this show.

Fully 80% of the show is sung, so 1956 is alive today for you to hear in an engineering masterpiece...the re-mastering of the original recording.