A Most Happy Fella a Joyful and Moving Musical Bursting With Life From Ten Thousand Things

“If there is one theater company in the Twin Cities that I trust enough to go into a show blind with zero reservations, it’s Ten Thousand Things (TTT). I knew nothing but the title and the cast when I stepped into the makeshift theater-in-the-round space at Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church, one of almost two dozen venues in which they are performing The Most Happy Fella. Adapted into a musical by Frank Loesser in 1956 from a 1924 play named They Knew What They Wanted by Sidney Howard, it doesn’t feel 70 years old. I would not have been shocked to learn it was a new work. But then, that’s kinda what TTT does, they make whatever they are doing feel new. The best actors in the world, either for tragedy, comedy, history, pastoral, pastoral-comical, historical-pastoral, tragical-historical, tragical-comical-historical-pastoral, scene indivisible, or poem unlimited: Seneca cannot be too heavy, nor Plautus too light. For the law of writ and the liberty, these are the only men and women. Yeah, they give good Shakespeare too!

The Most Happy Fella opens in a restaurant at closing time in San Francisco. The two waitresses, Cleo and her friend, are commiserating over their aching feet, the lack of tips, and the lecherous boss they have to fend off. Cleo’s friend receives a jeweled tie pin as a tip, along with a note from a man named Tony, who, not knowing her name, calls her Rosabella and asks her to send him a postcard. The scene then jumps to four months later in the Napa Valley, on Tony’s grape farm, where he receives his latest letter from his Rosabella. She has sent him a photograph, and he prepares to send her one as well. The problem is she is a young and beautiful woman; he is a much older man who does not consider himself handsome. At the last minute, he switches his photo for one of his handsome young foreman, Joe. A little while later, she has agreed to marry him and is arriving on the train. Tony is frightened that she will be angry with him for his deceit. On the way to pick her up at the station, he has an accident and breaks his leg. Rosabella, at first, upon learning of the switch, is determined to leave before realizing that she has no money and no place to go back to, and so she agrees to marry the injured Tony. Tony senses she is unhappy and sends for her friend Cleo, offering her a job where she never has to stand again, so that Rosabella will have a friend.

Tony is played by Pedro R. Bayón as a man full of life and happiness who loses his way for a bit after the accident. With the guilt of his misrepresentation, he thinks he can finally see himself through Rosabella’s eyes and believes his dreams were absurd. What shines through is his innate kindness and genuine love for Rosabella, and as he convinces himself that she couldn’t love him, she begins to love him. Bayón is the heart and soul of the production, to be sure. Before the dawn, he experiences his darkest moments, but his heart and love win out over meaner emotions. It is a moment that brought this reviewer to tears, and I felt a genuine connection with Bayon’s Tony.

This is one of those casts where you cannot pick a favorite, as everyone is so good, and there are slightly too many in the cast to talk about them all individually. Several of the cast members also play instruments during the musical numbers under the music direction of Isabella Dawis. The music in this show seems to live in a space between opera and musical theater, though leaning heavily toward the musical theater end of that spectrum. At times, even though you are sitting in a large, brightly lit room in a church in Minneapolis, you swear you can almost smell the aroma of Italian dishes being prepared for the wedding banquet and feel the sun on your face, surrounded by Tony’s vineyard. Though the cast is only seven actors, it feels like you are part of this vibrant community, especially during songs like “Standing on the Corner” and “Abbondanza,” where the energy is joyful and bursting with life.

As TTT’s new Artistic Director and the Director of this show, Caitlin Lowans finishes her first season with this triumphant production. It’s the start of a new era for TTT, and I’m now entirely confident that all of these precious ten thousand things are in good hands. Joyful and moving doesn’t just describe this show, but this theater company itself.”—

A Most Happy Fella runs through June 7th at various locations around the Twin Cities. For more information such as locations and to purchase tickets go to https://tenthousandthings.org/

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