«Ең бақытты жігіт» мюзиклі және 1970 жылғы Triple Crown жеңімпазы

1956 musical
the race horse that won the Triple Crown in 1970

The Most Happy Fella is a 1956 musical with a book, music, and lyrics by Frank Loesser. The story, about a romance between an older man and younger woman, is based on the 1924 play They Knew What They Wanted by Sidney Howard. The show is described by some theatre historians and critics as operatic. The original Broadway production ran for 14 months and it has enjoyed several revivals, including one staged by the New York City Opera. It was broadcast in a live telecast of The Ed Sullivan Show on Sunday, October 28, 1956, the night of Elvis Presley's second appearance on that show. That broadcast was seen in some 168 stations in North America and garnered a 34.6 rating, a 57% share, with an estimated audience of 56.5 million viewers.

A friend of Frank Loesser's recommended the Howard play They Knew What They Wanted as material for a musical in 1952. After he read it, Loesser agreed it had musical potential, but decided to omit the political, labor, and religious material. It took him four years to complete the musical. The Most Happy Fella frequently has been described as an opera, but some have qualified the term. In his book The World of Musical Comedy, Stanley Green noted that the musical is "one of the most ambitiously operatic works ever written for the Broadway theatre Loesser said 'I may give the impression this show has operatic tendencies. If people feel that way – fine. Actually all it has is a great frequency of songs. It's a musical with music.' " Brooks Atkinson, theatre critic (The New York Times), called it a "music drama", noting Loesser "has now come about as close to opera as the rules of Broadway permit." Composer, conductor, and musical theatre teacher Lehman Engel and critic/author Howard Kissel called it a "fresh musical (perhaps opera)". Music Theatre International describes the show: "Filled with sweeping ballads, intense dramatic arias and tuneful, splashy Broadway style numbers, this ambitious "Broadway opera" has found a home on opera and musical theatre stages alike." A film version was planned in 1962, to be produced by Warner Bros. with Shirley Jones and Fred Astaire set to star. However, Jones was busy making The Music Man for Warner Bros., so she was dropped and Natalie Wood was brought in. Wood was also busy though, making Gypsy for Warner Bros Astaire downright refused to participate in the project, but came back to the studio to make Finian's Rainbow. The film never came to fruition. A revival of the film was discussed in the 1980s, but never got anywhere.

The try out of The Most Happy Fella opened in Boston on Tuesday, March 13, 1956, at the Shubert Theatre to good reviews. The show then moved to Philadelphia for a try out at the Shubert Theatre, opening on Tuesday, April 10, 1956, also to good notices.

Directed by Joseph Anthony and choreographed by Dania Krupska, the original Broadway production was produced by Kermit Bloomgarden and Lynn Loesser and opened on May 3, 1956 at the Imperial Theatre, transferred to The Broadway Theatre on October 21, 1957 and closed on December 14, 1957 after 676 performances. The cast included Robert Weede as Tony, Jo Sullivan as Rosabella, Art Lund as Joey, Susan Johnson as Cleo, Shorty Long – the country and not the soul singer – as Herman and Mona Paulee as Marie. The future dancer and actress Zina Bethune appeared as Tessie, one of the children in the ensemble. The scenic and lighting design was by Jo Mielziner. The original production was partially bankrolled by Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz. (See "In Popular Culture", below.)

The New York City Center staged a limited run of 16 performances from February 10 through February 22, 1959. The cast included
Norman Atkins as Tony, Paula Stewart as Rosabella, Libi Staiger as Cleo, Art Lund as Joe, Jack DeLeon as Herman, Muriel Birkhead as Marie, and Bernadette Peters as Tessie. The West End production, directed by Jerome Eskow, opened at the London Coliseum on April 21, 1960, and ran for 288 performances. The cast included Inia Te Wiata as Tony, Helena Scott as Rosabella, Art Lund as Joey, Libi Staiger as Cleo, Jack De Leon as Herman, and Nina Verushka as Marie. Inia Te Wiata also starred in the Australian production, which played the Princess Theatre, Melbourne and the Palace Theatre, Sydney in 1961. A Broadway revival began previews at the Majestic Theatre on September 20, 1979, officially opened on October 11, and closed on November 25, 1979, after 53 performances and 23 previews. Directed by Jack O'Brien, set design by Douglas W. Schmidt, costumes by Nancy Potts, lighting by Gilbert Vaughn Hemsley Jr., orchestrations by Don Walker, and choreographed by Graciela Daniele, it starred Giorgio Tozzi as Tony, Frederick Burchinal as Tony (Wed. and Sat. matinees), Sharon Daniels as Rosabella, Linda Michelle as Rosabella (Wed. and Sat. matinees), Adrienne Leonetti as Marie, Steven Alex Cole as Max, Dennis Warning as Herman, Dean Badolato as Clem, David Miles as Jake, Kevin Wilson as Al, Stephen Dubov as Sheriff, Gene Varrone as Giuseppe, Darren Nimnicht as Pasquale, Tim Flavin as Busboy, Dan O'Sullivan as Postman, Franco Spoto as Ciccio, Joe McGrath as Doctor, Lawrence Asher as Priest, Michael Capes as Bus Driver, Bill Hastings as Cashier/brakeman, Louisa Flaningam as Cleo, and Richard Muenz as Joe. The production was filmed and later broadcast by PBS' Great Performances in 1980. A 2 DVD set of this PBS performance was released in the 2000s. A New York City Opera production ran from September 4 through October 18, 1991. Directed by Arthur Alan Seidelman, it starred Louis Quilico as Tony, Elizabeth Walsh as Rosabella, and Karen Ziemba as Cleo. The Goodspeed Opera House presented the musical, directed by Gerald Gutierrez, in May and June 1991. This production had two pianos instead of a full orchestra, using a Loesser approved piano arrangement by Robert Page. The production was then staged by the Center Theatre Group at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles for ten weeks starting in October 1991. In exchange for mounting the show, the Center Theatre Group shared in potential Broadway profits. Based on the Goodspeed production, with most of the cast and creative team intact, a Broadway revival began previews at the Booth Theatre on January 24, 1992, officially opened on February 13, and closed on August 30 after 229 performances. Again directed by Gerald Gutierrez, the cast included 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 Ravinia Festival in Chicago presented a concert version with George Hearn as Tony and Rod Gilfry as Joe on July 20, 2007. The New York City Opera presented a limited engagement with Paul Sorvino as Tony and Lisa Vroman as Rosabella between March 7–25, 2006. In February 2013, Tulsa Opera presented a production directed by Dorothy Danner and conducted by Kostis Protopapas, featuring Chaim Joseph as Tony, Latrine Thurman as Rosabella, and Christopher Foeum as Joe. In April 2014, New York City Center Encores! presented a well received production directed by Casey Nicholaw and starring Shuler Hensley, Laura Benanti, Cheyenne Jackson, Heidi Blickenstaff, Jay Armstrong Johnson & Jessica Molaskey.

The original Broadway cast recording was produced by Goddard Lieberson for Columbia Records. The recording featured virtually the entire show, including all but a few lines of the dialogue, which was unusual for the time. Because the score was so extensive, the cast album had to be released as a three LP record set. Columbia also released a more conventional album of excerpted highlights. The original cast album was re released on November 15, 1991 by Sony (ASIN: B0000027TC). The 1992 Broadway revival cast album was produced by RCA Victor Broadway (ASIN: B000003FBK) and released on June 9, 1992. Jay Records released a "complete" studio recording (CDJAY2 1306), including material that had been cut, on July 11, 2000. The recording featured Louis Quilico as Tony.

John Sterling, radio announcer for the New York Yankees, refers to this musical in his "home run call" whenever Yankees third baseman Gio Urshela hits a home run. As Urshela circles the bases, Sterling says "Gio Urshela a most happy fella!" In 1957 on the television show I Love Lucy (Season 6, episode 22 titled "Lucy’s Night In Town"), the Ricardos and Mertzes travel to New York City from their new country home in Connecticut to attend a sold out evening performance of The Most Happy Fella. During dinner they discover Lucy had mistakenly purchased tickets for the matinee. Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball's Desilu Productions owned a large portion of the show, and was cross promoting it in the episode. Three songs from the show are heard in scenes showing the characters sitting in the theater. At one point, Fred Mertz is inspired by the title to remark, "The guy is not married."