Theater News

Daniel Fish's Most Happy in Concert Joins Williamstown Theatre Festival 2022 Season

Fish’s re-imagining of Frank Loesser’s ”The Most Happy Fella” will come to WTF’s Main Stage this summer.

Hayley Levitt
Berkshires
Tony nominee Daniel Fish will re-imagine a Frank Loesser classic with Most Happy in Concert at Williamstown Theatre Festival.
Tony nominee Daniel Fish will re-imagine a Frank Loesser classic with Most Happy in Concert at Williamstown Theatre Festival.
(© Seth Walters)

Williamstown Theatre Festival has announced its 2022 summer season, featuring three productions that will return to indoor performances.

Coming to the Main Stage will be Most Happy in Concert (July 13-August 7), Frank Loesser's classic score to the musical The Most Happy Fella, reimagined by Ton-nominated director Daniel Fish (Oklahoma!). The fully staged production will feature choreography by Jawole Willa Jo Zollar and will offer "a deep dive into love, desire, isolation, and connection." The production will also include music arrangements by Daniel Kluger and Nathan Koci, vocal arrangements by Nathan Koci and Daniel Fish, and orchestrations by Daniel Kluger. Most Happy in Concert is produced in association with the Fisher Center at Bard.

Opening the season on the Nikos Stage will be the comedic thriller Man of God (July 5-16), written by Anna Ouyang Moench and directed by Maggie Burrows. Press materials describe the play as follows: "Chaos ensues when four teenage girls on a mission trip to Bangkok discover a camera hidden by their pastor in their hotel bathroom. Do they do nothing and leave it to God or take matters into their own hands? The pressure builds quickly in this suspenseful comedy that interrogates justice, privacy, religion, the patriarchy, and who you follow on Instagram. Juxtaposing girl power with teenage angst, the girls' different ideals emerge as they discover what it takes to fight back."

The season will conclude on the Nikos Stage with the world premiere of the WTF-commissioned play we are continuous (August 2-14), written by Harrison David Rivers and directed by WTF's 2020 Bill Foeller Directing Fellowship recipient Tyler Thomas. The story is described as follows: "Simon and his mother, Ora, have always been close. She's been his champion, his defender, and his friend. But when a life-changing secret comes to light, can their bond survive?"

Casting and design teams for all three productions will be announced in the coming weeks.