Mary Testa, Tina Fabrique, Erin Markey Set for Daniel Fish's Most Happy in Concert

Casting has been announced for Daniel Fish's Most Happy in Concert, a new setting of Frank Loesser's opera The Most Happy Fella that will be present August 5-7 as part of Bard SummerScape.

The cast of seven female and non-binary vocalists includes Mary Testa and Mallory Portnoy, who appeared in Fish's Broadway revival of Oklahoma!, as well as Mikaela Bennett, Tina Fabrique, Jules Latimer, Erin Markey, and April Matthis. The singers will be backed by a 13-piece instrumental ensemble made of members from the Resonance Collective Jazz Orchestra, with the score arranged by Daniel Kluger and Nathan Koci.

Based on Sidney Howard's play They Knew What They Wanted, The Most Happy Fella is the story of an Italian-American vineyard owner having a long-distance love affair with a much younger woman. The concert is a meditation on longing and human connection after a year of disconnect.