Tina Fabrique, Mary Testa and More to Star in MOST HAPPY IN CONCERT Presented by Bard SummerScape 

Bard Summerscape today announced casting for Most Happy in Concert, a setting of Frank Loesser's songs for The Most Happy Fella from director Daniel Fish and arrangers Daniel Kluger and Nathan Koci, who previously collaborated on the Tony Award-winning production of Oklahoma! that originated at Bard Summerscape in 2015. The live-in-person performances take place on the evenings of August 5, 6, and 7 on an outdoor stage being constructed at Bard's Montgomery Place campus on the Hudson River.

Most Happy in Concert begins nightly at 7:30pm. Tickets are $45 for a pod of 1-3 people and $90 for a pod of 3-6, and can be purchased by visiting Bard's website at fishercenter.bard.edu, calling 845.758.7900, or emailing at boxoffice@bard.edu.

Frank Loesser, the legendary composer-songwriter behind Guys and Dolls and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, accrued a string of honors including an Academy Award, multiple Tony Awards, and a Pulitzer Prize. New York Magazine has proclaimed his 1956 classic The Most Happy Fella, featuring some of his most soaring lyricism, "one of the greatest musicals ever. Or one of the greatest operas," and concluded, "Hell, it's just great."

A meditation on the desire for human connection, made only more poignant by the isolation of the past year, Most Happy in Concert is conceived and directed by Daniel Fish and features music arrangements by Daniel Kluger and Nathan Koci, vocal arrangements by Nathan Koci and Daniel Fish, and orchestrations by Daniel Kluger.

Of Most Happy in Concert, Fish explains, "The need to be seen, to be heard, to be recognized shakes itself free from traditional storytelling to emerge in the primal act of song. What happens when, out of stasis, the need to scream becomes a song? What occurs in people when they allow music to work on them and possess them? The answers lie in the singing of Loesser's extraordinary songs, including 'Warm All Over,' 'Standing on the Corner,' 'Somebody Somewhere,' and 'My Heart Is So Full of You.' In this concert setting, plot fades away and a different kind of story emerges-one made of raw human emotion expressed in song and persona."

In Most Happy in Concert, a cast of seven female and non-binary vocalists, backed by a 13-piece instrumental ensemble comprised of Grammy-nominated members from The Resonance Collective Jazz Orchestra, performs songs from the work: Mikaela Bennett (Acquanetta at ProtoType, Renascence), Tina Fabrique (Ragtime, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying), Jules Latimer (Paris, Angela's Mixtape), Erin Markey (Peter Pan at Bard Summerscape, Dr. Ride's American Beach House), April Matthis (Toni Stone, Gatz), Mallory Portnoy (Oklahoma! At Bard Summerscape, St. Ann's Warehouse, and on Broadway, Privacy), and three-time Tony nominee Mary Testa (Oklahoma! At Bard Summerscape, St. Ann's Warehouse, and on Broadway, Guys and Dolls).

The health and safety of Bard's audiences, artists and staff are of paramount importance. All SummerScape productions will be presented in adherence with strict COVID protocols and in accordance with NY State guidance and Bard College's safety regulations. Learn more about SummerScape 2021 health and safety protocols here.

Photo credit: Maria Baranova