By Seth Rudetsky
06 Apr 2009

On Thursday I had my Chatterbox with one of my childhood obsessions: Jo Sullivan Loesser. The Most Happy Fella is the very first show I was obsessed with, and I literally have a tape of myself right before I turned three singing "Ooh! My Feet!" Jo told me that Frank wrote that song originally for Guys and Dolls! At first there was a patrolman who was on the tail of Nathan Detroit, and he sang "Ooh my feet" because he had to walk around the neighborhood so much. But when he was changed from a patrolman to Lt. Brannigan, the song was cut. Thankfully, Frank changed the song to be about a waitress and gave it to the brilliant Susan Johnson.

Jo's first Broadway job was in the "singing chorus" of Oklahoma!. Talk about history! That's like someone saying they were in the first show that laid the groundwork for Broadway as we know it. Wait…it actually is someone saying they were in the first show that laid the groundwork for Broadway as we know it. Jo remembers auditioning for The Most Happy Fella against all the other sopranos of the day (including Florence Henderson) and finally got it after nine auditions! Frank Loesser liked to make people sing "Happy Birthday" higher and higher to test their range. He also told her to sing with her head tilted to the side because it made the singer more likeable (!). Jo and Frank started dating during the run of the show and eventually married (hence the name: Jo Sullivan Loesser). The Most Happy Fella was a big hit, but Jo feels that it could have been bigger if it hadn't opened up just a few weeks after My Fair Lady. Ouch on the timing. Although, it still ran much longer than Frank Loesser's next show, Greenwillow, which shuttered after three months. On the day that show closed, Frank sent a telegram to the cast that just said, "Oops. Sorry." Brava on the directness!

Jo said that Frank was annoyed with Sam Goldwyn, who made the Guys and Dolls movie. Sam didn't like the songs "I've Never Been in Love Before" and "A Bushel and a Peck" and cut them. Frank was asked to replace them and was so annoyed that he told Jo, "I'm gonna write one good song and one bad one!" FYI, "(You're Eyes Are the Eyes of a) Woman in Love" was the good one, and "Pet me, Poppa" was the bad one.

Jo said that The Most Happy Fella is going to come back to Broadway directed by Casey Nicholaw, and I told her I must have my dream cast: Sutton Foster as Cleo, Audra McDonald as Rosabella, Norm Lewis as Joe and Patti LuPone as Marie. I assume her silence was her agreeing to let me be the casting director. PS, I happen to have met Jo the night before my interview because she was at the beautiful Café Carlyle seeing Kelli O'Hara's opening night. Kelli's show was super enjoyable: She sounded great and was so charming (and her act is still going… www.cafecarlyle.com for deets). She sang a great song that was cut from her first big show (it was The Sweet Smell of Success, and she told the audience, "We didn't call it that for long…") and sang a hilarious tour de force that Dan Lipton and David Rossmer about a country star who wants to be an opera singer. The lyrics were so witty and Kelli sounded great singing opera. Speaking of singing, Tommy Tune was in the audience and told me that he just celebrated his 70th birthday performing in Palm Springs. The whole audience started singing "Happy Birthday" to him and he was so moved…but stopped them because they began in different keys. He said, "If you're going to do this, let's do this right!" and then had them start again in the same key. He may be a birthday boy, but he's still a director. At least he didn't make them keep taking it up a step and audition nine times…and later marry them.

This week at my Sirius/XM Live on Broadway show I have the Dear Edwinacomposing team (Marcy Heisler and Zina Goldrich) and the two brilliant stars of Rooms: A Rock Romance (Doug Kreeger and Leslie Kritzer). But more importantly I have two seders. Let the kosher overeating begin!

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(Seth Rudetsky is the host of "Seth's Big Fat Broadway" on SIRIUS Satellite Radio and the author of "The Q Guide to Broadway" and the novel "Broadway Nights." He has played piano in the orchestras of 15 Broadway musicals and hosts the BC/EFA benefit weekly interview show Seth's Broadway Chatterbox at Don't Tell Mama every Thursday at 6 PM. He can be contacted by visiting www.sethrudetsky.com.)