George Hearn Is The Most Happy Fella July 20 at Ravinia | Playbill

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News George Hearn Is The Most Happy Fella July 20 at Ravinia The 2007 Ravinia Festival at the famed Highland Park venue presents a one-night concert version of Frank Loesser's The Most Happy Fella July 20 starring Tony Award winner George Hearn. Marc Robin directs.
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George Hearn

The 8 PM performance boasts Hearn in the role of Tony with two-time Grammy winner Sylvia McNair as Rosabella and Rod Gilfry as Joe.

The threesome will be joined onstage by Alexander Aguilar (Dancer), Cheryl Avery (Cleo), Zach Bandler (Clem), Scott Calcagno (Ensemble), Michèle Cason (Ensemble & Waitress), Michael Cicetti (Al), Michael Deleget (Ensemble), Nikkieli DeMone (Ensemble & Postman), Devin DeSantis (Jake), Lara Filip (Ensemble), Don Forston (Ciccio), David Girolmo (Doctor), Cory Goodrich (Ensemble), Karl Hamilton (Pasquale), Dennis Kelly (Ensemble, Cashier, Priest), Ian Liberto (Dancer), Rob Lindley (Ensemble), Tammy Mader (Ensemble), Johanna McKenzie Miller (Ensemble), Peter Mohawk (Giuseppe), Abby Mueller (Ensemble), Buddy Reeder (Dancer), Lisa Rumbauskas (Country Girl), Laura Scheinbaum (Dancer), Stephen Schellhardt (Herman), Paula Scrofano (Marie), Nathaniel Shaw (Country Boy), Lauren Weisman (Dancer) and Melissa Zaremba (Dancer).

Robin directs and choreographs the evening, which also features the Ravinia Festival Orchestra conducted by Erich Kunzel.

Ravinia president and CEO Welz Kauffman will host a pre-concert talk with Loesser's widow, Jo Sullivan, at 7:15 PM in the Pavilion.

The Most Happy Fella, features book, music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and is based on Sidney Howard's "They Knew What They Wanted." The musical, which premiered on Broadway in 1956, features such tunes as "Standing on the Corner," "Joey, Joey, Joey," "Big D," "Somebody, Somewhere" and "My Heart Is So Full of You." The musical concerns "an aging vineyard owner named Tony [who] courts a pretty young waitress, Rosabella, through the mail and wins her over with a marriage proposal with a picture enclosed. Afraid of rejection, though, he has sent a picture of his handsome foreman. Rosabella discovers the ruse, but true love brings about a most happy ending." George Hearn won Tony Awards for his performances in La Cage aux Folles and Sunset Boulevard and was also nominated for his work in Watch on the Rhine, A Doll's Life and Putting It Together. Hearn's other Broadway credits include Wicked; Meet Me in St. Louis; Ghetto; Ah, Wilderness!; Whodunnit; I Remember Mama; Sweeney Todd: An Almost Perfect Person; Hamlet; The Changing Room; 1776; and A Time for Singing.

The Ravinia Festival is located in Highland Park, IL, at 418 Sheridan Road. For more information visit www.ravinia.org.

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For the past several seasons the Ravinia Festival has offered concert presentations of Stephen Sondheim musicals directed by Lonny Price and starring Tony Award winner Patti LuPone. Those musicals have included Sweeney Todd, A Little Night Music, Sunday in the Park with George, Passion, Anyone Can Whistle and Gypsy. The latter features music by Jule Styne.

 
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