Tom Plotkin, the curly-haired blond who made a Broadway splash as the dumb rube Willard Hewitt in Footloose, will play Herman in the Seattle revival of Frank Loesser's The Most Happy Fella with Broadway star Patti Cohenour March 5-24.

Plotkin was also featured in Seussical on Broadway and in Forbidden Broadway Strikes Back Off-Broadway. In 2001, he played Berger in the City Center Encores! production of Hair.

Cohenour originated the Broadway roles of Mary Jane Wilkes in Big River, Rosabud in The Mystery of Edwin Drood and shared Christine Daae with Sarah Brightman in The Phantom of Opera before taking the role over from the London star. Other credits include The Mother Abbess in the Broadway revival of The Sound of Music and Seattle's recent revivals of 1776 and The Servant of Two Masters.

Joining them are Julian Patrick (Seattle's 1776 and an opera veteran) as Tony, Cheyenne Jackson (The Prince and the Pauper) as Joe and Lisa Estridge-Gray as Cleo.

First produced on Broadway in 1956 (the same year as My Fair Lady), The Most Happy Fella tells of the complicated romance that blossoms between Tony and Rosabella. When he leaves her a proposal of marriage at the restaurant where she works, Tony begins a writing relationship with Rosabella. She asks for a photo and, worried that he is too old and ugly for her, Tony sends a picture of his ranch foreman, Joe. Rosabella comes to Tony's vineyard in Napa on the strength of that handsome face, but is shocked and surprised by who Tony actually is. Tragedy strikes, however, and is just enough to bring the two together, teaching them both the true meaning of love. Loesser's score includes the songs "Standing on the Corner," "Joey, Joey, Joey," "Big D," "Somebody, Somewhere" and "My Heart Is so Full of You." For reservations at the Fifth Avenue Theatre, call (206) 292-ARTS. The Fifth Avenue Theatre is located at 13 08 5th Avenue in downtown Seattle and on the web at http://www.5thavenuetheatre.org.

— By Christine Ehren