The Most Happy Fella

About the show

Act 1 In the Golden Gate Restaurant in San Francisco in 1927, tired and harassed young waitress Cleo commiserates with her friend. Cleo's feet hurt ("Ooh My Feet") and her friend has had to fend off the cashier's advances ("I Know How It Is"). As they clean up ("Seven Million Crumbs"), Cleo's friend finds a jeweled tie pin and a note addressed to the friend as "Rosabella", written in odd broken English ("I Don't Know (The Letter)"). She decides to answer, thinking of the possibilities ("Somebody, Somewhere"). In Napa, the mailman has a letter for Tony Esposito, who has been enjoying a "mail order love affair" for the past four months. Tony, a large and hearty older Italian immigrant and a successful grape farmer, happily shows the crowd the picture of his "girlfriend" ("The Most Happy Fella"). Meek farmhand Herman expresses admiration of his boss's initiative in pursuing Rosabella ("Standing on the Corner"). But as Tony prepares to send his own picture in return, his sister Marie points out that he is too old and unattractive for a beautiful young woman like Rosabella, and he accepts that she is probably right. At that moment Joe, the young, handsome and nomadic farm foreman, arrives to tell Tony that he plans to leave town and travel somewhere else ("Joey, Joey, Joey"). Tony sees his opportunity and asks Joe for a photograph as a memento, then sends it as his own to his beloved ("Rosabella"). Several weeks later, Rosabella has agreed to come to Napa and marry Tony ("Abbondanza"), but as he prepares to leave for the bus station to collect her, imagining their future together ("Plenty Bambini"), he discovers to his horror that Joe has remained in town longer than planned to attend the wedding ("Spozalizio"). Rosabella arrives at the farm with the postman ("Special Delivery," "Benvenuta") and meets Joe ("Aren't You Glad?"), only to discover that he is not Tony. Upset at the subterfuge, she starts to leave. However, Tony has been injured in a truck accident en route to the bus station, and he pleads with Rosabella to stay and marry him immediately in case he does not live. She relents ("No Home, No Job") and they marry. Joe, who now must stay to run the ranch during Tony's convalescence, is upset but tries to comfort her ("Don't Cry"), and in a moment of mutual weakness they embrace. Act 2 A week later ("Fresno Beauties"), Joe and Rosabella regret their indiscretion ("Cold and Dead"), and at the encouragement of Tony's doctor ("Love and Kindness"), the newlywed couple makes a fresh start ("Happy to Make Your Acquaintance"). Cleo arrives in Napa, revealing that Tony has sent for her and offered her a job to keep Rosabella company, and she immediately takes a dislike to Marie ("I Don't Like This Dame") but hits it off with fellow Texan Herman ("Big D"). As time passes, Tony and Rosabella grow closer, Marie feels increasingly lonely, and Joe longs to travel again ("How Beautiful the Days"). Marie tries to convince Tony that the age difference between him and Rosabella is too great ("Young People"), and he believes her even though Rosabella herself indicates otherwise ("Warm All Over"). Cleo and Herman also grow closer, though she is frustrated by his passive, compliant nature ("I Like Everybody"). She urges Rosabella to tell Tony of her feelings, as Tony is treating her like a child rather than a wife ("I Love Him/I Know How it Is"). Tony, overjoyed by Rosabella's expression of love ("Like a Woman Loves a Man"), discards his cane ("My Heart Is So Full of You"). Later Rosabella collapses at a party ("Hoedown"), and the doctor tells her she is pregnant (with Joe's child). She is upset by this news, and Cleo rushes her away before she can tell the still-overjoyed Tony ("Mamma, Mamma"). Act 3 In Tony's barn a short time later, Cleo hints to Herman that she may be leaving ("Goodbye, Darlin'") but he remains unbelievingly cheerful, to her frustration. As the preparations for the wedding party are taking place, the doctor asks the community to leave the couple alone for a little while ("Song of a Summer Night"). Rosabella tells Tony she is pregnant ("Please Let Me Tell You"). Tony rejects her in a rage when she reveals that Joe is the father. She and Cleo leave to return to San Francisco, but when Tony learns that Joe is leaving as well, he concludes that they are leaving together and rushes to the bus station with a gun to confront them. When he discovers that Joe has already left ("Tell Tony and Rosabella Goodbye for Me"), however, he resolves to forgive her ("She Gonna Come Home Wit' Me"). Marie begs her brother to let her go ("Nobody's Ever Gonna Love You") and snatches away his cane to prevent him from leaving, but Cleo attacks her and grabs it back. Brutish farmhand Pasquale intervenes in the struggle, and Herman finally finds the nerve to stand up for her by striking Pasquale ("I Made a Fist"). Tony convinces Rosabella to return to their home, where they will tell their friends and the townspeople Tony is the father. Reunited with Rosabella and soon to be a father, Tony affirms that he truly is "the most happy fella." ("Finale").