DEARBORN — The city and Friends of the Opera of Michigan will hold auditions for its production of “The Most Happy Fella” Wednesday and Sunday at Studio B in the Ford Community & Performing Arts Center.
Audition times are 7 to 10 p.m. Wednesday and 1:30 to 5 p.m. Sunday. To set up an audition, call 313-582-0997 or email [email protected]
The center is at 15801 Michigan Ave.
Based on Sidney Howard’s 1924 play “They Knew What They Wanted,” Frank Loesser’s “Most Happy Fella” is a touching, dramatic and personal love story about a middle-aged vintner, Tony, whose mail order marriage proposal is accepted under the girl’s assumption that the photo of his young, handsome foreman is her intended husband. She is hurt and humiliated when she learns the truth, but a loving understanding develops between them during Tony’s long convalescence.
Songs from the production include “Big D,” “Standing on the Corner,” “Joey, Joey, Joey” and “My Heart is So Full of You.”
Roles include:
• Tony — (baritone) older Italian, warm, exuberant personality.
• Rosabella — (soprano) lonely, waitress, independent yet vulnerable.
• Joe — (baritone) Tony’s foreman, young, handsome; a loner.
• Marie — (mezzo soprano) Tony’s sister, younger, but still old world.
• Herman — (tenor) young hired hand, cheerful, strong sense of comedy.
• Cleo — Rosabella’s waitress friend, big heart and personality.
• Jake, Clem and Al — to form a quartet with Herman singing “Standing on the Corner.”
• Pasquale, Giuseppe and Ciccio — (two tenors and a baritone) to play this comedic trio (they are Italian chefs) that is very important in the story line.
• Cashier, Postman, Priest, Doctor and Max the Photographer — speaking and singing.
Performance dates are March 30 and 31.