Laura Benanti and Cheyenne Jackson Join The Most Happy Fella at Encores!
The Most Happy Fella just got a lot happier. Tony winner Laura Benanti and Broadway fave Cheyenne Jackson will join previously announced star Shuler Hensley in the Encores! revival running from April 2 through April 6 at New York City Center.
Directed and choreographed by Tony winner Casey Nicholaw, The Most Happy Fella centers on a love triangle between an aging Napa Valley farmer (Hensley), a young waitress (Benanti) and a handsome, restless ranch hand (Jackson). The musical features book, music and lyrics by Tony winner Frank Loesser. The show premiered on Broadway in May 1956 and was most recently revived in 1992 in a production starring opera singer Spiro Malas.
Benanti is the first actress in history to win a Tony Award for the role of Gypsy Rose Lee in the musical Gypsy. Her additional Broadway credits include The Sound of Music, Swing!, Into the Woods, Nine, The Violet Hour, The Wedding Singer, In the Next Room and Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (for which she received an additional Tony nomination). Her screen credits include Go On, The Big C and The Playboy Club.
Jackson recently appeared in HBO’s smash Liberace biopic Behind The Candelabra and on Broadway in the porn comedy The Performers. His other Broadway credits include Xanadu, Aida, Thoroughly Modern Millie, All Shook Up and Finian's Rainbow. He will also appear in the upcoming films Six Dance Lessons In Six Weeks and Opening Night. He has appeared on the TV show 30 Rock and recently released his debut album I’m Blue, Skies.
