HAPPY DAYS THE MUSICAL

The Photos from Woking (England)

"Happy days the Musical", dedicated to HD, began its theatrical tour in England last 3 February. This show has been presented on the occasion of the 25th Anniversary of "our" sitcom, boasting the great Henry Winkler as a creative consultant, but unfortunately this event hasn't had the emphasis it deserved outside England. Our Fonzie undertook to promote the musical, in fact his smiling face can be seen in several pictures on the English newspapers and, moreover, he took part as a guest in some famous TV shows to talk about the Musical. Just some weeks ago, as easy and nice as ever, he was a guest of "Big Breakfast" on Channel 4, a TV Show mostly addressed to young people. He could be admired while joking with the hosts and the audience, telling anecdotes about his own life, about his career interpreting Fonzie and, namely, about his participation to the show as a creative consultant. Talking about the show, during an interview he was asked if he would have liked to act on stage, but his answer was: "I can dance, but I can't sing. That would be killing, to hear me sing." The Show has been financed by English producers like AMG, E&B and Paul Nicholas & David Ian Associates: the same "team" who is "behind" some other successful musicals in England, among which "Buddy", "Annie", "Grease" and "Saturday Night's Fever". The show originally combines the sitcom plot with the energy and the spectacularity which are typical of the musical; you can listen to famous songs from the 50s like "Rock around the clock", "Teenager in love", "See you later alligator", "Shake rattle and roll" and, of course, the HD's theme song "Happy days". We find back the leading characters, as Richie (interpreted by Stephen Dean, who already took part to several theatre shows, among which Grease" and "The Rocky Horror Picture Show", TV shows and several radio recordings), Potsie (Nik Martin), Ralph (Kev Orkian), Howard Cunningham (Roger Kitter, who already worked for radio and TV; at the moment he is a guest of the American show "Here and Now"), Marion Cunningham (Carol Ball), Joanie (Louise Tyler, who already took part to famous musicals, as "Grease", playing Sandy, "Starlight Express" and "Smokey Joe's cafe") and of course Fonzie. Craig Urbani has the role of Arthur Fonzarelli: Winkler himself stated that "he's sensational" and that he will surely have a great success. He's a young man, but he is fond of the 50s' culture, one reason more to identify with his part. During an interview he declared:" The first time I played the Fonz in front of Henry I was terrified, to say the least. But he was great. He told me to remember that although the Fonz was the coolest dude, he also had standards, and he cared about his friends, so I have to remember that sensitivity." . Craig Urbani has already had a long experience in the Musical: he was Brad Majors, the leading role, in "The Rocky Horror Picture Show"; Buddy Holly in "Buddy" and he took part to several TV Shows. We must stress the presence of Fred Fox, the musical's producer/author. In fact, he already produced and wrote several TV Shows and was a production supervisor of our sitcom "Happy Days" !! Other TV shows in which he had the same role were : "Joanie loves Chachi", "Laverne & Shirley", "Family matters", "He's the major", "Blansky's Beauties" . The idea of making a musical was David Capri's, associated producer and singer. Another very impressive name is Allan Harding, the coreographer for "Happy Days, the Musical", who boasts a successful career as a dancer also; moreover, he was a director and coreographer even in Hollywood and Broadway. He made shows for Tina Turner and the recent party for Prince Charles' 50th Birthday, a live show to which stars as Robbie Williams, Geri Halliwell, Joan Collins and Rowan Atkinson, among others, took part. After different stages inside England, the Musical's Tour will be in London's West End next March 2000 (but with a different cast) and in Australia in October 1999 (click here for more informations). In order to give us up in the ambience of "our" sitcom "Happy days" all we have to do is flying to England: it will be like settling in Milwaukee at Arnold's and live again the magical atmosphere of the 50s, together with Fonzie, Richie and Co. written by Babs

the poster of the musical Henry Winkler & Craig Urbani the cover of the issue #7 of the fan club fanzine with a special dedicated to the Musical

Informations, errors, corrections:
Giuseppe Ganelli

some link about the musical: