EXCLUSIVE: Corbin Bleu and Stephanie Styles will headline a private industry reading in January of the Broadway-aimed musical comedy Get Happy, a new stage adaptation of the MGM film classic Summer Stock.
The invitation-only reading will be held on January 17 in New York City, according to producers Steve Peters and Michael Londra of VenuWorks Theatricals, Greg & Marissa Frankenfield of Excelsior Entertainment, and executive producers Carolyn Rossi Copeland and Nancy Nagel Gibbs.
Get Happy is produced by special arrangement with Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures.
The musical premiered last year under the title Summer Stock in a well-reviewed and sold-out run at Connecticut’s Goodspeed Musicals. Featuring a book and additional lyrics by four-time Emmy Award winner Cheri Steinkellner (Cheers, Broadway’s Sister Act the Musical), Get Happy includes many of the film’s famous songs such as “You, Wonderful You,” “Dig for Your Dinner,” “Happy Harvest,” and the title song, which became one of star Judy Garland’s signature tunes.
The new version also incorporates other Great American Songbook classics including “Happy Days are Here Again,” “Accentuate the Positive,” “Always,” and “It Had to Be You,” among others.
Directed and choreographed by Donna Feore of Canada’s Stratford Festival, Get Happy keeps the film’s basic premise but also creates all-new characters, plotting and settings for musical numbers.
The official synopsis: “When the company of a new Broadway show loses their rehearsal space, the gang hoofs it to a family farm in Connecticut where in the best musical tradition, the show must go on. Along the way, there are unlikely romances, some of the greatest songs of the American songbook, show-stopping choreography, and a farm – and a musical – to save.”
The production reunites Bleu (In The Heights, High School Musical) and Styles (TV’s Loot, Encores! Ragtime) after starring opposite each other in the 2019 Broadway revival of Kiss Me, Kate. They will play the roles of Joe Ross and Jane Falbury, originally played onscreen by Gene Kelly and Garland.
Bleu created the Joe Ross role in the Goodspeed world premiere.
The reading will also feature Stephen Lee Anderson, Gilbert L. Bailey II, Veanne Cox, Zoe Jensen, Will Roland and Douglas Sills, with Nicholas Cunha, Francesca Mancuso, Corinne Munsch, Kaylee Olson, Aaron Patterson, Jack Sippel, and Cayel Tregeagle.
Additional cast and Broadway production timeline will be announced in the coming weeks.
Musical supervision and orchestrations are by triple Tony Award winner Doug Besterman (Fosse, The Producers, Thoroughly Modern Millie).
