Walking Happy

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Walking Happy
Music	Jimmy Van Heusen
Lyrics	Sammy Cahn
Book	Roger O. Hirson Ketti Frings
Basis	Harold Brighouse's play Hobson's Choice
Productions	1966 Broadway

Walking Happy is a theater musical with music by Jimmy Van Heusen, lyrics by Sammy Cahn and book by Roger O. Hirson and Ketti Frings. The story is based on the play Hobson's Choice by Harold Brighouse. The show opened on Broadway at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on November 26, 1966 and ran for 161 performances. Directed by Cy Feuer with choreography by Danny Daniels, the cast included George Rose as Henry Hobson, Norman Wisdom as Will Mossop, Louise Troy as Maggie Hobson, and Ed Bakey as George Beenstock.

The musical was nominated for 6 Tony Awards, including Best Musical.

The Original cast recording was released by Angel Records in 1966. cast album database.

Plot synopsis

In Lancashire, England in 1880 the men of the town gather in the local pub, with much drinking. The widower Henry Hobson, owner of a boot shop, has three daughters, and he wishes them to marry. The local leader of the temperance league, George Beenstock, has two sons. The two youngest Hobson daughters flirt with the Beenstock sons, while Hobson tells his eldest daughter Maggie that her time has passed. Maggies decides to make a match with Will, a skilled shoemaker, even though Will is engaged to another. Will and Maggie establish their own boot shop. Meanwhile, Hobson's drinking continues, his young daughters try to takeMaggie's place at his shop, and Wil and Maggie marry. Hobson and Beenstock settle on a dowry for the young ladies. Hobson realizes that he needs Maggie and Will, and they become partners.

Songs

• "Be Joyful"
• "Circle This Day on Your Calendar"
• "Clog and Grog"
• "How D'ya Talk to a Girl?"
• "I Don't Think I'm in Love"
• "I Should've Said"
• "I'll Make a Man of the Man"
• "If I Be Your Best Chance"
• "It Might as Well Be You"
• "A Joyful Thing"
• "Love Will Find a Way - They Say"
• "The Man Has Got to Wear the Pants"
• "Most Girls"
• "Must You Go"
• "No More Mister Nice"
• "People Who Are Nice"
• "A Policeman's Whistle"
• "Such a Sociable Sort"
• "There's No Love Like Ours"
• "Think of Something Else"
• "To Keep the Chill Off the Bones"
• "Touch a Hair of His Head"
• "Use Your Noggin"
• "Very Close to Wonderful"
• "Walking Happy"
• "What Makes It Happen?"
• "Where Was I?"
• "Wouldn't It Break Your Heart?"
• "You're Right, You're Right"

Critical response

Walter Kerr reviewed the musical for the New York Times. He wrote that the musical was "easygoing, unpretentious, minor-league...a light, slight, occasionally charming pastime." The "principal asset" is Norman Wisdom, a "zany original". (New York Times", Walter Kerr, November 28, 1966, p.47)

Awards and nominations

• Tony Award Best Musical — Book by Ketti Frings, Roger O. Hirson; Music by James Van Heusen; Lyrics by Sammy Cahn; Produced by Cy Feuer, Ernest H. Martin (nominee)
• Tony Award Best Composer and Lyricist — Lyrics by Sammy Cahn; Music by James Van Heusen (nominee)
• Tony Award Best Actor in a Musical — Norman Wisdom (nominee)
• Tony Award Best Actress in a Musical — Louise Troy (nominee)
• Tony Award Best Featured Actor in a Musical — Gordon Dilworth (nominee)
• Tony Award Best Choreography — Danny Daniels (nominee)

External links

• ​Walking Happy​ at the Internet Broadway Database
• production information and plot at NODANW
• musicalheaven