After starring together in the 2019 Broadway revival of Kiss Me, Kate, Corbin Bleu and Stephanie Styles will reunite in a private industry reading of the new musical Get Happy, based on the 1950 film Summer Stock. The reading will be held January 17 in New York City, with Donna Feore directing and choreographing.
Bleu and Styles will star as Joe Ross and Jane Falbury, respectively—roles which Gene Kelly and Judy Garland originated on screen. Joining them in the cast will be Stephen Lee Anderson (Bright Star, Fiddler on the Roof) as Lt. Henry ‘Pop’ Falbury, Gilbert L. Bailey (The Book of Mormon, Beetlejuice) as Phil, Tony nominee Veanne Cox (Company; Caroline, or Change) as Margaret Wingate, Zoe Jensen (Six, The Heart of Rock and Roll) as Gloria Falbury, Will Roland (Dear Evan Hansen, Be More Chill) as Orville Wingate, and Tony nominee Douglas Sills (The Scarlet Pimpernel, Little Shop of Horrors) as Montgomery Leach.
Nicholas Cunha, Francesca Mancuso, Corinne Munsch, Kaylee Olson, Aaron Patterson, Jack Sippel, and Cayel Tregeagle will complete the company. Casting is by Tara Rubin Casting/Peter Van Dam, CSA. Additional casting will be announced at a later date.
With a book and additional lyrics by Emmy winner Cheri Steinkellner (Cheers, Sister Act), Get Happy follows the company of a new Broadway show who lose their rehearsal space. The show, of course, must go on, so the cast travels to a family farm in Connecticut to save their musical.
Get Happy premiered in 2023 with a sold-out run at Connecticut's Goodspeed Musicals under the title Summer Stock. Bleu, Anderson, Bailey, Cox, and Roland are each returning from the Goodspeed premiere, as are Cunha, Mancuso, Munsch, Olson, Sippel, and Tregeagle.
The work also features musical supervision and orchestrations by Tony winner Doug Besterman. General management is by Bespoke Theatricals.
Steve Peters and Michael Londra of VenuWorks Theatricals and Greg & Marissa Frankenfield of Excelsior Entertainment are producing, along with executive producers Carolyn Rossi Copeland and Nancy Nagel Gibbs. Get Happy is produced by special arrangement with Warner Bros. Theatre Ventures.
