By ANTHONY TOMMASINI [NY Times, 8 March 2006]

Frank Loesser's music for "The Most Happy Fella" is more complex, varied and inventive than the scores of quite a few 20th-century works that proudly call themselves operas. Yet Loesser never thought of the show, which opened on Broadway 50 years ago, as an opera. "It's a musical, with a lot of music," he said. Actually, there is not just a lot, but almost continual music.