The Fonze is still going strong forty years after first hitting TV screens.
Forty years have passed since Happy Days first appeared on TV. Even today, re-runs from the show’s 11 seasons are shown regularly all over the world.
Now the programme is coming to the stage for its UK premiere, starring Cheryl Baker, Sugababe Heidi Range and former Emmerdale star Ben Freeman as The Fonz.
Series creator Garry Marshall, who also wrote the musical’s script, is delighted the show continues to find an audience.
“It’s nice for me that it’s still going and now as a musical because you never know how long something is going to last,” he said.
“The show was about family and friendships, and those things will always be around. Television has changed a lot, but the re-runs are still on. I have grandkids now and they watch Happy Days. These characters are part of my life.”
But the show could have been very different.
“I didn’t want to write about life in the 1970s, which seemed to be about drugs and things like that,” 79-year-old Garry said. “It wasn’t like that in the ’50s, so nostalgia seemed to be the way forward.
“The studio wanted it to be set in the 1930s, but I didn’t know anything about that. I could only write about the ’50s because that’s when I grew up. The characters in the show were people I grew up with in the Bronx. I was like Potsie. I wasn’t as bright as Richie and couldn’t hit like Fonzie!”
Originally Arthur Fonzarelli was only going to be a peripheral character, but Henry Winkler’s portrayal of the cool mechanic pushed him to the front of the show.
“It was a surprise it turned out like that,” admitted Garry, who went on to direct Pretty Woman and Beaches. We thought it was going to be about the three friends Richie, Potsie and Ralph.
“Henry Winkler wasn’t what I was looking for. I wanted someone much taller and Italian. Henry went to Yale! We just gave him a couple of lines, basically just guttural noises. But we decided to give him more and more.”
Winkler is the official creative consultant for the stage musical.
“He was in the UK doing Captain Hook at the time, so he went over and talked with the cast and gave them advice. I think Ben is a better singer than Henry, though!”
Happy Days is at the King’s, Glasgow, from February 24 to March 1. It visits Aberdeen and Edinburgh in May.
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