Ashland, Oregon at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival The Happiest Song Plays Last by Quiara Alegría Hudes Daniel Duque-Estrada (Elliot) and Barzin Akhavan (Ali). Photo by Oregon Shakespeare Festival. The Happiest Song Plays Last, the third installment of Iraq war veteran Elliot Ortiz's struggle with his combat experience and aftermath, fulfills the promise of the complex emotional saga. While nominally about Elliot,  three characters have legitimate claim to be considered the lead: Elliot (Daniel Duque-Estrada), his cousin Yaz (Nancy Rodriguez), and Yaz's neighbor Agustin (Armando Duran). Even then, some of the deepest scenes center on other characters, Ali (Barzin Akhavan) [...]