Okay, we'll say it... It's a flop. We're wrapping up our Rodgers & Hammerstein season with one of their lesser-known works: the 1947 musical Allegro, a show that was ahead of its time but that hasn't been produced much since its original run.
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We talk about:
- The Dynamic Duo: Rodgers and Hammerstein as commercial Broadway producers and a creative team
- Concept Musicals: The rise of the “concept musical” and Allegro’s role in that tradition (and its influence on subsequent composers... like a kid named Stephen Sondheim, whose first Broadway job was as an assistant on Allegro!).
- Being Vulnerable: Learning to love by investing in other people's thriving – and the power of vulnerability.
- Aha Moments: Moments of epiphany when everything seems to fall into place, and why we might look for those moments on stage because we rarely experience them in day-to-day life. What does it means to find your "true self?"
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You’ll hear:
- Gloria Willis singing “We Have Nothing to Remember So Far” from the 1947 Original Broadway Cast Recording.
- Lisa Kirk singing “The Gentlemen is a Dope” from the 1947 Original Broadway Cast Recording.
You may want to check out:
- Episode 19 of Porchlight Music Theatre's podcast Classic Musicals From the Golden Age of Radio with Michael Weber. It contains the full 1951 radio broadcast of Allegro - and a great introduction by Anika Chapin of Goodspeed Opera Company in CT!
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