Allegro

[sabrelady]

Posted: 2/14/04 at 3:23pm

Local theatre is about to do a revival. Think this one will ever come back to Bway as a revival?Always kinda liked it even if it was mostly a success d'esteme. One foot the other foot....

[BroadwayBaby3]

Posted: 2/14/04 at 3:26pm

The only thing I've ever heard of it is "The Gentleman is a Dope" off of Bernadette Peters' Rodgers and Hammerstein CD. But if the rest of the score is like that song, I'd gladly pay the money to see in Broadway.

[bestofbroadway]

Posted: 2/14/04 at 5:17pm

There is a huge new production of Allegro at Signature Theater in DC directed by Eric Schaeffer with a new book directed by Joe DiPietro that I saw and thought was quite good but still needs some changes. This revised production is far superior to the old script which is plain awful. The score does have quite a few wonderful songs. The new version does a way with all of the dances that really make no sense. From what I understand the purpose of the Signature Theater was to try it out before a larger scale production in New York.

[tpdc]

Posted: 2/14/04 at 6:41pm

As much as I liked the Signature production, I think ALLEGRO would never be a big success. It tells an ordinary story with a charming, but minor, R & H score. In addition to The Gentleman Is A Dope, the outstanding song is So Far (also on the Berndette Peters album).

[bestofbroadway]

Posted: 2/14/04 at 10:16pm

I think the fact that it is "ordinary" is what makes it so charming and wonderful. There is no need for the audience to sit there and try to figure out exactly what will happen. No contrived plotlines. It may look simple but I found it in many ways to be very profound and moving. I'm not saying it's perfect but it's much better than a lot of the trash on Broadway.

[tpdc]

Posted: 2/14/04 at 11:07pm

I saw ALLEGRO with a group of people and I was the only one who liked it. Everyone else was bored by it except during So Far and The Gentleman Is A Dope. What charm and appeal it has is due to the small theater. I agree that there were some very wonderful moments. Those moments are due to the fine direction and performances. In a large theater they would be lost and the show would be about the predictable story the and pretty, but mostly unexciting, score. Economically, it doesn't make sense anywhere outside small regional theaters.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 2/14/04 at 11:41pm

Updated On: 2/14/04 at 11:41 PM

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 2/15/04 at 11:01am

A minor R & H score would be considered a masterpiece today.

[onceadancer2]

Posted: 2/15/04 at 12:45pm

It would be interesting to see a revised ALLEGRO. I saw the original production in 1947 and was not particularly impressed. The problem was the libretto and the score. The wonderful thing about the original was the choreography by Agnes deMille. First rate, and I am not an admirer of her choreography. In fact, she could have choreographed more. All the literature blames de Mille for the failure of the original. But, to be honest, nothing could have been done to salvage the material.

Miriam

Updated On: 2/15/04 at 12:45 PM

[bestofbroadway]

Posted: 2/15/04 at 2:26pm

Miriam- the new libretto is really a different animal and the score has been altered in many ways (cutting at least half of the tedious opening.) I found the structure of the score with the new book to be extremely intriguing. The transitions between the songs and dialogue were truly seemless.

[sabrelady]

Posted: 2/15/04 at 2:28pm

I really hope this does end up transfering. It sounds like the new version has real potential.