Allegro

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.

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).

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.

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

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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.