"Allegro" At Last!

[Paul W. Thompson]

Posted: 12/8/08 at 5:49pm

Now, finally, we will be able to tell what the hell this show was like! This sounds like they have done it the right way. YAY!

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/The_Rodgers_Hammerstein_ALLEGRO_CD_To_Be_Released_3309_20010101
Updated On: 12/8/08 at 05:49 PM

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 12/8/08 at 5:57pm

This as well as the other releases mentioned in the article are all quite thrilling. I only wish we could get full-scale mega-revivals of Allegro and The Most Happy Fella.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 12/8/08 at 10:22pm

This sounds as though it will be wonderful!

Now Dollypop sits quietly in a corner and waits for someone to do a full-length studio recording of HIGH BUTTON SHOES, perhaps with Nathan Lane in the Phil Silvers role and Faith Prince doing Nanette Fabrey's role. Oh, and please include all the wonderful dance arrangements,

Thank you very much.

Remember: Good things come to those who wait.

[JohnBoy2]

Posted: 12/8/08 at 10:51pm

Hasn't anyone ever seen Allegro?

[Dollypop]

Posted: 12/8/08 at 11:11pm

The only person on these boards who's old enough to have seen ALLEGRO is Mr. Roxy and he was in a coma the whole time the show was running on Broadway.

sad, when you come to think of it...

[JohnBoy2]

Posted: 12/8/08 at 11:44pm

I didn't mean the original production, just any production. I was in a production of it, way back in 1970.

[JohnBoy2]

Posted: 12/9/08 at 12:06am

Bill Hayes (Doug from Days of Our Lives) and Janice Rule (Broadway's original Madge in Picnic) in a number from Allegro.


You Are Never Away

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 12/9/08 at 1:50am

The Canadian premiere of ALLEGRO happened just 5 years ago (Feb 2004) and I too eagerly anticipate a ccomplete recording.

The original cast recording was done when the record industry was still using 78-rpm discs which could hold about 4 minutes per side. RCA VICTOR recorded 5 records of ALLEGRO highlights -and they sound like bleeding chunks. (Imagine SWEENEY TODD being recorded that way!)

Because ALLEGRO was not a success in 1947, there were no major revivals, no film, and no TV version. So for the past 60+ years all we had was this OCR - and we barely had that. It was out as a set of 78's but in 1950 when RCA started releasing LP's, they did not reissue the ALLGRO album. It did NOT appear on LP until 1965 (in mono adn fake stereo.) That album was around a few years then deleted. RCA Red Seal re-released it in 1977 (finally using the show's poster art on the cover) but again it did not last but a few years in print.

The CD edition was timed to the celebration of the 50th anniversary of Rodgers and Hammerstein in 1993, and surprisingly it is still in print.


ALLEGRO - OCR

[B3TA07]

Posted: 12/9/08 at 2:14am

I love Allegro! And thank God too, I was getting so tired of Andante.

[Gypsy9]

Posted: 12/9/08 at 1:24pm

I'm with Dollypop re. a full length studio cast recording of HIGH BUTTON SHOES, and I approve of her leads--Nathan Lane and Faith Prince. There is an abbreviated cast album available, and the terrific Mack Sennett style ballet is included in the 2 disc set of JEROME ROBBINS' BROADWAY, along with the soft shoe number which could be done by Nathan Lane and Faith Prince. Paging Thomas Shepherd(Columbia's Broadway producer).I, too, will wait patiently.

[BustopherPhantom]

Posted: 12/9/08 at 2:20pm

Yay! And Laura Benanti, too!

What's that?

She's playing the main character's best girl?

YES!

What's that?

She's playing a character who shows so much psychological promise in the first act, and then dissolves into a symbolic, bad character?

What's that?

SHE ONLY HAS ONE SONG?!

Oh. They have Audra McDonald too.

Oh, thank God.

What's that?

She only has one song to herself?

Posted: 12/10/08 at 1:49am

WOOT a release date at last. Been excited for this since the Summer.

And yeah a lot of the roles were given to one song only to add focus back on the main characters--it was controversial at the time too (and maybe a prob for its floppage, although I knwo both characters had a lot of dance)

[Jon]

Posted: 12/10/08 at 11:53am

None of the female characters has more than one solo.

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 1/19/09 at 11:40am

Is this a recording of the entire show or just the entire score?

[homeimp]

Posted: 1/19/09 at 11:47am

I saw that production of Allegro at the North York Civic Light Opera up here in Toronto. I thought it was excellent. Joe Cascone and his group should be very proud.

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 1/20/09 at 5:11pm

So, seriously, when they say complete recording, do they mean complete score or complete show?

[sondheimgeek]

Posted: 1/20/09 at 5:13pm

I also have to jump on the bandwagon and say I would adore a full length recording of "High Button Shoes"!

[Smaxie]

Posted: 1/20/09 at 5:19pm

It's definitely the complete score - every little incidental piece of the score is included, with all of the ballet and dance music. It also has some dialogue segments, but I can't vouch that it's all of the dialogue. The commentary from the chorus gets a bit tiresome - they are a real bunch of buttinskys - but the recording is lovely and the show is certainly one of a kind.

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 1/20/09 at 5:21pm

Well, I'll probably check this recording out nonetheless.

[Ed_Mottershead]

Posted: 1/20/09 at 5:39pm

With all the hoo-hawing about the Allegro recording -- to which I look forward and will buy ASAP -- I'm a little bit surprised that no one has mentioned Pipe Dream. It was the closest that R&H came to having a full-fledged dud, but it does have some nice music. I know it only from the Victor OBCR -- have any of you out there ever seen the show? I know there were major reservations about Helen Traubel, but Suzy and Doc have some nice ballads (nicely recaptured by William Johnson and Judy Tyler on the recording). Would a note-complete recording be warranted or is it best to leave well enough alone?

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 1/20/09 at 7:05pm

PIP DREAM is no longer available for performance, so I doubt the R&H office will finance a new full length recording.

[Paul W. Thompson]

Posted: 1/20/09 at 11:33pm

For the compleatists of the world, it would be nice to have a note-complete "Pipe Dream." Or at least another recording to compare with the OBCR.

Or is this just a pipe dream?

lol Sorry, I just couldn't resist............. heh heh heh

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 1/20/09 at 11:42pm

I'm excited to check this out.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 1/21/09 at 12:21am

I'm a little bit surprised that no one has mentioned Pipe Dream. It was the closest that R&H came to having a full-fledged dud, but it does have some nice music.

Don't forget Me and Juliet. The score featured Keep It Gay long before Mel Brooks' number, though it had an entirely different meaning. I think.

[Ed_Mottershead]

Posted: 1/21/09 at 9:46am

Actually, I HADN'T forgotten Me and Juliet. I saw it in summer stock over 50 years ago and it was awful. Ditto the recording -- No Other Love, arguably the best song in the show, was just a rehash of music Rodgers had used in Victory at Sea and the rest of the score is forgettable, at best. No, that one I'd let alone. Allegro sounds like a noble experiment that didn't always work but is definitely worth re-evaluation. Me and Juliet was just BAD. I brought up Pipe Dream because I was wondering if anyone who'd actually seen it could provide some new insights.