New ALLEGRO Studio Cast Recording

[Gypsy9]

Posted: 2/2/09 at 6:27am

In today's New York Times there is a review of the new studio cast recording of Rodgers and Hammerstein's 1947 musical ALLEGRO. The on-line version of NYTimes.com provides sound clips of 5 songs from the show. I apologize for not being able to provide a link.

Posted: 2/2/09 at 8:44am

Great review but couldn't find any song samples..

[Amalia Balash]

Posted: 2/2/09 at 9:53am

The clips are on the left hand column near the top, right beneath the clip from Dierks Bentley's CD.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/02/arts/music/02choi.html

Sounds very promising.

[beacon1]

Posted: 2/2/09 at 7:40pm

Aah...Patrick singing again...

Posted: 2/3/09 at 6:28am

I wonder if this will revive any interest in the show (the original production or the 2004 revisal)?

[MisterSnow89]

Posted: 2/3/09 at 9:52am

Has anyone heard this recording? Is it worth investing in?

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 2/3/09 at 10:01am

Judy Kuhn sounds great on So Far. I think I might get this. After readin the review it makes me interested in reading the script. It sounded like a good concept.

Amazon has clips of all the songs.

Updated On: 2/3/09 at 10:01 AM

[A Director]

Posted: 2/4/09 at 2:44am

I bought the recording today and listened to it tonight. It's well sung and worth owning. Its great they took the time to cast the recording. I'm familiar with the 1947 cast recording which gives only a taste of the score. The complete recording finally gives a sense of the show. While I like much of it, the problem is what the show is about isn't clear. Also, there are too many "ballets" in the show.

By the way, Judy Kuhn plays a minor character who appears in one scene.

Posted: 2/4/09 at 2:52am

I LOVE ballets ion musicals so I don't mind having those recorded--remember the show was told through projections and dance largely.

Dottie, in the 50s Everyman Library published a great little book 6 Plays by Rodgers and Hammerstein which go from Oklahoma to Me and Juliet--including Allegro. I found it used for 2 bucks--it's pretty easy to find.

Posted: 2/4/09 at 2:52am

I LOVE ballets ion musicals so I don't mind having those recorded--remember the show was told through projections and dance largely.

Dottie, in the 50s Everyman Library published a great little book 6 Plays by Rodgers and Hammerstein which go from Oklahoma to Me and Juliet--including Allegro. I found it used for 2 bucks--it's pretty easy to find.

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 2/4/09 at 6:40am

Thanks, Eric. I've also been fascinated with Me and Juliet.

Posted: 2/4/09 at 7:19am

Me and J is a fascinating show that I think could be quite charming. It does feel like R&H were trying to do a Rodgers and Hart show or something though. I admit the flop I have a soft spot for by them is Pipe Dream, love the original material, and if they just made it a bit more gritty I think it could work.

[JBSinger]

Posted: 2/4/09 at 10:07am

One reason that Me & Juliet might feel more like a Rodgers/Hart show was that (read this in one of their biographies) Rodgers had a bunch of Pop tunes in his head and wanted to include them in the show. so, ultimately that means that Hammerstein had to shoehorn his lyrics and a scene to fit around a given melody that was not organic to the material.
"No Other Love Have I" (the music) also ended up in Rodgers' Victory at Sea score.

[Scripps2]

Posted: 2/4/09 at 2:03pm

The photograph used is intriguing. It looks to be period authentic but no-one then would have posed for the camera in such a way, so I assume it must be a very clever and appropriate recreation.

[Ed_Mottershead]

Posted: 2/4/09 at 2:07pm

JB, I'm not dead sure about this, but re: No Other Love/Victory at Sea -- wasn't it the other way around? The melody was lifted from Victory at Sea? Or am I way out in left field on this one?

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 2/4/09 at 2:24pm

Yeah, i love the packaging. It's very well done.

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 2/4/09 at 2:51pm

Just listened to the podcast; absolutely wonderful and informative. I can't wait to get this recording.

Posted: 2/4/09 at 7:13pm

Yeah, great podcast. I didn't realize there was a series of R&H podcasts out there called The Sweetest Sounds. I have a feeling this won't become a fave score, but I'm DAMNED thankful for the recording.

That makes sense re Me and Juliet--although I meant it feels more Rodgers and Hart also in terms of story and ligthness of style--the backstage theatre element, etc. Not to menthion Rodgers and HArt frequent collaborators Goerge Abott directed and Alton choreographed
Updated On: 2/4/09 at 07:13 PM

[Bruce Pomahac]

Posted: 2/5/09 at 1:13pm

Actually, it's not quite true that Rodgers had a "bunch" of tunes in his head which were forcefed to Hammerstein who had to "shoehorn" them into the script of ME AND JULIET. R & H never worked that way. Each song and scene was discussed at length before either of them went to work. By the time they did, each of them had a very good sense of what the particular challenge of each song was going to be and they both wrote to meet that particular challenge. It was Hammerstein who admired the music of "No Other Love" (which Rodgers had composed the year before as part of his score for VICTORY AT SEA) and who suggested that he would like to write appropriate lyrics for this music and assign them to the characters of Jeanie and Larry, the principal lovers in ME & JULIET. It is indeed true that in most of Hammerstein's collaboration with Rodgers the words came first. But this was not always the case. The music for "People Will Say We're In Love" (from OKLAHOMA!) also came before the lyrics were written. It is also true that Rodgers, on the heels of a successful revival of PAL JOEY, wanted to do a show more in the style of the musical comedies he had written with Lorenz Hart. But Rodgers did not have a "trunk". And because they were so careful about the actual construction of their scores there are very few Rodgers & Hammerstein songs that were written and then pulled from their shows.

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 2/5/09 at 1:47pm

Wow, this is a truly gorgeous recording...which totally replaces the need for the OBCR, in my opnion. Lai, Pomahac and Chapin should be proud of themselves.

Will this be Grammy eligible next year?

[Ed_Mottershead]

Posted: 2/5/09 at 2:05pm

I'm about half-way through the new Allegro. It certainly is a VAST improvement over the original cast recording and I'm glad to have it. However, I doubt that this will ever be one of my favorite shows -- it gets very preachy (at least until now). The performances are fine, with special kudos to Gunn.

RE: Me and Juliet. I saw it in summer stock in 1955 at the old Lambertville Music Circus. I didn't care for it then and have not grown to like it any more based on the OBCR. No Other Love is a fine song, but, as noted, it started with Victory at Sea. Keep It Gay is okay, but only that. And the rest of the score is just not memorable.

One other thought re: Pipe Dream. I believe Nancy Andrews understudied for Helen Traubel during the original run, eventually taking over the role by the time of its demise. There's no questioning that Traubel was a fine Wagnerian soprano and that's where the trouble is on the recording -- she sounds like a Wagnerian soprano who got into the wrong recording studio accidentally. I could certainly hear Nancy doing this role. I know, the show has many drawbacks, but it's shame that some of this music has been lost in the shuffle.

[Bruce Pomahac]

Posted: 2/5/09 at 3:45pm

Rodgers & Hammerstein made the decision to cast Helen Traubel as Fauna, Madame of the Bear Flag Cafe, in their 1955 musical, PIPE DREAM. After the success of Traubel's successful Las Vegas night club stint in early 1955 she came to R & H's new Steinbeck inspired musical ready to repeat the bawdy (and belty) style of singing that had made such an impression on R & H and her audiences in Vegas and on TV. But she quickly got cold feet. By the time the show opened in New York she had become so uncomfortable singing in her belt voice (in front of New York audiences that would most certainly include her fans from the Metropolitan Opera)that she insisted the low keys in which her songs were written be raised. Indeed, Robert Russell Bennett's orchestration for Traubel's "Sweet Thursday", which was to be performed in the key of F Major, was upped a minor third to A Flat Major. Neither was Traubel happy with her first song in the show. Her portion of the "Bum's Opera", which can be heard on the original cast recording ("You can't catch a fish without a worm for bait...") was replaced with snatches of the "Ba-ba-lou" style improvisations that had been such a hit for her in Vegas. But no matter how R & H capitulated to her demands Traubel was not happy. She wanted to be set free from her PIPE DREAM commitment. The authors retaliated by refusing to let her out of her contract. (She was still the major if not the only draw to the weakly reviewed musical she was helming for them.) Her contract was up two weeks before the show was to close on June 30, 1956. She was asked to stay but refused, and Nancy Andrews took over for the last two weeks of the run.

PIPE DREAM fans might be interested to know that Doc's song, "Will You Marry Me?", was originally written for Emile de Becque to sing in the SOUTH PACIFIC spot that is now filled by Emile's and Nellie's reprise of "Some Enchanted Evening." ("Born on the opposite sides of the sea...")




Updated On: 2/5/09 at 03:45 PM

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 2/5/09 at 4:29pm

Bruce:

Thank you fo sharing your extensive knowledge!

Is it true that PIPE DREAM is no longer available to be staged?

BTW, I recently came across a copy of the LP LOC 1023 in a used record store with the different cover and the "Special advance" sticker. I am amazed that copies of this are still found fairly regularly.

[jv92]

Posted: 2/5/09 at 6:41pm

Bruce, Bravo on a marvelous recording!
After years wondering why Sondheim said this was so influential, this explains everything. LCT ought to think about mounting this after South Pacific if they don't do a revival of Night Music.
All musical theatre lovers, go out and get this gorgeous album somehow, whether its on iTunes or the actual CD set.

[BustopherPhantom]

Posted: 2/8/09 at 7:39pm

Of course ALLEGRO isn't R&H's best show: the story is stabbing-through-the-head moralistic, the characters aren't very interesting (at times, it seems like every character has a big song except for Joe, including a girlfriend who only appears once), and the songs, while very pleasant, are derivative of R&H's previous work, and sometimes just dull ('You Are Never Away,' 'So Far').

But if anything is going to make a case for the show, this recording will. This recording is GORGEOUS. The orchestra actually sounds full and rich (unlike the one for the new SOUTH PACIFIC recording), the cast is great (Look for cameos from [of all people!] Howard Kissel and John Simon), everything is just gorgeous and perfect and wonderful.

If you can afford it, rush out and buy it right now. It's not the best R&H show out there, but the emotional impact that steadily builds throughout this recording pays off tremendously by the end.