No longer neglectedExperimental Allegro affected a young Sondheim

Reviews

REVIEW BY ANDREW MILNER

The 1947 musical Allegro is probably knowntoday as much for Stephen Sondhcim's"gofer" production summer job while a

17-year-old Williams College student as an earlyRichard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II col-laboration. So when Sondheim delivers a speechin the first complete Allegro recording (SonyMasterworks), it is no mere cameo role. In alarger and more satisfying sense, it's Sondheimcoming full circle.

Allegro tells the story of Joseph Taylor .Jr.,who follows in the professional footsteps of hissmall-town doctor father only to be lured by

the glamour of a big-city practice.Catering to the whims of his neu-rotic, wealthy patients, he becomesoblivious to his wife Jennie's infideli-ties and his ideals. At the end of theshow, he turns down a promotion andleaves his wife to return to his home-town with his college buddy Charlieand loyal nurse Emily.

The importance of Allegro inmusical theatre history was less in its

plot than its presentation, which owed much toOur To-icn. An ensemble of performers functionas a Greek chorus, singing Joseph's thoughts.His grandmother and mother appear onstageafter their deaths to comment on the action.And director Agnes de Mille and set designer JoMielziner achieved an almost-cinematic stagingwith rear projections, moving platforms and aserpentine, S-shapetl curtain. The era of brief"in-one" scenes in front of the curtain to set upelaborate production numbers was coming to anend.

Allegro's lack of widespread appeal also hasmuch to do with a brief (33 minutes of material)1947 original cast album on RCA Victor. Thishas been rectified with an outstanding new two-disc recording, offering 95 minutes of music,plus a fully illustrated book that includes a briefessay by Sondheim. "I think I might not be at-tracted to experimental musicals," he observes,"if I hadn't wet my feet \vithAllegro.''

Indeed, many songs in the Allegro score re-veal parallels with later Sondheim compositions.The "Yatata" cocktail sequence, comprised ofharsh chords and abstract lyrics ("Broccoli,hogwash, balderdash/Phony baloney, tripe andtrash") sung by insincere society folk, presagesthe similar "Blob" party scenes in Merrily WeRoll Along. (Tellingly, Joseph's wealthy patientssing of their prescription shots, while Mer-rily's showbiz people medicate themselves withcocaine.) Allegro's brisk title song, with Joe,Charley and Emily commenting on the relent-lessness of modern life ("Don't stop whateveryou do! 'Do something dizzy and new'Keep up

the hullabaloo!") anticipates Pacific Overtures'finale "Next." The anthem-like "Come Home,"sung by Joseph's ghostly mother, is evocativeof "Sunday" and "Move On" from Sunday in thePark with George.

On the other hand, the thoroughness of therecording brings out some of the thematic weak-nesses in the story. As much as Rodgers andHammerstein tried to avoid a simplistic small-town-vs.-big-city conflict, the overall themeseems to be that big cities represent insinceritywhile small towns embody all-American ide-als. It's significant that in Rodgers and Ham-merstcin's next work. South Pacific (1949).characters from the big cities and small townsare united by both World War II and the largerenemy of prejudice.

Y\"hile Allegro''s score has many strengths (in-cluding a clever ''One Foot. Other Foot" motifthroughout Joseph's life), it seems Rodgers andHammerstein were more comfortable writingmusicals based on existing sources, taking placein highly specific settings, than from totallyoriginal ideas. Allegro is set in a generic Mid-western small town and a generic big city: Joeand Charlie attend "State U." By comparison,Carousel is explicitly set in 1870s Xew England,which informs the music as well as the lyrics.

Patrick Wilson, who has already played heroesin two Rodgers and Hammerstein stage reviv-als (Billy in the 1996 national tour of Carouseland Curly in the 2002 Broadway staging ofOklahoma!) is in excellent form as Joseph onthis recording. Laura Benanti is an effectivefoil as Jennie, and Audra McDonald is superb asJoseph's mother (with a radiant "Come Home").Marni Nixon (of the soundtracks to The Kingand I, West Side Story and Gypsy) is equallypoignant as Joseph's grandmother. As Emily.Liz Callaway offers a definitive rendition of theshow's best-known song, "The Gentleman Is aDope." Other inspired casting touches includetwo of the severe college professors portrayed byveteran theatre critics Howard Kissel and JohnSimon. Hammerstein himself provides a cameo:a 1950s-cra Dictabelt recording of his readingthe dialogue has been incorporated into the col-lege sequence.

This comprehensive recording does justice toa neglected piece of American musical theatre.Sondheim provided the voice of Rose's father onthe original east album of Gypsy some 50 yearsago. Perhaps his appearance on this Allegro re-cording suggests we can look forward to anothercast-album cameo sometime around 2059. [rSR)

ANDREW MILNER reviews books and CDs for Phila-

delphia's City Paper.

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