Word: allegros
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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What actually seems to have happened in "Allegro" is a powerful renaissance of that artistic ambition, partially smothered by the tenacious formula for a Musical Comedy. According to R & H "Allegro" is, first of all, a Morality Play. The staging, which along with the dances was in the hands of Agues De Mille, introduces startling and effective new devices; and some of Rodgers' music seems remote from anything he has done before. But on top of all this that is new comes a sweet, sticky dose of the conscious, sentimental Americana that was fresh and clever in "Oklahoma...
This plot plus R & H treatment would have made a musical, but perhaps that wouldn't have satisfied that hungry artistic ambition. The rest of "Allegro" is something altogether original and brilliant: an Impressionist's satire of twentieth century American life. Achieved by a combination of fantastic lighting, expressive ballet, clever writing, and impressionistic music, this satire breaks through in three scenes which should not be forgotten regardless of the rest of the play...
...second parodies a cocktail party: 30 overdressed men and women wiggle about inside an invisible (and nonexistent) wall in the center of the stage, waving long-stemmed glasses, nodding their heads furiously, and shouting in fearful chorus, "Yatata, yatata, boloney, mismosh, rubbish, yatata." The third impressionist scene is "Allegro" itself: the title song, a freudian ballet, and the gyrations of the projected backdrop displaying the tempo of modern life--allegro...
...conclusion is that Rodgers and Hammerstein should have made up their minds whether to write their Morality and have it done with or else to strike bravely out with a musical that stuck to the "Allegro" theme and hit its audiences with a new punch. As it is, the team will probably recover its *400,000 investment neatly, but it has muffed a chance to create a dynamic new form instead of some elever, but seattered, effects...
...Summer Symphony (Sun. 5 p.m., NBC). Menotti Salta's Nostalgic Serenade, Goldmark's Overture to In Springtime, Debussy's Nuages and Fêtes, Borodin's Polovtsian Dances from Prince Igor, Fritz Kreisler's Sicilienne et Rigaudon, Prelude and Allegro. Conductor: Frank Black...