Allegro
The birth, life and death of a small town doctor
Another short-lived musical that proved that successful writers and composers of musicals don’t always hit the gold standard with every show - this time, it’s Rogers and Hammerstein’s folly.
What’s it about?
The birth, childhood, adulthood and career of a small town doctor called Joseph Taylor Jnr. Yeah - not exactly a ‘sell me a ticket’ now kind of synopsis.
Who has been in it?
No one of note, as far as I’m concerned, appeared in the original Broadway cast of this failed musical which came after Oklahoma and Carousel for Rogers and Hammerstein. It was directed, however - and unusually - by a choreographer and woman - Agnes de Mille, niece of the famous Cecil B DeMille.
A 2009 recording, which claims to be the ‘first complete recording’ does feature some familiar names, however: Audra MacDonald, Laura Benanti, Norbet Leo Butz and Patrick Wilson. This recording is much more palatable than the original cast recording.
What are the songs like?
I’m not a fan of Rogers and Hammerstein musicals so this one was always going to have an uphill struggle. Many of the songs are based around the idea of a Greek chorus and the choral aspect didn’t really work well for me. A lot of the songs are also a bit dour and it takes a while for the more fun songs to kick in.
I quite liked The Gentlemen is a Dope which reminded me of You Can Always Count on Me from City of Angels (a favourite song of mine from a favourite musical). You Are Never Away is also rather nice.
Playlist or Not?
As much as I liked the above songs, none of this soundtrack came anywhere near troubling my Spotify playlist.
This is another musical which will end up consigned to the curio cabinet but you can find the whole soundtrack on my playlist: Encore Radio A. That said, there was a 2014 revival which looks like, going by the production photographs that it may have had an interesting staging and involved the cast playing their own instruments within the show.
If you want to find out more about the musical, you can read all about it here.