Event Host: School of Music
Short Description: Drawing from previously unexplored source materials, including the draft for the television version of Allegro, Dr. Lovensheimer offers a fresh look at the work that Hammerstein said was “the only play that was not a big success that I ... [want] to give another chance to.”
Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Allegro: A Society “Far from Well” presented by James Lovensheimer, associate professor of musicology and chair of the Department of Musicology and Ethnomusicology at Vanderbilt University.
Oscar Hammerstein II blamed the disappointing reception of Allegro (1947) in large part on his failure to clearly state the show’s central idea: as soon as people become successful at doing something, subsequent awards or appointments “emaciate their achievements” and thwart their continued success. Instead, Hammerstein lamented, audiences “thought I was saying in small towns people are honest and in big towns they are not.” Yet a close reading of the script and score suggest that both these ideas are integral to the show, and the second idea pervades much of Hammerstein’s work.
Further, Allegro demonstrates a third thematic concern. Allegro is an early indictment of the so-called “rat race” of postwar urban society; since this theme is inclusive of the first two, it can be considered the overall message of the show. Approximately ten years later, when Hammerstein began reworking the script for television, he retained but softened the overall social criticism and altered several key elements of the show.
Drawing from previously unexplored source materials, including the draft for the television version of Allegro, Dr. Lovensheimer offers a fresh look at the work that Hammerstein said was “the only play that was not a big success that I ... [want] to give another chance to.”
Lectures are held Mondays at 4 p.m. in the 18th Avenue Library, 175 W. 18th Ave. (Music/Dance Library, second floor, room 205), unless otherwise noted. These events are free and open to the public.
