Much as I have issues with Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II - mainly to do
with the varied and jaw-dropping ways they find to be offensive, and the fact that
"Some Enchanted Evening" on a loop for three hours doesn't constitute a musical -
there's no denying the position they occupy in American musical theatre -
essentially regarded as its creators - and the love for them worldwide. So the fact
that one of their shows has never actually been staged in the UK before has to make
you wonder why, while still being fascinated to find out what it's actually like.
Their third collaboration after big hits
Oklahoma and
Carousel,
Allegro tanked on Broadway in 1947 but Southwark Playhouse's perennial
re-interpreter of classic musicals, Thom Southerland, and his choreographer Lee
Proud throw everything at this attempt to make sense of the story of Joseph Taylor
Jr (Gary Tushaw,) a talented small-town doctor who's disillusioned when he takes a
high-paying job in a big city.
