My Allegro Debrief (Finally)

Allegro.  It’s not a very common word.  It doesn’t sound interesting.  It’s obviously something to do with music, but the boring parts of music.  That’s what the word meant to me until I finished reading Carousel in a collection of Rodgers & Hammerstein musicals only to turn the page and discover something really intriguing.  Allegro was Rodgers & Hammerstein’s “flop” of a follow-up to their megahits, Oklahoma and Carousel.   The big question is, why did it flop?  The simple answer is that it didn’t.  Not really.  As I said, Oklahoma and Carousel were monster hits, and Allegro paled in comparison.  The reviews were mixed, and it didn’t have the staying power of the others, but I don’t think anyone lost any money on Allegro.  People just didn’t know what to expect.  Some got it, others didn’t.  It was a revolutionary idea, a completely different style compared to its lush predecessors and was helmed by first-time director, Agnes de

Mille.  (This was also revolutionary at the time since, not only was she a woman, but it was one of the first times any one person served as both director and choreographer.)  Stung by the perceived failure, Rodgers and Hammerstein were ready to move on to the next big thing, 1947’s South Pacific, which fared much better.  Allegro was left in the dust.  No one does it, there wasn’t a full recording made for over 50 years after its debut, and it is largely forgotten.  Now, when I hear the word "allegro," it makes me think of one of the most interesting and challenging shows I have ever directed.

As I’ve talked about before, script selection is a long and involved process. There are many things I look for in a potential show.  Logistically, I have to ask things like: Can I cast it?  Can we make this set?  Will it appeal to the sensibilities of our intended audience?  Things like that.  But as a director, I need to connect with a script.  I need to read it and find my hook.  This is easier to do with straight plays.  I’ve directed a few musicals in the past, and I enjoyed them, but truth be told it is difficult for me to get excited about the prospect of directing a musical.  Allegro, however, was an exception to this rule.

Allegro is a deep and very complex show.  There are such intricate relationships and motivations to be sorted out, and because it is a musical, you have less time to do it - the music steals half of your stage time.  This means that the director has to work closely with the actors and help them find ways to communicate a lot with very little dialogue.  The main character Joe’s relationship with his family is integral to the show.  In fact, I might even call that the core emotion of the show.  This relationship has to be conveyed to the audience so that they understand its depth and even champion Joe’s eventual (and non-traditional) return home.  That seems like an easy enough thing to do until you realize that Joe has just one brief scene of dialogue with his father and absolutely no dialogue with his mother.  We know that Joe draws strength from Grandma, and yet they never share a scene together.  It’s a testament to the writing that I didn’t realize all that until I’d read the show several times.

We also have a theme of romance throughout the play.  Marjory and Joe Sr. have a very close, playful relationship.  This is very different from how we are used to seeing the parents of a primary character.  We expect and loving but distant Ma & Pa kind of thing.  Instead, we have this warm “fellow and a girl” kind of relationship, as Joe Jr. describes it.  The two are essentially the romantic leads of Allegro, which is so atypical yet somehow works perfectly.   Next we have Joe and Jennie.  Joe idealizes Jennie, and this helps him to overlook their fundamental differences.  Jennie has a lot of ambition, and while I believe she does love Joe, she thinks she can change him into the kind of man that fits into the life she has always dreamed of.  Unfortunately, that doesn’t work for Joe, and the result is an unbalanced and ultimately unhappy marriage.  I found this to be so interesting.  Here we have a guy marrying his childhood sweetheart.  Now that should really tug at our heart strings, but Oscar Hammerstein cleverly reveals little hints of what’s to come, and we feel a sense on impending doom.  We see Jennie try to have the best of both worlds, and we see Joe try to convince himself that he’s happy leaving his father’s practice to head to Chicago like Jennie wants.  It doesn’t work for either of them.  These are particularly satisfying themes and limitations to work in, because it puts a lot of responsibility not only in my hands as director but in the actors themselves.  They have to rely on each other to set things up just right so that their subtle responses evoke the kind of power needed to sell our story.  Joe and Jennie seem happy, but they let us know that something isn’t as it should be.  Enter Emily.       

I find the character of Emily to be fascinating.  When you read the script, or see it live, the addition of Emily brings a jarring new kind of energy into the mix.  As things progress, we see Joe and Jennie drift farther apart… though that’s not even true.  We don’t actually see it, we just understand that it is happening.  That’s another point for Oscar Hammerstein.  He gives you enough so that you can easily extrapolate what is happening with the characters, and, though it’s not tidily laid out in front of you, you don’t feel cheated for having missed it.  Emily and Joe have a casual rapport that Joe and Jennie don’t have even in their prime.  Instead, it makes us subconsciously remember the easygoing chemistry of Joe Sr. and Marjory.  I think it is brilliant that nothing ever happens between Joe and Emily, but somehow you just know that when Joe and Jennie finally go their separate ways Joe and Emily will eventually find each other and have the kind of happily ever after that Joe Sr. and Marjory made us long for.  As a director, this kind of subtly poses a real challenge.  I had the task of nudging my actors in directions that would paint a more complete picture of the story than the words alone would allow.  Instead of two pages of dialogue to cement a strong emotion, we had a few words, meaningful glances, and body language.

The life of Joe Taylor is further fleshed out with friends and associates.  Allegro highlights the supporting cast better than just about any show I know.  We have characters that are only seen once or twice having vital scenes and, in the case of Beulah, even the most recognizable song from the show (“So Far”)!  In some ways, the large cast and bevy of supporting roles makes it an ideal show for community theaters.  On the flip-side, though, the challenges involved in this show might make potential producers think twice.  Luckily, I live in area that is ripe with talented, theatrical people.  I was confident that we’d find the talent that the show required. And boy, did we.  The cast and crew consisted of a variety of people with different ages, talents, theatrical backgrounds and experience.  I can think of few instances when a group came together so seamlessly and formed such an excellent working relationship so quickly.  Everyone seemed to take to their roles and find great pride in essentially interpreting them from scratch.  When it comes to big musicals, that is somewhat of a rarity.  You can’t do Sound of Music without thinking of Julie Andrews or Mary Martin.  You can’t do Bye Bye Birdie without conjuring up an image of the great Dick Van Dyke.  But with Allegro, it felt like it was hot off the presses and we were the first to tackle it. I think I can speak for the group when I say that was both daunting and invigorating.  We had our work cut out for us.  I had a lot of decisions to make.  I think one of the temptations in doing a show like this is to over-produce.  It’s meant to be simple.  The dialogue and characters carry it, not an elaborate set and effects.  Trying to fill it out with more spectacle would only take away from its charms.  We preserved that stripped-down feel, as written.

I hope that it’s rediscovered.  I hope that some brilliant Broadway producers decide to update the book and have a grand revival to commemorate its 60^th anniversary.  I really think that if it landed today it would be a hit.  If the reactions from the audiences members who saw our Short Tract production are any indication, people are ready for a show like this now.  I had a great time directing Allegro.  It was challenging, exciting and fun.  In fact, the only downside to directing this was that it meant I couldn’t be in it.  If someone else decided to do it, give me a call, and I’ll be the first to audition.

Director's Note: Allegro

This weekend, I wrapped production on my most recent directorial endeavor (and my first with Short Tract Towne Theater), the little-known Rodgers & Hammerstein musical Allegro.  I plan to do a full debrief when I have more time, because it really was a unique experience.  For now I thought I'd post my director's note from the program:

                After the success of Oklahoma and Carousel, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II decided to branch out and try something completely different.  While their previous efforts had been straight-forward, traditional musicals, Allegro stood on it’s own as an experimental piece relying on deep characters and narration to tell their story.  The minimalist set and abstract approach to storytelling appealed to some, but was a too big of a leap to others.  Critics were split and ultimately the show closed after a little more than 300 performances.  Aside from a brief tour after the original Broadway run, Allegro was largely forgotten.  There was no run in London, no film version, and no Broadway revival.  By R&H standards this show was a failure, something that bothered Oscar Hammerstein.  He felt that audiences just weren’t prepared for the kind of show it was and even began work on a televised version that was scrapped upon his death.

                Allegro tells the tale of Joseph Taylor, Jr. as he makes his way through life, love and business.  Originally intended to be a birth-to-death tale, Hammerstein quickly realized that wouldn’t work time-wise and shortened it to be a birth-to-mid-life-crisis tale.  The show opens with Joe’s birth, though we don’t actually see him until he’s an adult.  Instead we see the reactions and impact his birth has on the small town he lives in.  His parents and grandma adore him, and there are great expectations of what he’ll become.  As Joe ages the format of the show grows with him.  While the first act covers 20+ years of Joe’s life, the second act picks up nearly 10 years later and follows a more traditional timeline.  We see Joe adapt to college life and adulthood, we see him fall in love, we see him grappling with his parents’ and wife’s expectations of him, we see him forge a career and make his way in the world.  As more and more people grow to rely on him, he begins to be pulled in different direction and loses sight of what he wants for himself. (A concept that is explored in the Allegro ballet.)

                I discovered Allegro completely on accident.  I bought a collection of six Rodgers & Hammerstein librettos so that I could read Carousel. When I finished that, I turned the page and there was Allegro.  I read the first few bits of dialogue and was instantly hooked.  As I began to research this little-known show I became more and more fascinated by it.  It’s a shame that this has never been revived.  I think it would be a huge hit today.  There are many theories as to why Allegro didn’t click with the audiences of 1947, but I think it all boils down to the simple fact that it was ahead of it’s time.  It’s abstract style and loose format were unheard of at the time and didn’t come in to common practice until decades later.  Some have criticized it for being a heavy handed morality tale against the wealthy, but I don’t think that’s right.  (In fact, one of the most devious characters is from Joe’s hometown.)  I see Allegro as the story of a man who is torn between loyalties to his roots and to his potential future, his parents and the girl he loves, his ambitions and the expectation of others.  Somewhere along the way he has to learn to set all of that aside and follow his own path in order to reach his full potential.   Only then will be able to find true happiness and benefit the lives of those around him.

Nic Gunning

Director

                              

 It is a law of our civilization that as soon as a man proves he can contribute to the well-being of the world, there be created an immediate conspiracy to destroy his usefulness, a conspiracy in which he is usually a willing collaborator. Sometimes he awakens to his danger and does something about it. That is the story of Allegro.

-Oscar Hammerstein II

Gunning in the Park

            One of my favorite parts of teaching is being able to see your students progress throughout the semester.  I was very my proud of my acting class this year.  They did an excellent job performing our short play, The Trophy Case, at the Arts in Motion showcase this year.  They handled the transition from rehearsing in HMAC to using the giant stage at FCS without so much as hiccup.  This year we added a new venue to work in, the great outdoors.

            This summer we were invited to perform The Trophy Case in the Angelica town circle at their farmer’s market.  Performing outside bring a host of new challenges.  To prepare for this we had a special rehearsal a few weeks after the showcase.  To my pleasant surprise, the whole class remembered their lines, even though we hadn’t work together in over two weeks.  It was fun to have the gang together again and the students really seemed to enjoy the reunion.  We rehearsed once in HMAC then dragged our chairs out back and rehearsed a few times with the sounds of traffic, nature and everyday life.   It took a few tries to get it right with so many new distractions to compensate for, but they picked it up quickly.

            The next week we met up in Angelica to perform for the folks at the farmer’s market.  It was great to see to students working in this completely different environment.  They didn’t miss a beat.  The show went well, the audience seemed to enjoy it and the students were able to get the experience of playing to an outdoor crowd.  It was the perfect way to cap the semester and got everyone excited for what next year will bring.  Right away the acting students started inundating me with ideas for Plucky Pipsqueak III.  I guess I’d better start writing!

            Outside of HMAC, I had the opportunity to work with 3 of my former acting students in my production of Allegro with the ShortTract Town Theater.  All three are doing a great job and it has been really rewarding for me to be able to work with them on this level.  Allegro opens tonight and runs Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 7pm in the Fillmore Central School auditorium.  Come see for yourself.

Summer Fun at HMAC

This post originally appeared on the HMAC website:
 
Exciting times at HMAC right now!   As we draw closer to the big showcase, Arts in Motion, the instructors are working hard to get their students ready, and the students are really rising to the challenge.  My acting students have their lines down pretty well and are looking forward to the small test audience I’ve invited for our next class.

Beyond the showcase, I’m looking forward to the new opportunities starting up over the summer.   We have week-long camps for ballet, dance and theater; several regular fitness and dance classes; plus something all new.  This summer we will begin offering voice lessons for kids.  This is an exciting development because it provides a new opportunity for the younger kids in the community  Kendra Mikols will be joining us at HMAC beginning this summer. (You’ll get a chance to hear her sing at the spring showcase!)  She’s a recent college grad with a bachelor’s degree in Music Education, vocal emphasis.  Aside from giving private lessons in the studio, she will teach a weekly class designed to engage young musicians, introducing students to the basics of singing and helping to cultivate their talent.  It’s a fun setup, and I think students will really respond well.

Now that we have theatre, dance and voice covered, I see a lot of future potential for things like joint classes and even musical theater camps.  Anyway, I just wanted to welcome our friend Kendra into the fold.  We’ll see you at the showcase!

Yo-ho, yo-ho, a Pilates life for me.

Recently I’ve had the opportunity to enjoy HMAC not just as an employee, but as a student as well.  My wife and I have been attending the lunch-time Pilates classes that studio is offering and we have really been enjoying it. 

Over the last year or so, we’ve have made a few attempts at starting exercise regiments.  They have not been successful.  We figured out that we are much more likely to stick with it if it is something that we can do together, but it’s been difficult find something that works for both of us.  Another issue we have is timing.  We’ve tried to do it first thing in the morning, but we aren’t motivated enough.  Evenings are tough too.  Once we get home, eat, and change into exercise clothes we don’t have much time left.  When the option of lunch-time Pilates popped up we jumped on it.  Hilary has done yoga for years, so she was familiar with some of the principles behind Pilates, though as a whole it is very different.  I was going in as a complete beginner.

I’ve tried a few DVD workouts before to varying degrees of success, and was surprised what a difference it made having an actual instructor to work with. Several times now I’ve had the experience where I’ll be working on a set and thinking I am doing it right.  Then Sarah will give me a few pointers.   I’ll make the corrections and realize that not only was I missing an important element to the exercise, but I wasn’t getting any kind of work out doing it incorrectly.  It’s amazing the difference it makes when you start doing the exercises the right way.  Even small things like breathing right or arching your feet can make a big difference.  It’s pretty clear that part of the reason I haven’t had much luck with DVDs is that I have no way of knowing if I’m actually doing right.  I’m most likely missing the finer points that can make all of the difference in any given exercise.

Hilary and I talked about trying to do some sort of lunch time exercise program before, but didn’t think we could swing it due to the time restraints.  Pilates works well for us because, while it is a thorough workout, it doesn’t leave us all sweaty and gross the rest of the work day.  Actually, I find on days when we do Pilates that I feel more energetic and upbeat.  After class I usually become aware of muscles that I never knew existed before.  I can also feel progress being made in my abs, thighs and shoulders.  Another nice perk to doing Pilates is that since it is mat based we are usually not in a position to see each other.  Meaning that even though I’m in a class with other students they can’t see me looking stupid trying to get it right!  (And make no mistake; I do look stupid doing it.)  We are definitely going to stick with it.  It is something we can do together; the lunch hour is the perfect time for us to (there are other class times as well) and little by little we are making progress.

Plucky Pipsqueak II... This Time it's Personal!

Last year, when it came time to select a script for my acting students (at the Houghton Movement & Arts Center) to perform at the showcase, I hit a bit of a brick wall.  I scoured the internet for something in the public domain that was interesting and age appropriate but all I could find were things that were either dated and stuffy or light and cutesy.  I worried that working with a script like that would do more harm than good.  I wanted something fresh that would emphasize the individual strengths of the students in my class.  Left with no alternative, I decided to sit down at my computer and see what I could come up with. (See here for more details.)  The result was A Plucky Little Pipsqueak, a 15-minute, 4-character comedy centered on a group of students waiting at the principal’s office.  It was a fun experiment that I think/hope worked out in the end.

This time around, with a year of teaching under my belt and a mix of new and returning students, I decided to work the script-writing process into the class.  As the spring semester rolled around I began to open class asking for suggestions for a showcase piece.  It was agreed upon that we would do a sequel to Pipsqueak with the returning students reprising their roles and the new students taking on new ones.  (I have a weakness for sequels.  See this or this or this.) The students became very engaged in the brainstorming process, as we began to discuss plot points, characters and other details of the new script.  We settled on a mystery theme, fleshed out the new characters and even decided the resolution together. 

In the week that followed, I once again sat down at my computer, this time armed with my notebook filled with their suggestions and got to work.  The next week I presented them The Trophy Case, and was pleasantly surprised by their excitement upon seeing the new script.  Just as we had discussed, The Trophy Case tells the tale of 5 students accused of breaking a prized trophy and their mission to solve the crime.  As we first read it aloud, I watched their faces light up as they saw their ideas come to life on the page.  It was an incredibly rewarding experience for me, and hopefully for them too. 

One of the things I try to emphasize in class is that the art of stage craft is layered.  I think that in order to be a truly good actor you have to have an understanding and appreciation for all of the things that go into plays.  Like most things in life, the more knowledge you gather on something, the better you become at it.  It is a joy for me to watch these talented students work through The Trophy Case each week, and I can’t wait to see it up on stage at the showcase.  My hope is that their involvement in its inception will make it that much more rewarding when they finally get to do it in front of an audience.

Movie Review: Jack the Giant Slayer

I'm not really sure I'm down with this current fascination with fairy tales.  The TV shows, the terrible movies; it's just not working for me.  Recently, Hilary and I saw the latest one to enter the fray, Jack and the Giant Slayer.  I didn't expect greatness.  I like Bryan Singer, it fit within the right time window, and I figured it would be some harmless fun.  I'm not sure what it was, but it certainly wasn't fun.  

The beginning started off interestingly enough: Jack is being told the legend of the giants by his father while Princess Isabelle is hearing the same story from her mother.  Good way to set up the backstory; it pulls you in.  Cut to ten years or so down the road, and suddenly Jack has no parents, and Isabelle only has her father, the king.  This seemed as though it was laying the foundation for some sort of revelation or something in regards to the missing parents, but (Spoiler Alert, I guess) it never does.  In a scene inspired by the far superior Disney's Aladdin, Jack meets and awkwardly defends Princess Isabelle in the market, not realizing who she is until Ewan McGregor shows up as Elmont, the princess' protector.  (Yes, the Ewan McGregor.  He owes me an explanation.)  We soon learn that the princess ran away because she is being forced to marry the king's adviser, Jafar Roderick played by Stanley Tucci.  (Yes, the Stanley Tucci.  No explanation needed.)  Meanwhile, Jack is given magic beans by a monk, and we learn that the beans go with a magic crown.  The beans provide a way to the giants' realm, and the crown controls them for some convoluted reason.  Also, the princess runs away again and ends up at Jack's door. 

Now, I should say that up to this point I am totally in.  It's corny, but in a fun way. So here we are 30 minutes in: the beans fall in some water, make a beanstalk, Jack falls down and the princess is swept up into the land of the giants.  Nothing good happens after this part... and there are still 90 minutes to go.  Basically, the King, played by Ian McShane (who is actually a good actor in spite of this and the AWFUL Snow White & the Huntsman), sends Elmont, Roderick, Jack and some Red Shirts up to save the princess.  Here it begins to alternate between weird graphic violence and  immature fart/booger/burp humor from the giants.  The tone is all over the place, and it's hard to watch. In a nutshell, Act II goes like this (Spoiler Alert, but you shouldn't care):  The extras die. Elmont gets kidnapped and made into a pig in a blanket.  Jack rescues him and the princess.  Roderick pulls out the magic crown to control the giants and hopes to make them destroy the humans because [insert your best guess here].  Elmont kills Roderick and stops the giants from attacking.  Jack and Isabelle escape down the mountain.  All is well.  But it isn't.  Because there are 40 minutes left.  Surprise, it's Act III!  

Had it ended at this point, I would have been like, "Okay, that was dumb, but it had it's moments."  Instead (Spoiler Alert, but seriously if I find out you saw this movie I will be angry), the giants gain control of the crown and the remaining beans and decide to attack the kingdom because [insert your best guess here].    The finale is this weird violent brawl between the giants and the kingdom.  Jack kills the lead giant (who happens to be two-headed and guess what, one of the heads is dumb), gains control of the crown, banishes the other giants, marries the princess and the magic crown becomes St. Edward's Crown.  I'm not even kidding.

I just don't get movies like this.  Who is the audience? Needless to say, this did not impress me.  I think it had some good ingredients: strong actors, good special effects a story that hasn't gotten much play recently.  In the end it was just a weird mash up of tongue-in-cheek mugging, graphic violence and giant farts.  Pass.  Ugh, you just know they are going to reboot this with Shia LaBeouf as Jack in like 7 years.