VOA标准英语2014 Rodgers and Hammerstein Flop Gets 2nd Chance

 

Rodgers and Hammerstein Flop¹ Gets 2nd Chance

NEW YORK—

Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein were the writing team that helped usher² in what is considered the Golden Age of American musical theater.

By the late 1940s, they had created a string of Broadway hits and were at the top of their game.  And then came Allegro³. Don’t be surprised if you don’t recognize that title. Allegro was a flop - perhaps, according to one scholar, because its concept and staging made it ahead of its time.

“If you’re reasonably rational and have any objectivity, you know that after you’ve had Oklahoma!, State Fair and Carousel⁴ in a row, this is a very good time to be cautious,” composer Richard Rodgers told a radio interviewer in the late fifties.  “This is when it’s liable to sneak⁵ up from behind and hit you on the back of the head.”

Rodgers and librettist⁶ Oscar Hammerstein had pioneered the modern musical format⁷, in which song, story and dance were tightly integrated.  In Allegro, they wanted to take those innovations a step further.

“Certainly, in its conception it was epic⁸ - conceived of a man from the date of his birth, following him through his youth and into his middle age,” Hammerstein said in 1958. “This boy had started as a country doctor and had then, through an overambitious wife, got mixed up in a kind of society doctor practice and was devoting more time to the social life that goes around medicine, than medicine itself.”

The show was directed and choreographed⁹ by the acclaimed¹⁰ Agnes de Mille.  It arrived on Broadway with a cast of close to 100 and the biggest advance ticket sales in Broadway history at the time.  But reviews were mixed and Allegro only lasted a season.

Witnessing all this was a seventeen year-old production intern¹¹: Stephen Sondheim.

“What was interesting was I watched a lot of very knowledgeable¹² people put on a flop,” Sondheim said. “And, by flop, it was a show that didn’t work the way it was intended and it didn’t work partly because it was a highly experimental show.”

The show was highly influential¹³ for the fledgling songwriter, who went on to become the voice of his generation, with shows like Sweeney Todd and Sunday in the Park with George.

A faster-paced Allegro

Sondheim told British director John Doyle – with whom he’s collaborated¹⁴ on several shows, including the off-Broadway revival¹⁵ of Passion last season – about Allegro.  The director is helming a new staging of the unusual show at the off-Broadway Classic Stage Company.

In reviving the musical, Doyle cut the script down to a single, 90-minute act. He also pared the cast down to 12 actors, all of whom play musical instruments.  The streamlined show still focuses on the main themes of Allegro.

“It’s a piece that’s making a message about, I think, about the implications of certain aspects of the American Dream,” said Doyle.  “And if you want to follow your dreams, does that have to mean making a lot of money?  In a world that values ambition, what does ambition really mean?” 

Actor Claybourne Elder plays the protagonist¹⁶, torn between the trappings of success and making a contribution to society.  Elder said the barebones staging of the current revival serves Hammerstein’s words and Rodgers’s music quite well.

“We are doing it in a very modern way, maybe, but we are doing the text that they wrote in the way they wrote it and it’s like that!” said Elder. “The fact that it resonates today with an audience as being edgy¹⁷ and a little bizarre, is pretty incredible.” 

And Rodgers and Hammerstein?  While they were disappointed with the reaction to Allegro and vowed¹⁸ to rewrite it, they moved on.  Their next two shows were South Pacific - which captured a Pulitzer Prize and The King and I - which featured a half-dozen hit songs.

1 flop   

n.失败(者)，扑通一声；vi.笨重地行动，沉重地落下

参考例句：

• The fish gave a flop and landed back in the water.鱼扑通一声又跳回水里。
• The marketing campaign was a flop.The product didn't sell.市场宣传彻底失败，产品卖不出去。

2 usher   

n.带位员，招待员；vt.引导，护送；vi.做招待，担任引座员

参考例句：

• The usher seated us in the front row.引座员让我们在前排就座。
• They were quickly ushered away.他们被迅速领开。

3 allegro   

adj. 快速而活泼的；n.快板；adv.活泼地

参考例句：

• The first movement is a conventional symphonic Allegro.第一乐章是传统的交响乐快板。
• My life in university is like allegro.我的生活在大学中像急速的乐章。

4 carousel   

n.旋转式行李输送带

参考例句：

• Riding on a carousel makes you feel dizzy.乘旋转木马使你头晕。
• We looked like a bunch of awkward kids riding a slow-moving carousel.我们看起来就像一群骑在旋转木马上的笨拙的孩子。

5 sneak   

vt.潜行(隐藏,填石缝)；偷偷摸摸做；n.潜行；adj.暗中进行

参考例句：

• He raised his spear and sneak forward.他提起长矛悄悄地前进。
• I saw him sneak away from us.我看见他悄悄地从我们身边走开。

6 librettist   

n.(歌剧、音乐剧等的)歌词作者

参考例句：

• The musician and the librettist were collaborators. 音乐家与剧作者通力合作。
• Italian-born American composer and librettist whose operas include The Medium(1946) and The Consul(1950). 梅诺蒂，吉安卡洛生于1911意大利裔美国作曲家和歌剧词作者，其歌剧作品包括女巫（1946年）及领事（1950年）

7 format   

n.设计，版式；[计算机]格式，DOS命令:格式化(磁盘)，用于空盘或使用过的磁盘建立新空盘来存储数据；v.使格式化，设计，安排

参考例句：

• Please format this floppy disc.请将这张软盘格式化。
• The format of the figure is very tasteful.该图表的格式很雅致。

8 epic   

n.史诗，叙事诗；adj.史诗般的，壮丽的

参考例句：

• I gave up my epic and wrote this little tale instead.我放弃了写叙事诗，而写了这个小故事。
• They held a banquet of epic proportions.他们举行了盛大的宴会。

9 choreographed   

v.设计舞蹈动作( choreograph的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• There was some carefully choreographed flag-waving as the President drove by. 总统的车经过时，人们按精心编排的动作挥舞着旗帜。
• Achim had choreographed the dance in Act II himself. 阿希姆自己设计了第2幕的舞蹈动作。 来自辞典例句

10 acclaimed   

adj.受人欢迎的

参考例句：

• They acclaimed him as the best writer of the year. 他们称赞他为当年的最佳作者。
• Confuscius is acclaimed as a great thinker. 孔子被赞誉为伟大的思想家。

11 intern   

v.拘禁，软禁；n.实习生

参考例句：

• I worked as an intern in that firm last summer.去年夏天我在那家商行实习。
• The intern bandaged the cut as the nurse looked on.这位实习生在护士的照看下给病人包扎伤口。

12 knowledgeable   

adj.知识渊博的；有见识的

参考例句：

• He's quite knowledgeable about the theatre.他对戏剧很有心得。
• He made some knowledgeable remarks at the meeting.他在会上的发言颇有见地。

13 influential   

adj.有影响的，有权势的

参考例句：

• He always tries to get in with the most influential people.他总是试图巴结最有影响的人物。
• He is a very influential man in the government.他在政府中是个很有影响的人物。

14 collaborated   

合作( collaborate的过去式和过去分词 )； 勾结叛国

参考例句：

• We have collaborated on many projects over the years. 这些年来我们合作搞了许多项目。
• We have collaborated closely with the university on this project. 我们与大学在这个专案上紧密合作。

15 revival   

n.复兴，复苏，（精力、活力等的）重振

参考例句：

• The period saw a great revival in the wine trade.这一时期葡萄酒业出现了很大的复苏。
• He claimed the housing market was showing signs of a revival.他指出房地产市场正出现复苏的迹象。

16 protagonist   

n.(思想观念的)倡导者；主角，主人公

参考例句：

• The protagonist reforms in the end and avoids his proper punishment.戏剧主角最后改过自新并避免了他应受的惩罚。
• He is the model for the protagonist in the play.剧本中的主人公就是以他为模特儿创作的！

17 edgy   

adj.不安的；易怒的

参考例句：

• She's been a bit edgy lately,waiting for the exam results.她正在等待考试结果，所以最近有些焦躁不安。
• He was nervous and edgy, still chain-smoking.他紧张不安，还在一根接一根地抽着烟。

18 vowed   

起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• He vowed quite solemnly that he would carry out his promise. 他非常庄严地发誓要实现他的诺言。
• I vowed to do more of the cooking myself. 我发誓自己要多动手做饭。