First Look at Allegro at Southwark Playhouse

Take a look at the production photos of the European professional premiere of Rodgers and Hammerstein's 1947 musical Allegro, which officially opens at the Southwark Playhouse tonight! Previews began on 5th August and the limited run is currently scheduled through to 10th September 2016. 

Produced by Danielle Tarento and directed by Thom Southerland, the award-winning team behind recent productions of Grey Gardens, Grand Hotel, and Titanic, the production features a new adaptation of the book by Southerland, along with brand new orchestrations by Mark Cumberland.

The cast of Allegro features Katie Bernstein (Emily West), Emily Bull (Jennie Brinker), David Delve (Ned Brinker), Julia J Nagle (Marjorie Taylor),  Dylan Turner (Charlie Townsend), Susan Travers (Grandma Taylor), Gary Tushaw(Joseph Taylor Jr), Steve Watts (Dr Taylor), Cassandra McCowan, Matthew McDonald, Louise Olley, Benjamin Purkiss, Jacqueline Tate, Samuel Thomas, Leah West and Matthew Woodyatt.

"In 1905 in a small Midwestern town, the wife of a local doctor gives birth to a baby boy, Joseph Taylor Jr. Allegro chronicles nearly four decades in the life of this average Joe - through his childhood, from college dorm to marriage altar, and on to his own medical career; from the tranquility of his hometown to the hectic din of big city life and a mid-life discovery of who he is and what his life is truly about, ultimately learning the most important lessons of all - the value of family, that money isn't everything and that home really is where the heart is." 

The original production opened on Broadway on 10 October 1947, and was the third collaboration between Rodgers and Hammerstein following the success of Oklahoma! and Carousel. The production, directed and choreographed by Agnes De Mille,  ran for only nine months. The musical has been revived a number of times but no professional London production was mounted, unlike the other musicals in the Rodgers and Hammerstein canon. The show was most recently seen in a 90-minuted edited version at the Classic Stage Company in New York directed by John Doyle.

Tickets for the Southwark run are now on sale.

Check out the photos below:

All photos are credited to Scott Rylander