WATCH OUT FOR

THOM SOUTHERLAND, who will direct the European premiere of the 1947 Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein musical Allegra, at London’s Southwark Playhouse Theatre, from August 5 till September 10. The show ran for under a year when it opened on Broadway and, coming after Oklahoma! and Carousel, has long been regarded as a flop. Over the years, I’ve seen concert versions, and one-night only performances, and enjoyed the story that follows the life of a man from birth through to adulthood. Who knows? Maybe Richard Linklater got a kernel of an idea for his great film Boyhood from Allegra. You never know. Southerland said the production would be the first time the musical has had a proper staging in Europe. ‘The show was outside of the box for Rodgers and Hammerstein — it was naturalism to focus on one man’s 35-year journey. It’s a very simple message, and story, but the themes explored are incredibly powerful and potent.’ He and producer Danielle Tarento are hiring someone to write new orchestrations. ‘The original orchestration was for an orchestra of 40 or 50, and we can’t fit that many into Southwark,’ he said.

GEORGE MAGUIRE (pictured), Lauren Samuels, Lucy Lockitt, David Burt, Simon Kane, Ishmael Gander, John McCrea, Maimuna Memon and Giovanna ryan, who all excel in Dougal Irvine’s musical the Buskers Opera, now at the Park theatre in Finsbury Park, North London. Irvine has based his work on John Gay’s the Beggar’s Opera, but set it around the time of the London Olympics, when there was so much hope that the goodwill from the Games would last, and improve the lot of the ‘have-nots’. I like the show’s humour, and its social sensibility.