‘How do you solve a problem like the chorus?’: Hammerstein’s Allegro and the Reception of the Greek Chorus on Broadway

In ‘“How do you solve a problem like the chorus?” Hammerstein’s Allegro and the Reception of the Greek Chorus on Broadway’, Zachary Dunbar situates Hammerstein’s failed experiments with choruses in 1947 within the wider tradition of the reception of the ancient chorus in the United States and more particularly within the immediate post-war theatrical context. Why this experimental turn immediately after the box office successes with Oklahoma! and Carousel? Hammerstein’s overly scholarly return to a Schlegelian-style chorus in an effort to write ‘tragic’ musical theatre alienated rather than delighted Broadway audiences because it sought to edify rather than entertain.