Show Synopsis:
Joseph Taylor, Jr. grows up as the son of a small town doctor and his wife, and starts dating Jennie Brinker at a young age. Joe leaves for college, where he is a brainy loner who befriends the popular Charlie Townsend. When Jennie gets tired of waiting for Joe to come home to her, she starts dating other boys, and so Joe goes on a date with an acquaintance of Charlie. He finds that he cannot stop thinking of Jennie, and Jennie breaks up with her beau. Jennie and Joe?s mother argue over the possibility of Jennie and Joe getting married, and Joe?s mother dies of a heart attack. Joe marries Jennie and starts working for his father?s business during the Great Depression. Jennie is unhappy in poverty and convinces Joe to take a high-paying job in Chicago and move away from their home. He does not like the social scene or the work, and his friend Charlie has become an alcoholic, and starts becoming careless in his job working for a well-known physician. Joe yearns to move back to the home he loves, especially when he learns that Jennie has been having an affair with a rich businessman. Joe is offered the physician-in-chief position at a Chicago hospital but finds the strength to turn it down, move back in with his father, and open a small practice of his own with Charlie and his friend Emily.

Character:
Emily, a kindhearted nurse who works alongside Joe. 

Song Context:
Frustrated and upset with what his life has become, Joe has started making stupid mistakes in his medical work, and Emily catches them and keeps in check, but marvels at Joe?s actions when he is clearly smart and means well.

Fun Facts:
1) Oscar Hammerstein, either consciously or unconsciously, put a lot of his own frustrations and life experiences into Joseph Taylor, Jr.?s story, because he knew how it felt to be so successful and in-demand that you can lose focus on what you really want. 
2) This song is integral to a well-known anecdote from the musical?s notorious pre-Broadway run in New Haven. Lisa Kirk, the actress who originally played Emily, fell into the orchestra pit and was immediately hoisted back up without breaking her song or getting injured. 
3) Allegro won three Donaldson Awards in 1947 - Best Book of a Musical, Best Lyrics, and Best Score.