Hello Again

Michael John LaChiusa's original stage production (based on Arnold Schnitzler's La Ronde) featured current Tony winners and heavy hitters of the 90s Broadway scene such as Donna Murphy, Judith Blazer, Michael Park, Carolee Carmello, John Cameron Mitchell, Malcom Gets, Michelle Pawk, and John Dossett. Obviously, big shoes to fill.

The movie is extremely stylized and achieved the intended result, but slightly missed the mark as a tale of finding one's self as told through the narrative of the senator, played by Martha Plimpton. Plimpton executes the role brilliantly and in this version, the role is now gender swapped. Audra McDonald as The Actress is the star of this project, with Cheyenne Jackson as a close second.

Ultimately, the piece is a good representation of the source material, but somehow lackluster. Musical theatre die-hards will love this adaptation because it's an obscure live letter to an esoteric musical that only musical theatre geeks know and love: myself included.

Hello Again was interesting, and visually enjoyable. It's a series of vignettes showing different pairings of lovers in different, and non-chronological time frames. So the action might jump from 1912 to 1968, and then to 1956.

Each, I suppose, stands on it's own as a short story. Sometimes, an actor would smoothly glide from one into the next, but they didn't play the same character, because the story might be years or decades apart in time. Most often the actors were different in each story.

What I was unable to decipher was what the relationship between the stories and the characters was. There are subtle, and not-so-subtle hints here and there to suggest they are not separate and unrelated.

There are symbols that show up in most of the stories, like the neon image of a diamond-like gemstone. In one scene, it's an electronic biometric reader. In other scenes, it can be seen outside of apartment windows. A jeweled bracelet and a jeweled brooch also seem to make their way into different stories.

As far as I could tell, all the stories, except the Titanic scene (on its way to NY), took place in New York, which is one reason I believe the characters were interrelated.

The music was interesting, but sometimes I thought it became repetitious and a bit tedious.

Some of the stories were better than others. A scene on the Titanic, for example, and a fundraising party for a Senate hopeful were very interesting tales.

Fine acting throughout, and nicely directed and filmed. I thought there was a tie-in between the first and the last story sequence, because of the similarities between certain characters, and the return of the jeweled brooch that started the movie. A story taking place in a movie theatre didn't give me any clues of being interrelated.

I can't help thinking I must be dense, and missed some obvious line running through the movie. Maybe you're more perspicacious, and will have better luck figuring it out.

The off-Broadway production and the film are based on a French play titled "La Ronde," which means The Round. So, I'm sure there is some circularity to these stories. Not to mention the title of the movie, "Hello AGAIN."

The actor from whom the brooch is taken, and the actor to whom it is returned is a definite clue.

Hello Again was advertised as a musical about many shades and faces of love told from the point of view of ten people living in various time periods. Each actor plays two roles and the movie is constructed like a chain with one actor from a couple changing each time. This idea is not new, but it isn't widely used, so it could lead to the creation of a truly great movie. It could if only the stories weren't so bland. I had a feeling I never learned anything about the vast majority of the characters other than they want to have sex. I do understand that is an important part of a relationship, but in a movie consisting of ten stories one would expect a bigger variety of themes. The only story I really liked was the one with Audra McDonald and Martha Plimpton, as it was the only one in which the characters had plans, dreams and ambitions. Sadly, in most of the stories this is not the case and the characters are completely one-dimensional.

Another thing that was poorly done is the songs. As someone who loves musicals I'm used to singing instead of talking and I really like the convention. However, this doesn't mean that making the characters sing dialogues without any metre is the same as writing songs. The songs in Hello Again sound just like that: as if someone just composed any music that would fit what the characters were meant to say without paying any attention to music patterns. In result the majority of the songs is flat and unremarkable, and it gets more and more annoying as the movie goes on. It's definitely not the type of music I'd re-listen, unlike many other musical soundtracks. In the result, it was quite difficult for me to even finish the movie.

Michael John LaChiusa's musical Hello Again first came to Off-Broadway in 1993. Lachiusa's work is inspired by Arthur Schnitzer's play La Ronde from 1897, which examines five couples -- chambermaids, students, prostitutes and noblemen -- in 19th Century Vienna. The play is about human connection and sex, although the act itself is never shown. Indeed, in Schnitzer's script sex was referred to as "XXX," and it is left up to one's imagination if those letters are supposed to represent sexual explicitness, a series of tender kisses, or perhaps both. The story has an engaging hook -- a linked series of lovers, with one actor appearing in two roles, joining the players into a chain. The musical, brought to the screen by Mr. LaChiusa and director Tom Gustafson and screenwriter Cory Krueckeberg, does have some things going for it. The film has a lush, inviting look -- one is tempted to stretch out one character's futon or across the red elevator walls in one character's building and be swept away along with the lovers. In a film with these dual roles, the film nicely folds over on itself in places. One actor sliding on his shorts blends seamlessly with the same actor sliding on shorts decades later. A young man shyly tries on a bracelet during the Titanic's maiden voyage of 1912; that bracelet turns up on the wrist of the same actor in a New York disco in 1976.

One thing that doesn't work, alas, is the music. Most of it just isn't very memorable, although some of it does work. The film's best song and pairing comes near the end. It features Audra MacDonald as "Sally," who is trying to seduce her lover, a senator named Ruth, played by Martha Plimpton. The decision to cast these two women opposite each other was inspired, for there is a wonderful contrast between the warmth of MacDonald and the coiled steel of Plimpton. Most of the characters in this musical are little more than types, but these two women feel alive. How did these women meet? What are their lives like, apart and together? What do they want? MacDonald, a Broadway star, answers this question when she sings her way through a quite fun musical number "Mistress of the Senator."

The pairing of Cheyenne Jackson and Tyler Blackburn also works well. Jackson plays Robert, a writer who picks up Tyler Blackburn's Jack in a New York disco in 1976. The couple manages to generate some heat -- I dare say a look from Mr. Jackson could spark even the soggiest of kindling. The score works reasonably well here, moving from a rock feeling at the start, as desire has been sparked, to something sweeter, when the couple entertains the idea that maybe, just maybe, this one night stand might go somewhere.

So, Hello Again is a good movie but a frustrating one. I found myself delighted at times, but also seeing the missed opportunities. Of course, this is how love works for some of us -- if we are lucky enough to find it in the first place.

Not your usual fare, it felt more like some art exhibit - interesting and enjoyable but confusing at the same time.