'Hello Again': Love & Desire in the 20th Century

Michael and I went to see Michael John LaChiusa's revival of "Hello Again" last night in SoHo, with our friends Chris and Brian. Went into it without knowing anything about it -- I think Chris only suggested it after seeing this photo from the show of two guys in tighty whities going at it, which was good enough for the rest of us too -- and sort of left no less the wiser.

The play is a fast-moving musical about 10 love affairs, one from each decade of the 20th century. ("Witness The Whore, The Young Thing, The Senator, The Soldier and others as they navigate each new sexual entanglement. Love and desire clash as each character seeks elusive connections.") It was apparently inspired by Arthur Schnitzler's controversial 1897 play, "La Ronde," but because it's a musical (read: minimal dialogue) and each relationship only lasts a few minutes, you don't really get too invested in any of the stories or characters.

I didn't get the impression that anyone in our group loved the show -- the fact that we were seated right next the orchestra and couldn't hear a lot of the dialogue didn't help-- but I found it enjoyable enough, despite my general lack of affection for the theater. One thing we did all agree on, though, was that we were all gaga over Robert Lenzi (The College Boy, above) -- aka "Soft Seven" -- and Max von Essen (The Soldier, below), whose oft-naked characters were as ready to get busy as a Chelsea boy in a steam room.

Go soon, the show ends April 10th!