The Cast
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Guy Adkins (The Writer/The Soldier) previously appeared at Apple Tree in Kiss of the Spider Woman and The Secret Garden. His Chicago and Regional credits include Cherry Orchard, Theatrical Essays, and The Time of Your Life (which also appeared at Seattle Repertory and ACT in San Francisco) for Steppenwolf Theatre; The Visit, Floyd Collins (which also appeared at the Old Globe in San Diego and Philadelphia's Prince Music Theatre), Design for Living, The House of Martin Guerre, Straight as a Line, A Christmas Carol, and Arcadia for Goodman Theatre; The Invention of Love, Cymbeline, Twelfth Night, Piano, The Learned Ladies, and the title roles in Pericles and Hamlet for Court Theatre; and Taming of the Shrew and Julius Caesar for Chicago Shakespeare Theatre. He has also appeared at Northlight, The Royal George, Marriott's Lincolnshire, Drury Lane and Atlanta's Alliance theatre. He is the recipient of three Joseph Jefferson awards, three After Dark awards and Philadelphia 's Barrymore award.
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Bobbie Blaine Bagby
(Ensemble) is excited to be making her Apple Tree debut. Chicago credits Sunset Boulevard for Marriott Lincolnshire Theatre, and High Society for Theater at the Center. Regional credits include Fiddler on the Roof, Children of Eden, Evita, Oklahoma, and Best Little Whorehouse in Texas for Missouri 's Arrow Rock Lyceum Theater. Bobbie recently completed her BFA in Musical Theatre from The Theatre Conservatory of The Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University (CCPA). Favorites from CCPA include Pal Joey and Something for the Boys. Love to my family!
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Zach Ford
(The Young Thing/The College Boy) is happy to return to Apple Tree Theatre where he played Josh Baskin earlier this season in Big! The Musical and Robbie Faye in last season's A Man of No Importance. Other recent credits include Anthony Hope in Sweeney Todd at Porchlight Theatre; The Cradle Will Rock at TimeLine Theatre; A Little Night Music, Taming of the Shrew, and The Winter's Tale at Chicago Shakespeare Theater; Cymbeline at the Colorado Shakespeare Festival; and Titanic! the Musical at Wagon Wheel Theatre in Indiana. Zach recently completed his BFA in Musical Theatre from the Theatre Conservatory of the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University. He thanks his family and friends for their support and love.
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John Francisco
(Ensemble) is excited to be making his Apple Tree debut in Hello Again. A graduate of the University of Georgia, John's recent credits include An Ecstasy of Dragonflies at Citylit Theatre Company, Prairie Lights at StageLeft, and two years running as Kent the Monkeyboy in Roasting Chestnuts at Noble Fool Theatre. On his free time he enjoys classes at Improv Olympic and Act One. His favorite roles to date are Daniel in Miyagi! A Karate Kid Musical and Sam in Fully Committed which he performed while teaching at a theatre camp in his hometown in Georgia.
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Kevin Gudahl (The Senator/The Husband) returns to Apple Tree where he appeared in The Swan, directed by Mark Lococco, and in David Hare's one man show Via Dolorosa. Chicago credits include Fredrick in A Little Night Music, Brutus in Julius Caesar, and the title roles in Antony & Cleopatra and Macbeth for Chicago Shakespeare; Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady (Jeff Award), Claudius in Hamlet and Alceste in The Misanthrope for Court Theatre; John Adams in 1776 and the title role in The King and I for Marriott Theatre; and Pierre Guerre in The House of Martin Guerre (Jeff Award) for the Goodman Theatre. Other Chicago credits include performances at Northlight, Victory Gardens, Penninsula Players, Briar Street and National Jewish Theatre. International credits include five seasons with The Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Canada; work with the Canadian Stage Company in Toronto and the Neptune Theatre in Nova Scotia; and played the West End in London with Pacific Overtures (Olivier Award for Best Musical & Jeff Award) at the Don Mar Warehouse. Film credits include: While You Were Sleeping and Home Alone III. Television credits include: The Untouchables, Crime Story (NBC) and Early Edition (CBS).
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Susie McMonagle
(The Whore/The Young Wife) was most recently seen on Apple Tree's stage as Mae/Jo in Dirty Blonde, Flora in Indian Ink, and Shelby in The Spitfire Grill. Other Chicago credits include Annie in Annie Get Your Gun (After Dark Award) for Marriott Lincolnshire Theater, and Jane Grant in At Wits End for Northlight Theater. Regional credits include Mrs. Lyons in Blood Brothers, Dot/Marie in Sunday in the Park with George, Hypatia in Misalliance, Sally in Me and My Girl (Denver Drama Critics Circle), and Rhetta in Pump Boys and Dinettes for the Mill Mountain Playhouse. She has also worked for The Papermill Playhouse, Denver Centre Theatre, and New American Theatre. Broadway credits include Fantine in Les Miserables, and National Tours include The Secret Gardens, Les Miserables, and The Sound of Music. Susie is an eight time Joseph Jefferson nominee for her performances in The Spitfire Grill at Apple Tree Theatre; Annie Get Your Gun, Miss Saigon, Chess, Evita, and Cats at Marriott Lincolnshire Theater, Anything Goes at Drury Lane Oakbrook, and Side Show at Northlight Theater. Susie has also done workshops of new plays and musicals at The Chicago Humanities Festival, Steppenwolf Theater, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Chicago Dramatists. B.F.A. Stephens College.
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Christine Sherrill
(The Actress/Ensemble) is thrilled to make her Apple Tree debut having just completed a successful run in Theatre at the Center's The Thing about Men. Previously this year she was seen as the Witch in Peninsula Players Into the Woods and as Diana Devereaux in Drury Lane Oakbrook's Of Thee I Sing. Select credits include Lina Lamont in Singing in the Rain at Drury Lane for which she received an After Dark Award and Jeff Award Nomination, Anna in The King and I, Marty in Grease, Narrator in Joseph… and Lucy in Jekyll and Hyde for which she won the Ohio Press Best Performance in a Musical Citation. Christine has performed throughout the Chicagoland area including Marriott's Lincolnshire, Drury Lane Evergreen Park, Drury Lane Oakbrook and the Chicago Center for the Performing Arts. She is the proud mother of twin boys and holds a Master's Degree in Education.
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Feature from the Pioneer Press by Bruce Ingram
Circle of intimacy Apple Tree presents 'Hello Again,' musical based on controversial 'La Ronde'
In one sense, director Jessica Boevers says, the 10 vignettes in "Hello Again" essentially tell the same story, 10 times over.
But don't worry about being bored.
"It's the story of the way people search for love," said Boevers, who made her directorial debut at Apple Tree Theatre last season with Eve Ensler's "Necessary Targets."
"Hello Again" opens Wednesday at the Highland Park playhouse and runs through May 15.
Here's another reason the show is likely to sustain your interest. Michael John LaChiusa's Obie Award-winning 1994 musical is an adaptation of the play that created one of the greatest scandals in German theater history: Arthur Schnitzler's "Der Reigen," better known as "La Ronde."
Schnitzler is recognized now as an psychoanalytically oriented author (a close personal friend of Sigmund Freud), whose frank depictions of sexual relationships were daring for their time.
In the case of "La Ronde," that's a considerable understatement.
Busted
The play's daisy chain of 10 erotic encounters, with a character from each vignette moving on to the next, provoked anti-Semitic riots in Berlin during its debut in 1900. The play was raided by police and brought to trial for obscenity. The play was not judged obscene, even 100 years ago. Yet Schnitzler banned any performances of the play in Europe until after his death.
Michael John LaChiusa's Obie Award-winning 1994 adaptation of "La Ronde" also has aroused controversy. Yet Boevers observes that the people who tend to protest the show's subject matter typically have not seen it performed.
"It's sometimes erotic, yes, but it's not sexually explicit and I don't think it's in any way offensive," she said. "Although there is a sexual encounter in each scene, they become less and less graphic over the course of the show. The suggestion is that sex is one way we go about seeking love and intimacy but that's only the beginning of the journey. It explores more and more facets of our relationships as the show goes on."
A century of sex
Schnitzler's play -- also adapted for the screen in 1950 by French filmmaker Max Ophuls and for the stage in 1998 by English playwright David Hare -- was set in Vienna and took place in one time period.
LaChiusa shifts the setting to America and shifts from one decade to another -- backward and forward in time -- from 1900 to the present. As a result, the musical style of the show is eclectic, ranging from tango music to '50s bebop to '40s swing and '80s rock.
The tone of the vignettes also vary: Sometimes funny, sometimes disturbing, sometimes tragic.
"Hello Again" opens in 1900 with a prostitute soliciting an unwilling soldier. The soldier appears in the next scene four decades later, seeking comfort before a battle from a sympathetic nurse. The nurse becomes a dominatrix in the 1960s, whose college-boy client jumps back in time to the 1930s for the next scene -- and so forth.
Ultimately, the prostitute who opened the show appears in the final scene with a senator who has become deeply disillusioned at the end of his career.
"Oklahoma!" it's not.
On the other hand, Boevers points out, one of the primary themes of musical theater has always been the search for true love. In that sense, "Hello Again" almost could be considered traditional.
"I wanted to direct a musical," said Boevers, the daughter of Apple Tree founder Eileen Boevers. "But I wanted to find something especially intelligent, interesting and challenging, one that would attract really good talent."
Boevers, who has performed on Broadway for the last 10 years, succeeded on that score. Her cast includes notables such as Susie McMonagle, Guy Atkins, Kevin Gudahl, Christine Sherill and Zach Ford.
"This show reminds me of (Stephen) Sondheim in the way it explores the human condition," she said. "The writing has depth to it that other musicals don't. You really have to listen to it. Every word is important."
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Highlights from the Chicago Tribune review by Chris Jones
Big theatrical guns are blazing away at Apple Tree Theatre: great vocal turrets such as Guy Adkins, Susie McMonagle and the remarkably edgy Christine Sherrill. And given the intensely sensual nature of Michael John LaChiusa's high-end musical suite "Hello Again," the result is one steamy, strip-mall entertainment.
Given half a chance, this sexy chamber-musical take on Schnitzler's famed "La Ronde" could raise a lot of temperatures in Highland Park. It would sure be a more thrilling experience than a night spent at the pancake house or the cookware store down the street.
The best work of the season so far at Apple Tree is the directorial work of Broadway actress Jessica Boevers, the daughter of Apple Tree founder Eileen Boevers. Coming home to your mom's suburban theater and presiding over such an unflinching feast of coitus — without much interruptus — must be something of a complex experience, even by the standards of a bold, theatrical family.
But the younger Boevers can at least hide any daughterly blushes behind LaChiusa's arty, experimental and intensely complex score. The circular "Hello Again" might be about sexual dalliance across the decades. But its score is far from crass, and it's not especially sensual. Musically speaking, this is a cool, ruminative piece of multistyled composition — a formative experiment really — that evokes not so much sexual pleasure as meditative pain.
Still, Boevers' production of this 10-year-old off-Broadway show has several terrific things going for it, especially Randy Duncan's choreography. Not only is this fine Chicago choreographer working on a very small stage, but the narrative requirements in scene after scene can be basically boiled down to "they have sex." And once one gets past the obvious collection of movements, that can be one tough assignment. Remarkably, Duncan turns in a veritable feast of entanglements, all of which retain a remarkable capacity to illuminate that most basic of human acts.
There's also a consistently excellent cast — ranging from McMonagle's lush song stylings to Adkins' hyperventilating desperation to Kevin Gudahl's deft blend of passionless patriarchy and selfish desperation.
Among the powerful, more truthful highlights: a married McMonagle character conducting a dirty little affair in a movie theater, and a sad tangle between a Gudahl senator and Sherrill's instinctual turn as an actress from the 1950s whose hostesslike glamor hides none of her crushing loneliness.
LaChiusa offers neither easy melodies nor satisfying narrative resolutions — just endless circles of manipulation, agenda and desperation. It's not a show that provides any kind of juicy catharsis. But you can be sure there's no other suburban strip mall in the country currently offering a show with limbs that thrust and tremble with more high style or flailing sadness.
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Highlights from the Pioneer Press review by Dorothy Andries
We see selfish love, generous love and desperate love -- weary love, too. Apple Tree Theatre's production of the musical "Hello Again" brings almost all variations of that exhilarating, tormenting emotion to its stage in Highland Park.
To understand the plot, you must know that this is a variation on a German play, written in 1900, which created a scandal at its opening. It's basically about the spread of VD -- or STD, as it is called today, though that sounds like a motor-fuel additive.
The story has been told in several films and was set as the ballet "La Ronde" in 1985 by Glen Tetley. "What goes around, comes around" might be a suitable subtitle. In this production, what goes around is a brooch.
There's some comedy and funny moments in this adult show . You have to applaud director Jessica Boevers for finding numerous ways to demonstrate copulation, without occasioning a police raid. I guess it's not R-rated, because there is no nudity, but PG-13 seems too permissive.
The best thing about "Hello Again" is the cast; the heartfelt performances make the evening memorable. Ensemble members take several roles, and we simply suspend disbelief as we watch them work their magic.
Susie McMonagle is compelling, both as the generous riverfront prostitute and the young, desperate housewife.
Kevin Gudall is heartbreaking as the world-weary U.S. Senator and downright irritating as the oblivious middle-aged husband.
Zach Ford is both funny and sad as the beautiful young boy, who is a magnet for the hilariously clueless Writer, played by Guy Adkins. Ford is himself clueless as the college boy, the object of desperate housewife's affections.
Christine Sherrill is captivating as the young girl at the USO who is used by the soldier, Guy Adkins, the night before he heads for combat. She also turns in a powerful performance as the actress and mistress of the senator.
The only real song is McMonagle's "I Can't Remember," in which she recalls a brief encounter that has touched her more than her husband or her lover.
Woven through these couplings are dance numbers from various time period, choreographed successfully by Randy Duncan and performed by Bobbie Blaine Bagby and John Francisco. The dances add movement and style to the 90-minute production, which runs without intermission.
The variations of love are many in this work. The mood, despite the laughs, is sad. But this is no tragedy, because in all the embracing and coupling, in all the old love and new love, there's not a trace of true love.
On second thought, that probably is the tragedy.
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Highlights from the reviews for Chicagocritic.com by Tom Williams and Brandon Hayes Hello Again is an engrossing work that creeps up on you. It is a raunchy sexy romp through 20 th Century relationships.
This intelligent show sure had many fine moments and some explicit sexual moments. Hello Again sings beautifully and Randy Duncan provided several cute dance numbers that accented the time period and the sexual movement of the piece. The music score is diversified, enchanting and memorable. The lyrics clearly define the characters and their lust.
Jessicia Boevers knows how to cast a musical. Evidence Susie McMonagle as The Whore, Zach Ford as The College Boy, Kevin Gudahl as The Husband and Christine Sherrill as The Nurse. These performers sing and personify their characters beautifully. I liked the cute innocence of Zach Ford as The Young Thing. Ford has an infectious smile and a golden voice. Christine Sherril l is sensual and talented performer who can land a number effectively.
Susie McMonagle as The Wife powerfully delivers a haunting ballad, Guy Adkins , as The Writer, demonstrates his terrific voice, his under-rated dancing and his commanding presence in his many scenes. Adkins once again proves he is one of the best triple threat talents in Chicago .
This cast performs the wide-ranging La Chiusa score with a sensual energy. Doug Peck arrangements were rich and melodic. The red stage with the swiveling small arching served the show that was heavy on sex and light on plot. La Chiusa's musicals grow on you, so I'd strongly advise buying the CD before seeing the show. Apple Tree Theatre's production was first class and worthy. La Chiusa's score was brilliantly sung, particularly by McMonagle, Sherrill and Ford. Guy Adkins was funny and Kevin Gudahl's debonair and Christine Sherrill was hot. This production was polished, poised and profane. The ten vignettes flowed seamlessly. I enjoyed this show a bunch!
Highly Recommended
An Exquisite Playing of a Little Musical About Sex
Hello Again , like the projected rose petals that wash over its set, is a musical that yields itself slowly. A big, belting money-note show this is not. Its delights come askance to the ear, making for a sophisticated musical that lingers in the memory longer than the pop-melodic scores of Cats or Wicked.
This is, in fact, a musical firstly about sex…as opposed to love. The partners never kiss, and often there is very little affection shown between them. Even in the climactic moments, there is something apart about the encounters…an erotic cool which is also reflected in the music. Most revealingly, a young wife ( Susie McMonagle ) sings about cheating on her husband ( Kevin Gudahl ), not with sex, but with a kiss. Of her encounter with a stranger in the park, she sings, "we kiss / and the angels fly / we kiss / and then say goodbye". McMonagle's sure voice lends an elegance to the moment, allowing us to imagine the moment she describes of kissing a lovely stranger in the park. The lack of kissing is a primary motif in Hello Again , although this motif is resolved by the end.
Apple Tree Theatre has assembled a cast that is nothing short of extraordinary, not only in the quality of the singing and acting, but also in the realization of character. The roles (and each of the five primary actors plays multiple roles) fit effortlessly on these actors. Which is all the more remarkable given that each actor plays four distinct characters. Guy Adkins is roguish as a young soldier putting the moves on a nurse during World War II, but is sympathetic as a gay filmmaker in 1970s New York looking for his muse at a club. Kevin Gudahl's guilty senator and completely deluded husband are convincing, but his first class gentleman (entertaining a boy from steerage on a doomed Atlantic crossing) is delicious and hilarious. Zach Ford , his voice tickling a lilting falsetto ranges from playful (as the boy from steerage) to moody sex object.
In a cast of exceptional performers, Christine Sherrill manages to distinguish herself both in approach to the material and overall presence. Shifting effortlessly from sexual naïf to horny dominatrix early in the show, her rich, vibrant voice expands into her songs. Later, playing an actress who knows that the end of her affair with a senator has come, she brings the late showstopper, “Mistress of the Senator” vividly to life. Listen to her vocal control in this song…the elongated phrasing of her voice and emotions (with just a slight acknowledgment of the tattered edges of love)…as she sings the most publicly objectified of all the lovers onstage.
The totality of the presentation here is unified under director, Jessica Boevers working with daring music director, Doug Peck and witty choreographer, Randy Duncan. The respect for the sophistication of the score shown by these artists is commendable…particularly Peck. Never does he allow the actors to give a song an easy sell. There are no cheap vocal tricks…no easy money notes. The singing here is controlled, modulated and adult…just like the show at its best moments. LaChiusa writes ballads and tangos and character pieces and waltzes, and each is confronted and presented beautifully. There is a great deal of humor in the staging too. Boevers invites us to laugh at ourselves and our intimacies.
By the end, Hello Again reveals itself as a poem about sex. The various characters and scenarios play off each other in a way that defies easy explanation (or even a completely satisfying denouement). The musical feels like a brief but rewarding collection of short stories brought to life with aplomb. Bravo.
Highly Recommended.
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Highlights from the Copley News Service review by Dan Zeff
The Apple Tree production casts five performers who each play two characters. It's a blue ribbon list of actors, headed by Susie McMonagle, Guy Adkins and Kevin Gudahl, complimented by Zach Ford and Christine Sherrill. A two-person chorus of John Francisco and Bobbie Blaine Bagby help perform dance numbers during the intervals between sketches as the props are changed.
The performers all sing and act well and director Boevers has guided them smoothly through the various mood swings of the vignettes. The most intense and sincere romantic scene develops between a young man called the Young Thing and a Writer.
The production is played out in front of a set of movable screens designed by Tom Burch. The show is atmospherically lit by Jacqueline Reid and Tatjana Radisic is responsible for the costumes that denote each vignette's decade. A four-piece orchestra resourcefully plays LaChiusa's eclectic score. The band consists of Doug Peck (piano and conductor), Adam DeGroot (woodwinds), Joshua Klene (percussion), and Jeff Yang (violin).
In our more permissive time, the musical's erotic content won't ruffle any audience sensibilities. The show does make the point that sex can be a weapon, a balm, an obsession, or a simple pleasure. More often than not, it's an unsatisfactory stand-in for genuine affection or understanding between two people.
The show gets a rating of three stars.
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Highlights from the Gay Chicago Magazine reveiw by Jeff Rossen
LaChiusa's series of sexual pairings finds variations on a character returning from the previous scene in a new time setting and with a new partner in the next, a construct that he takes from Arthur Schnitzel's "La Ronde," to explore the human quest for love, either lasting or fleeting. A turn-of-the-century prostitute (Susie McMonagle) offers her wares to a young soldier ( Guy Adkins ), who becomes a soldier seducing a naïve (or is she?) nurse (Christine Sherrill) in the '40s, who is then a nurse who likes to play naughty for her college student patient (Zach Ford) in the '60s, and then he's the aggressor in pursuit of a lonely housewife (McMonagle) in the '30s, and she morphs into an upscale wife to a domineering husband (Kevin Gudahl) in the '50s. A young hustler (Ford), writer (Adkins), actress (Sherrill) and senator (Gudahl) complete the cyle.
For this new staging of the seldom-seen work, Apple Tree Theatre not only is to be admired for making this possibly shocking work (at least to the more sedate of its subscriber base) a part of its season but also for not tempering it. Credit that to director Jessica Boevers, who pulls no punches in presenting the work and blends Randy Duncan 's alternately graceful, volatile and evocative choreography seamlessly into the staging. Boevers and Duncan have crafted a raw and engrossing collection of carnal tales that heat up the stage at Apple Tree like it's never been ignited before.
With a flawless vocal performance by the perfectly cast ensemble and expert rendering of LaChiusa's score by the four-piece orchestra, both elements coached impeccably by Doug Peck 's faultless musical direction, the wide-ranging melodies that build the framework of each short assignation are wonders here, given a boost by Nick Keenan 's crystal-clear sound design.
Each member of the ensemble is in peak form, with especially engaging and risky work by Sherrill, whose four characters show the most diversity and intrigue. Gudahl runs a close second, even though his characters are the weakest of LaChiusa's creations.
Character-perfect costuming by Tatjana Radisic and simple yet effective setting and light designs by Tom Burch and Jacqueline Reid respectively complete the success of this striking sensation. (****)
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Highlights from the Chicago Sun-Times review by Hedy Weiss
An epidemic of syphilis inspired the Viennese dramatist Arthur Schnitzler to write his play, "La Ronde," in 1900. Fifty years later, by the time the great filmmaker Max Ophuls turned the play into a film, penicillin was solving the medical problems of that sexually transmitted disease. But the psychic ache of merry-go-round sexual relationships remained immune to such treatment, so Schnitzler's story retained its essential power.
If you recall a 1998 production called "The Blue Room" -- the David Hare adaptation of "La Ronde" that had one British critic referring to actress Nicole Kidman as "pure theatrical Viagra" -- you already may know something about its interwoven tales of sexual adventurism, loneliness, betrayal and disappointment. But Schnitzler's work has inspired many interpretations and revisions throughout the past century, including "Hello Again," Michael John LaChiusa's 1994 steamy musical.
"Hello Again" is in a revival at Highland Park's Apple Tree Theatre, where Jessica Boevers...has called on such musical theater talents as Susie McMonagle, Guy Atkins, Kevin Gudahl, Christine Sherrill and Zach Ford. There are some gorgeous songs in this piece and bursts of terrific acting. There also is a lot of graphic simulated humping (all fully clothed) and other sexual activities, both straight and gay, choreographed by Randy Duncan.
The story moves back and forth through the decades of the 20th century, beginning in 1900 as a prostitute (McMonagle, all luscious fullness in the way she sings and moves) seeks a little affection from a rather nervous soldier (Atkins), not as innocent as he appears. He has his way with her against an alley wall and runs off with a brooch that will appear in many other guises. Atkins returns as another crass young soldier in the 1940s -- a guy hungry for some last-minute sex before heading overseas to World War II. He comes on to a young nurse (Sherrill is a revelation here, as she is throughout the show), he has his way with her (via a back-breaking pas de deux) and then quickly abandons her as she begs him to say he loves her.
Sherrill is at her naughty best as a nurse who is quite the little dominatrix. It is the 1960s and she is caring for a spoiled, naive college boy (Ford) who has injured his leg. While his parents are out, she ties him up and gives baby-sitting a whole new meaning. From here we segue into a scene from the 1930s in which an impotent college boy (Ford) is given the Monica Lewinsky treatment by a married woman (McMonagle), who begins to see their relationship is all about him.
McMonagle brings a lovely heat to the role of the 1950s-era trophy wife of a much older man (Gudahl), whose sexual climax is achieved only by her fantasizing about a younger man she briefly encountered. The action then flips back to 1912 and a scene on the Titanic, where another older, wealthy man (Gudahl) subtly tries to seduce a pretty lad (Ford) traveling in steerage. Fast forward to the 1970s as Atkins (excellent as an emotionally hungry, nervously self-promoting wannabe New York writer) brings home a pretty young drifter (Ford), who turns out to be more emotionally complicated than he seems. Ford's performance of "Safe" is one of the truest and loveliest moments in the show. (By setting this scene in the pre-AIDS 1970s, LaChiusa danced around that epidemic.)
Also powerful is another modern interlude -- Sherrill's impassioned turn in "Mistress of the Senator": She plays an actress in career freefall who wants desperately to turn her affair with a U.S. senator (Gudahl, fine in his suggestion of a scared, guilty man) into a marriage.
As for LaChiusa's music, it is deeply lyrical, with lyrics that are never less than smart. And his ability to make a song serve as a complete scene is impressive.
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Highlights from the Time Out Chicago review by Kay Daly
How many pantomimed orgasms can you watch in one night? Apple Tree is guessing around ten, and delivers accordingly in Hello Again, a series of sneakily interlocking musical vignettes about love and lust.
LaChiusa's score is dense, and director Boevers exploits every nuance, comic and dramatic. Stacking the deck with a cast of triple threats certainly helps; the voices in this ensemble are simply gorgeous and technically impressive. Sherrill is a standout, with her huge voice and deft characterizations. Another scene-stealer is Adkins, whose aspiring screenwriter delivers the show's emotional high point with a heart-rending mix of smarmy attitude and soul-searing desperation.
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Highlights from the Chicago Reader review by Tony Adler
The result of all this sexual and chronological intercourse is a delightful, raunchy, unexpectedly profound 90 minutes that gets as close as anything I've seen to making the eternal dance of love actually dance. The music is both original and rich with allusions. Choreographer Randy Duncan finds fascinating variations on the pas de deux. And the cast, under Jessica Boevers, is a wet dream. cast | press | photos | background | tickets
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Soldier (Guy Adkins) and the Whore (Susie McMonagle) |
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Soldier (Guy Adkins) and Nurse (Christine Sherrill) |
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Husband (Kevin Gudahl) and Wife (Susie McMonagle) |
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Writer (Guy Adkins) and Young Thing (Zach Ford) |
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Senator (Kevin Gudahl) and Mistress (Christine Sherrill) |
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