In March, 2011, I joined the cast the musical Hello Again. If you follow theatre in the city, you probably heard about the Transport Group‘s audacious Off-Broadway revival of this musical, by five-time Tony nominee Michael John LaChiusa, originally performed at Lincoln Center in 1994, and now staged in a sprawling Soho loft, directed by Jack Cummings III. The musical is based on the 19th century play LaRonde, by Arthur Schniztler, in which “A” has an affair with “B”, then “B” has an affair with “C”, then “C” with “D”, “D” with “E”, etc, until finally “J” has an affair with “A”. An endless cycle of people grasping for fulfillment through pleasures of the flesh.
I took over the role of “the husband”, originally played by Tony-nominee, Bob Stillman, who (lucky for me!) had another commitment for the last part of the run. The ridiculously talented “dectet” of Broadway vets also included:
– Alan Campbell (Sunset Boulevard, Tony nominee)
– Blake Daniel (Spring Awakening)
– Jonathan Hammond (Ragtime)
– Rachel Bay Jones (Women on the Verge, HAIR)
– Nikka Graff Lanzarone (Women on the Verge)
– Robert Lenzi (South Pacific)
– Alexandra Silber (West End’s Women in White, Fiddler, Carousel)
– Elizabeth Stanley (Million Dollar Quartet, Cry-Baby, Company) and
– Max von Essen (Les Miz, Dance of the Vampires, JCS)
Though I jumped in in the middle, this show was one of the most satisfying theatrical ventures I’ve ever done. What an amazing piece and an amazing cast. When the 2011 awards season came in May, Hello Again was nominated for the Best Revival of a Musical Award by the Off-Broadway Alliance, the Drama League, the Outer Critics Circle and the Drama Desk.
