Costumes Shine in Hello

Michael John LaChiusa's Hello Again, currently playing at the cozy Boston Center for the Arts, tries incredibly hard to be sultry and irreverent in its comical look at sex. All types of sexualities--philandering housewives, been-there done-that prostitutes, straying husbands, and naive waifs--are thrown into LaChiusa's libidinous landscape. The play tackles not just run-of-the-mill sex, but sex between men and between people of different classes, sex in movie theaters and on futons, sex in the 1900s and 1960s.

Though the play spans a seventy year period, some of the ten characters are linked to one another, and in the final scene all five pairs emerge and together sing the unimaginative and forgettable title song "Hello Again." Despite all the promising stuff the musical arms itself with, Hello Again fails to make a strong impression, humorous or otherwise.

La Chiusa's score is by far the show's weakest point. In several instances the music doesn't seem to have anything to do with what is happening on stage, and the lyrics feel recycled. It doesn't take too long before the story and the mutinous score fail to entirely hold the audience's attention.

Attention then falls to the merits of the cast, only some of which hold up under scrutiny. The best vocal performance is given by The Nurse, a part-time caregiver/dominatrix who has a good bit of trouble staying off her back and in her uniform. Cristin J. Hubbard captures this role successfully with the help of a strong stage presence and a clear, expressive voice that is sensitive to the jokes and ironies in some of her songs.

By and large, none of the male characters have spectacular voices; they are just good enough and charming enough to get by. Some of the actors are guilty of ungraceful, even clumsy transitions, especially in the first half. Fortunately, after about an hour, the actors settle into a groove and become more confident, a change which registers positively in their voices, all of which are powerful and palatable.

Apart from the singing, acting, and score, Hello Again is a handsome show. Costume designer Jeffrey Scott Burrows, whose recent credits include the SpeakEasy's Twilight of the Golds and Jeffrey, doesn't disappoint in the multi-period aspect of the musical. The Whore's (Carol Stearns) frock, inspired by Toulouse-Lautrec drawings, is surprisingly faithful to the turn of the century seaside bordello aesthetic. Outfits from the '70s shimmer hilariously under a real disco ball, and are, of course, heavy on the polyester and pant leg width. The brainless visual humor some of the costuming is a welcome relief from the show's tedious, formulaic development--made more tedious by the lack of intermission.

The show's message is evident after the first few minutes--romantic love can be messy, disappointing, and confusing, but it can also be exciting, rewarding, and uplifting. The problem is that LaChiusa doesn't quite know how to bring originality to the timeworn themes of love and sex. And whoever thought up the idea of shining an extraordinarily bright and unbelievably unflattering yellow spotlight on actors' faces as they are climaxing, sure didn't help.