HELLO AGAIN: Tom Gustafson's film of Michael John LaChiusa's musical hits U.S. theaters

A huge musical theater fan, TrustMovies first saw Hello Again back in 1993, when it made its debut at New York's Lincoln Center. He found it only a middling musical: well-performed with some nice moments along the way and an occasional song in which brief melody could be ascertained but overall as though its creator, Michael John LaChiusa, had been flirting with atonality to the point at which it began to sound like someone had foolishly convinced Igor Stravinsky to write a Broadway musical (and, worse, he had accepted the challenge). Now, nearly 25 years later, we have HELLO AGAIN, the movie, in a version filmed for cinema by Tom Gustafson, shown below, with a screenplay by Cory Krueckeberg, adapted from LaChiusa's original.

If you're a musical theater buff, you will need no special encouragement to seek out the film version, but if you're new to this property, a warning may be in order. The musical is based upon the Arthur Schnitzler play, La Ronde, in which one character indulges in an assignation with another, and that other with the next in a kind of romantic/sexual rondelay of love and lust that eventually comes full circle, with each character appearing in two consecutive tales. Both filmed versions -- the first, brilliant, by Max Ophüls, the second, inferior but not awful, by Roger Vadim -- are better than LaChiusa's musical version, due mostly to the fact that characterization is stronger. The good news here is that Mr. Gustafson's film improves upon the original musical. The bad news is that the first half of the film is weak enough that I fear some viewers may not stick it out. That would be a shame because the movie grows ever stronger as it moves along.

LaChiusa also made a major change in his adaptation of the original La Ronde: Instead of having his characters all come from the same time period, he places them all over the past century -- and then flashes forward and backward at will. Some have noted that this gives the musical more universality and timeliness (it certainly gives the sets and costume people plenty of work, as well as us viewers the chance to oooh and aaaaah). And yet: Schnitzler's original remains about as timely and universal a series of tales as you could wish for, covering class, sexism, the male prerogative and humanity's hypocrisy as thoroughly, and with remarkable brevity and wit, as anyone ever has.

The weakness inherent in the film's first half comes, I believe, from three standpoints: The first is that the cast assembled is much stronger in the second half, where musical theater powerhouses like Audra McDonald and Cheyenne Jackson shine at their very best. They are joined by that terrific actress Martha Plimpton (below), who, it turns out, can also sing. (Ms Plimpton actually begins the film but comes into her own only at its conclusion.)

The actors used in the initial segments are certainly not bad, but they are also not given the characterization necessary by LaChiusa and Krueckeberg to be able to make us care much about what is going on. And they are not helped by LaChiusa's score, which is weakest throughout the first half. We keep waiting for a melody to hang onto, but the composer seems satisfied to give us what sounds like mostly recitative. Gustafson, too, is happy to so hype up the sexual element in the initial segments that, at times, we feel a little closer to porno than to real people.

My spouse was about to give up on the film when we hit the segment that takes place in a stateroom on, yes, the Titanic, where an upper class passenger (played by T.R. Knight, above, right) is in the process of seducing a third class one (Tyler Blackburn, above, left) and not only desire and specific detail (for instance, training on which piece of flatware to use) but also enormous need and longing assert themselves, and suddenly the episode comes to life in a way that the former ones have not.

This carries on into the following episode (between Blackburn and Jackson, above) and then onward, stronger and stronger, until the movie finishes in a blast of emotion and music that becomes enormously compelling. Did LaChiusa write new material for the film? I don't remember the stage musical being this powerful toward the finale, but perhaps my tastes and appreciation have changed down the ensuing decades.

So: stronger performers and stronger music in the latter half. And finally the third element -- a much stronger infusion of GLBT material in the film than was in the original show. I remember some non-hetero sex, certainly, but I would say that this element has more than doubled in this filmed version, and given the resumes of both screenwriter and director, as well as certain of the actors, this seems appropriate and reasonable. And certainly, the GLBT scenes resonate the most powerfully here (unless, of course, all this is simply in the eye of the beholder).

So, see what you think. Die-hard musical theaters fans should not miss this adaptation, nor should GLBT audiences, nor maybe those who are fans of the original La Ronde. The general public? As I say, stick it out if you can, if only for the opportunity to see Ms McDonald doing things -- and so powerfully -- you'll not have probably witnessed previously. Also worth seeing is Sam Underwood, who doubles a kind of host for the tales, as well as the closest thing to the "T" part of the GLBT equation.

From Screen Vision Media and running 110 minutes, Hello Again begins its special-screenings theatrical run this Wednesday, November 8, all across the country. To find the theaters nearest you, click here, and then scroll down (theaters are listed by state). And maybe reserve your seats a bit early to prevent disappointment.

A unique knockout: Olivia Colman leads a stellar ensemble in the Rufus Norris/Adam Cork/Alecky Blythe "verbatim musical," LONDON ROAD

Wow. This is something else. LONDON ROAD, according to its press release, is a "verbatim musical" -- one in which its writer, Alecky Blythe, uses the transcript of her interviews with the of residents of that titular street in Ipswich, England, to create the lyrics for all the dialog we hear in this new musical film, which has then been set to a rhythmic, pulsating score by Adam Cork, said to be inspired by the dialects and intonations of the residents interviewed. The result is a knockout of a movie that compares to little else that TrustMovies has ever seen.

As directed by Rufus Norris (shown at right), from an award-winning British theater piece of the same name (which Norris also directed), the movie version has been "opened out" so perfectly that it never betrays its "theater" roots. The subject? Well, that's an interesting question.

Initially, it would seem to be the murder of five prostitutes in the Ipswich area who worked along London Road. Yet we never see the murders, nor do we find out anything about the dead women, other than their line of work. We also -- and this is key, I think -- never meet, see nor hear their killer, who, during the course of this film, we learn is caught and then convicted of the crime.

Instead, we meet the denizens of London Road -- the folk who live around the murder site -- and we are soon made privy to their thoughts and fears, as initial shock, then paranoia, followed by reassurance and even some hope spring to life. We also see and hear the TV reporters covering all this for the media (their reports, I should think, are also given us verbatim).

So what we have here, finally, is a look at how the British bourgeoisie reacts to something this horrible. And the reaction, while pretty predictable, is also pretty disgusting. In the eyes of these people, the victims don't count for much. Only the fear and shock and worry that the inhabitants feel for themselves seems to matter. (The character played by Olivia Colman, above, at one point even insinuates that the killer may have done the community am actual favor by "offing" the hookers.)

Now, the fact that all the dialog/song is verbatim is one thing. But the choice of what to include, and how often to repeat it, is an artistic one. And in this way, I think, the movie makes its main point: the pettiness of these reactions, compared to what has happened, grows almost staggering.  As I watched I began to wonder if and when the creators would allow us to hear from some of the local prostitutes who remain alive. They wait a good while, but at last, we do hear. And then, of course, class and economics and culture and a lot more rear their heads. To their credit, the moviemakers do not push this: They simply offer it up for us to make of it what what we will. (Shown at left is Nick Holder, playing one of the inhabitants of the titular road.)

In the end, our good citizens unite to make their London Road a better, tidier, more beautiful place -- there's a contest for the best local garden, doncha know, with the media covering all this. So, out of horror and pain can come renewal and life. Yeah, right. My spouse, who prefers to see the happy side of things, took this part away from the film. I, who tend to draw darker conclusions, saw something else. The movie allows us to both have our views enabled but leans, I think, toward my darker one.

It is as a piece of art that London Road shines brightest. The dialog/song, even with/because of all its repetition, grows ever more wonderful and strange, and the music does indeed capture the feel of the dialects and the character intonations here. The choreography by Javier de Frutos, in tandem with the direction by Mr. Norris, is often brilliant in its use of simple facial or neck movement to underscore points. Note the scene in which the townspeople await in the street the arrival of the killer in a police van. The movement here makes for brilliant, subtle cinema experienced as a kind of stationary dance. And the energy level? It's staggering. The film is alive and moving at every moment, (That's Anita Dobson, playing one of the elderly neighbors, shown above.)

The finale, too, in which one of the younger prostitutes (Kate Fleetwood, above) looks quietly at all these goings-on, allows us again to be made aware of the other side of the coin. I was not a particular fan of Norris' earlier film, Broken, but I shall remember and treasure this one for a long time. I can't imagine any caring, intelligent film/theater-goer not rushing headlong to the cinema to see the kind of surprising, encompassing art that can be made from the most unexpected of sources.

Also in the estimable cast, by the way, is one, Tom Hardy, shown above and below, who has but a small role as a taxi driver and fills it to perfection. So he can sing, too? Is there anything this actor cannot do?

London Road, via BBC Worldwide North America, opens this coming Friday, September 9, in New York City at the Village East Cinema and the following Friday, September 16, in Los Angeles at The Sundance Sunset Cinema and Laemmle's Playhouse 7 in Pasadena. Elsewhere?  Perhaps, if word-of-mouth takes off as it should. Otherwise, we'll have to wait for it on digital or DVD -- at which time, I hope, it will come complete with English subtitles. I could have used them while watching the screening link supplied. Still, what a pleasure it will be to see this film again, with those subtitles at the ready.