Cocktail Party Fact: Hello Again describes a human chain of ten sexual encounters. It’s based on the famous Viennese play La Ronde by Arthur Schnitzler, which was also updated into a 1992 movie called Chain Of Desire

Here’s The Plot: Hello Again follows ten sexual encounters, each scene linked to the one before it though one partner, while it leapfrogs back and forth across the 20th century. It begins with a whore and a solider at the turn of the century. Then the soldier seduces a nurse in 1944. The nurse ties up a college boy in the 1960s and does a seductive strip tease for him, finally conquering him on his mother’s couch. In the 1930s, a bored young wife tries to seduce the college boy in a movie theater while Fred and Ginger dance in front of them. The bored young 1950s wife substitutes a pillow for herself under her oblivious husband as she fantasizes her own sexual dreams (with the whore appearing in her mirror). The husband and a young boy hustler try to reach climax before their ship, the Titanic, goes down itself.. The young hustler picks up a screen writer in a disco club in 1976 and goes home with him. The screen writer gets it on with a beautiful movie actress in 1920s Hollywood. The actress seduces an all too willing senator in a glamorous 1980s terrace apartment. The senator, now in the 90s, calls a phone sex number and the whore answers. He tells her about a dream he’s had in which he meets her for sex in her turn-of-the-century garret. Finally, the circle is complete, both on the human level and in time.

Memorable Melodies: “Hello Again,” “We Kiss,” “The One I Love,” “Angel of Mercy.”

Vital Statistics: Music and lyrics by Michael John LaChiusa. Originally directed and choreographed by Graciele Daniele. Opened on January 30, 1994, for a limited run as part of Lincoln Center Theater’s New Collaborations Series. Starring Donna Murphy, Malcolm Gets, Judy Blazer, Carolee Carmello, John Cameron Mitchell.

Why See It?: This is a sexy, intelligent, adult musical, one that is about sex on the surface but is really about a lot more — love, loneliness, longing, desire, sexuality, power, time. It’s a magnificent score, funny and sweet and moving, and ultimately, thrilling.