Hello ? hello. Karen Hines

dropping a beat; to communicate character differentiations through the tilt of a head, a slouch, a gentle lisp. For these and for other reasons, it may be helpful when staging the play to think of the chorus as creatures who occupy an existential realm somewhere between those of angels and ghosts.

       Music

      Hello … Hello is a musical – of sorts. It is a musical play that eschews the curiously sacred parameters of the Broadway-style musical, and instead uses music and parody in the pursuit of other, perhaps more contentious, aims. The play’s songs are inspired by Hollywood musicals from the twenties and thirties, but also by cartoons from the fifties, post-Beatles pop ballads, drum and bass and long-distance savings plan commercials. By connecting some dots between twentieth-century entertainment and contemporary reality, and by lacing the play’s lullabies and adagios with tunes inspired by (often deeply affecting) television commercials, the goal has been the creation of a self-consuming artifact, a musical that uses music to meditate on some of the more troubling impulses behind that most delightful of escapist forms: the musical.

      The complete score of Hello … Hello is over a hundred pages long, and so cannot be included here in its entirety. A sampling of the songs begins on page 150; the complete score is available through Coach House Books ([email protected] or 416 979 2217).

       Costumes

      The performers should wear sleek, stylish outfits that are flattering yet neutral enough to allow for the transformations between the many characters they describe and embody.

       Set and Props

      There is no set except, perhaps, for a bed and two chairs or something that can work as both. In addition, risers, stairs and poles or cables may help the actors to render the illusions of the settings that they describe.

      The only props are a tiny bassinet and a very small light source that can be palmed, then placed inside the bassinet. The rest of the props are imaginary and may be rendered through a system of gestures and movements that are simple and precise, but never slavish to the text.

       Venue

      An intimate venue that allows for direct eye contact between the performers and the audience is ideal.