Arms go up in the front rows as Drew Michael takes his bow in the opening-night photos from Love Me, his headphone-led solo show at SoHo Playhouse, which plays its last performance on November 22.
The pictures, by photographer Austin Ruffer, split the October 29 opening into two scenes. Inside, Michael stands alone on a bare stage for the curtain call. Outside, beside the show’s poster at the stage door, the people who made it line up for the camera.
Director Prashanth Venkataramanujam, Michael’s longtime collaborator, turns up in several frames, along with sound designer Daniel Kluger, whose work is the spine of the piece: every seat comes with a pair of headphones. One group shot puts Michael with Oliver Roth of OHenry Productions, DJ Kurs and Jeff Perri of Deaf West Theatre, Nimitt Mankad and Daniel Neale.
Guests on the night included Hasan Minhaj, who posed with Venkataramanujam, the head writer of his Netflix series Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj, as well as Aasif Mandvi, Matt Doyle and Michael Cruz Kayne.
Michael, an Emmy nominee for his writing on Saturday Night Live, wrote the show and performs it alone. Through the headphones, the audience follows him through five relationships, one chapter apiece, in a lifelong search for love. It arrived by way of the 2023 Edinburgh Festival Fringe, runs as part of the 2026 New York Comedy Festival, and marks his Off-Broadway debut. Deaf West Theatre, OHenry Productions, Mankad and Venkataramanujam produce.
Our first look at the production ran on opening day.
Tickets for Love Me at SoHo Playhouse, 15 Vandam Street, are on sale now through the end of the run on November 22.
