Using classic dramatic conventions, Woody Allen adapts Greek Drama to Modern Manhattan Comedy and discovers Aphrodite in New York. We meet the ancients in modern context: Cassandra the prophetess, Tiresius the blind seer, the Chorus with its constant commentary (like colleagues on a newsgroup or a listserv).

Today's Trojan hero, Lenny Weinrib, rides subways and elevators instead of a wooden horse to reach his Helen of Troy. But wait a minute! Is she a mother? Or a whore? And what can Lenny Weinrib do about any of it? We can count on the wise-guy Greek chorus to comment on the intrigue.

Blind Beggar: Does the Trojan horse have a wooden dick?…It’s something you don’t want to know, but you’d have to be blind not to see it. Hear the Blind Beggar (101kb wav)

With the Chorus, Woody Allen uses the "4th Wall" technique, which enables characters such as the Chorus to take a break from the direct action and talk directly to the audience. The problem with being in a Woody Allen movie is that characters like Lenny Weinrib have a way of talking back....

Chorus Leader: But to understand the ways of the heart is to grasp as clearly the malice or ineptitude of the gods. Who in their vain and clumsy labors to create a flawless surrogate have left mankind but dazed and incomplete. Chorus: Take for instance the case of Lenny Weinrib, a tale as Greek and timeless as fate itself. Hear the Chorus Leader (157kb wav)

Lenny: You know, that’s why you will always be a Chorus member because you don’t do anything. I act. I take action. I make things happen. Chorus Leader: Hurry the hell up, I hear footsteps. Hear Lenny and the Chorus Leader (78kb wav)