Interludes

THE HANGOVER REPORT – A rare and timely revival of SEE WHAT I WANNA SEE puts an illuminating Asian spin on the cult musical

• By drediman
• September 19, 2024
• No Comments

Last night, Out of the Box Theatrics’ rare revival of Michael John LaChuisa’s See What I Wanna See opened at the adventurous Off-Broadway theater company’s new permanent home in the East Village (the Christopher Street space was the former the New Ohio Theater). The piece is essentially two thematically-linked one-act musicals set largely in Central Park — the first act (“R SHOMAN”), set in 1951, centers around the Rashomon-like investigation of a murder of passion; the more emotionally trenchant second act (“Gloryday”) takes place in 2002 and tells the story of a priest seriously processes a spiritual crisis in the fraught days following 9/11.

Although the work was met with admiration when it premiered almost two decades at the Public Theater, the musical has since all but faded into obscurity — until this welcome and timely revival, that is. Indeed, like most LaChiusa musicals, See What I Wanna See is the kind of idiosyncratic creation that’s more inclined to invite a cult following rather than widespread commercial adoration. Each act is preceded by “Kesa/Morito”, a pair of musical numbers depicting two lovers who resolve to kill one another during passionate lovemaking, establishing the unsettled tone for what’s to come. “R SHOMAN” is a noir-inspired story that trenchantly riffs filmmaker Akira Kurosawa’s masterpiece Rashomon. Although it’s a stylish and expressive piece of musical theater, the real emotional heart of the show resides in its second act. Written in part as a response to the 9/11 tragedy, “Gloryday” is infused with both hope and anxiety, each of which play uneasily off each other as the characters attempt to find meaning in a world that seems to have gone topsy-turvy (sound familiar?). As a result, there’s a sense of instability that permeates the piece, which is made more pronounced by LaChuisa’s moody, character-driven songs (the score is lovingly rendered in this revival by music director Adam Rothenberg).

There are welcome new aspects to introduced by Emilio Ramos’s elegant production, which puts an illuminating Asian spin on the cult musical — namely by casting all-Asian performers and eloquently incorporating Asian puppet theater (e.g., bunraku puppetry, shadow puppetry) and other Asian theater techniques. These bold decisions make the musical more attuned to the underlying material on which LaChiusa based his musical (i.e., three Japanese short stories by Ryunosuke Akutagawa). The vocally distinguished cast is exceptional all around, and each has their moment in the spotlight. In particular, Zachary Noah Piser and Ann Sanders give vivid, emotionally charged performances that ground the restless musical (Sanders’ rendition of “There Will Be a Miracle” broke my heart).

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

SEE WHAT I WANNA SEE
Off-Broadway, Musical
Out of the Box Theatrics
2 hours, 10 minutes (with one intermission)
Through September 29