SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/artandlife/1404AP_Theater_See_What_I_Wanna_See.html
Sunday, October 30, 2005 · Last updated 7:16 p.m. PT
Review: 'Wanna See' pushes boundaries
NEW YORK -- "Adventurous" is not the adjective that comes to mind when you think of this season's dismal crop of new off-Broadway musicals.
But composer Michael John LaChiusa has put the word back into play with "See What I Wanna See," an intelligent, adult musical that entertains and astonishes at the same time.
The show, which opened Sunday at the Public Theater, is really two one-act musicals, thematically linked, yet complete within themselves. The title sort of says it all. We are talking about belief, perception of what is real - and imagined - and how various versions of the same story can reveal different truths.
Sounds a bit like "Rashomon," one of Ryunosuke Akutagawa's best-known stories, doesn't it? Well, that's what LaChiusa, author of such distinct musicals as "Hello Again" and "The Wild Party," uses as the taking-off point for the first half of the evening, here called "R Shomon." It's a variation on the Japanese author's look at the vagaries of human nature, only now set in 1951 New York.
"R Shomon" is steeped in film noir, a dark, brooding tale of greed and lust that ends in death. A thief comes between a gangsterlike husband and his lascivious, hard-as-nails wife. The husband ends up dead in Central Park - but what really happened? Each participant gets to tell his or her side of the story. It's a smoky, sexy saga, enhanced by LaChiusa's muscular, jazzy score, flecked with Japanese influences and tough, punchy lyrics.
LaChiusa's book is concise and clear-headed, giving each of the production's five performers a chance to shine. And the cast, under Ted Sperling's precise direction, could not be better.
Idina Menzel, in her first New York stage role since winning the Tony for her performance in "Wicked," coos and struts as the strumpet with a heart of stone. Menzel gets to sing the show's title song, an atmospheric lounge ditty that is LaChiusa at his melodic best.
Aaron Lohr scores as the macho, swaggering thief, as does Marc Kudisch as the big lug of a husband. Smaller yet no less important roles are played by Henry Stram as a janitor who happens upon the murder scene and Mary Testa as a psychic who has visions of the slaying.
Act 2, called "Gloryday," puts us in post 9-11 New York. A priest has lost his faith and looks to expose the hypocrisy of those who believe by producing a fake miracle in Central Park. Then his deception takes on a life of its own.
The prospect of a miracle produces faith in a trio of divergent people - an accountant who has given up his middle-class life for homelessness, a struggling actress and a jaded reporter. The priest, portrayed by Stram with a tremulous, affecting anguish, is badgered by his no-nonsense aunt (a terrific role for Testa), who is a true believer in atheism.
Yet what the would-be miracle produces is surprising, a twist that reinforces the title of the show. It's no accident that each act of the musical ends with the cast repeating the words, "the truth," a most elusive commodity on stage or off. But in LaChiusa's deft hands, "See What I Wanna See" makes for a highly original, even innovative journey.