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NY Theater: "See What I Wanna See" is subtle, edgy musical metaphorLaChiusa examines truth, lies and killing from medieval Japan to modern U.S.By Lucy Komisar"A lie becomes the truth and the truth becomes a lie," says one of the characters in Michael John LaChiusa's fascinating dark, symbolic musical theater piece. From adulterous lovers in medieval Japan and conflicting explanations of a murder in Central Park, to the political challenges of war and peace, LaChiusa moves from the personal to the political of killing, with the truth and lies that attend both small personal tragedies and big societal ones. The stunning and complex music, from modern jazz to atonal sounds, with Japanese Taiko drums and Shakuhachi flute, is complimented by the rich operatic voices of Marc Kurdisch and Idina Menzel. The play's tension reminds one a bit of LaChiusa's "The Wild Party."
He moves to thuggish murder in the modern era, 1951. Jimmy Maco (Aaron Lohr), a conman, persuades a taxi fleet owner (Kudisch) – lower class from his voice and demeanor – to follow him to Central Park to dig up some cash. The fleet owner's wife (Menzel), an erstwhile hatcheck girl who is now a saloon singer, follows him. Menzel is dazzling as the tacky chanteuse in a fuscia gown.
The play till now seems somehow jagged, unconnected. What does one part have to do with another? So, we have "honorable" murder and "thuggish" murder. But then we turn to current politics and the denial of the "glory" of murder, or murderous glory. A priest (Stram) has lost his faith in the midst of the killing, and asks, why father? A medium (the incomparable, cool and commanding Mary Testa), declares, "The greatest practical joke is god" and goes on to catalog the evidence. Testa gets the best song in the show, with lyrics that excoriate Henry Kissinger, TV shows and Mother Theresa, phonies all. The glory day is a hoax with t-shirts and statuettes. The more farfetched the lie, the more it's believed. So now we understand the connections.
The screen of clouds and trees back-dropping the bare stage looks like a Japanese garden. "Time to feed the lions," says Testa? Whose fault is murder? As in Rashomon, there are different views. It's not an easy play, but complexity rarely is. "See What I Wanna See." Book, Music, Lyrics by Michael John LaChiusa. Directed by Ted Sperling. Starring Idina Menzel, Henry Stram, Aaron Lohr, Marc Kudisch, Mary Testa. Public Theater, 425 Lafayette Street (below 8th Street). Thu-Sat 8pm; Wed, Sat, Sun 2pm; also Nov 14 at 8pm; no perf Nov 13 at 2pm or Nov 17 at 8pm. Through December 4, 2005. $60. 212-239-6200. http://www.publictheater.org by Michal Daniel. |
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TM
LaChiusa begins with the notion of Japanese honor killing.
Lovers (Menzel and Kudisch) in medieval Japan have been found out. They lie on
blood-red drapes that stretch across the floor. But it's not clear who kills the
other. And LaChiusa turns the tragedy into a crude joke with egregiously silly
lyrics -- "My lover is incredibly endowed." Is he satirizing honor killing?
What, anyway, is honorable about killing?
Then there is perhaps a rape, or sex, and murder or
suicide, with a knife wielded by the thug or the woman or the husband. All is
viewed by a janitor (Henry Stram) passing through the park after a late evening
cleaning a cinema that is showing the film, "Rashomon." A lie becomes the truth
and the truth becomes a lie. Yet, it's hard to grasp the purpose of the
gratuitous violence.
The acolytes who come to celebrate the glory day include a
bedraggled hippy CPA (Kudisch) who sings about "hiding assets to disguise my
clients' little lies." So, he's a specialist in tax evasion and money
laundering! Menzel is a coke-head actress fixated on celebrities.
