Perception is reality, or so they say. The truth of that adage is tested to the breaking point in "See What I Wanna See," Michael John LaChiusa's new musical opening next week at the Public Theater.
It's an interesting conceit, played out in three one-acts suggested by the work of Japanese writer Ryunosuke Akutagawa. American audiences are likely most familiar with the author's work as adapted by filmmaker Akira Kurosawa in his 1950 masterpiece, "Rashomon."
Composer/lyricist LaChiusa recalls that film both as scene-setting and storytelling device in Act I's "R Shomon." Transplanted from feudal Japan to 1950s New York, the story concerns a young thief who lures an oily businessman and his tarty wife to Central Park, where he murders the man and rapes the woman.
Or does he? As in the source material, we're treated to retellings of the events from the perspective of four different characters. Sometimes the details match and sometimes they don't. The ways in which the stories differ is where the richness of the conceit becomes apparent. Ultimately, of course, we can see that there is no absolute truth.
On the same theme, the second act brings "Gloryday," in which a disillusioned priest sets out on a cynical plan to prove the nonexistence of miracles in the post-9/11 world. Suffice it to say that, true to the title of the show, each person on hand sees what he or she wants (or needs) to see. Both acts begin with the very brief "Kesa & Morito," a tale of an adulterous affair ending in murder, told first from the woman's viewpoint and later from that of her lover.
While the theme of perception versus truth is nothing new, there is a quality to this work that feels very fresh. LaChiusa is a nimble lyricist, given to clever and evocative language that's never showy. Likewise, his gifts as a composer continue to grow. "See" is — to my ear — by far the most accessible of his works. Borrowing freely from across the map, the score pits jazz against opera against Far East motifs. He has a knack for being artful but not artsy, and delivering hummable melodies without descending into facile pop.
As is the case in other LaChiusa shows, the score is a marvelous vehicle for fine voices; the cast of five does not disappoint. Idina Menzel exhibits the big voice that made her a Broadway favorite, while Marc Kudisch's deeply resonant baritone runs the gamut from sweet to awe inspiring.
"See What I Wanna See" reaches for something that most contemporary musicals don't. It strives to be about something more than simply the story at hand. This is an intelligent and thought-provoking examination of the seedier side of human nature as told through song. If you're looking for more than the feel-good inanity of what usually passes for a musical on local stages, this is the show you wanna see.
Although open for nearly a month in New York and Los Angeles (it's yet to open in other markets), the film "Capote" doesn't seem to be garnering nearly the level of word of mouth I had expected in gay circles. Allow me to do my part in rectifying that: If you haven't seen it yet, you owe it to yourself to go.
However, there's one thing I find troubling. You see, in none of the press materials, nor in any of the numerous television interviews with the film's star Phillip Seymour Hoffman, have I heard anyone utter the word "gay."
I can forgive the fact that the word is never mentioned in film; after all, most of the action takes place over 40 years ago. But even there, the film makes clear Capote's relationship with companion Jack Dunphy. Perhaps we don't go around trumpeting the orientation of heterosexual film characters. But then, when two people of the opposite sex fall in love in the movies, the orientation is a given. It seems to me that Capote's gay (albeit chaste) love affair with his gallows-bound subject is the engine that drives this story.
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