'See What I Wanna See' at 11th Hour Theatre Company (second review)

For example, the audience gathers in a curtained-off end of the Christ Church Neighborhood House's rectangular space, and the show begins with the curtains parting to reveal a theatrical zoom-in, accomplished by having actors glide toward us across the vast space on a scaffold.

We're reminded that this is theater once we're ushered to seats on the two long sides of the space, a popular configuration lately (used by EgoPo's powerful Machinal, for instance). The configuration provides ample playing space while keeping us close to the action and Maura Roche's scenery minimal, ably completed by Dominic Chacon's moody lighting and Amanda Wolff's witty costumes.

A Rashomon tale

The first of See What I Wanna See's two main tales — based on stories by Ryunosuke Akutagawa — retells Rashomon in a noirish 1951 New York City. Michael Philip O'Brien plays a thief who falls hard for Cara Noel Antosca's nightclub singer, who wears a red Jessica Rabbit dress slit all the way up to the knife strapped to her upper thigh. His only obstacle is her jealous husband (Jake Blouch). Lust and liquor lead to violence in Central Park.

This story is actually narrated by a janitor (Billy Bustamante) who found a body in the park. As in Rashomon, the story unfolds from all points of view — even the dead person shares through a medium (Nancie Sanderson). "Life tries too hard to imitate art," the thief quips, as the score's jazzy beats perfectly underscore the half-spoken, half-sung dialogue.

Along with the opening's Japanese vignette about a wife preparing to kill her lover — repeated as the introduction to the second act, with a husband planning his lover's death — See What I Wanna See seems a grimly stylish evening.

A post 9/11 story

LaChiusa's second act, however, has a larger agenda. Bustamante plays a priest disillusioned by the 9/11 attacks (See What I Wanna See premiered in 2005, but doesn't feel dated), who spontaneously posts a notice in Central Park claiming that Jesus will return "three weeks from Tuesday." People needing miracles respond with hope to "Glory Day": Blouch plays a Wall Streeter who becomes homeless; Antosca, a physically and emotionally scarred actress, and O'Brien, a frustrated TV reporter. Even the priest's dying aunt (Sanderson), a vitriolic atheist, dares to hope.

"This is what it's like to be God," the priest realizes, expecting that everyone's faith will, like his, be crushed. What actually happens is a mysterious surprise.

What we wanna see

11th Hour's artistic groove the past few seasons has been only one full production and four Next Step Concerts showcasing new musicals. See What I Wanna See shows what we're missing when they don't fully produce these new and seldom-seen original musicals — none adapted from movies! Sure, the concerts provide their core artists' great voices, but their productions show a great commitment to rich musical performance and dynamic design and staging.

For Steve Cohen's review, click here.