Out of the Box Theatrics Presents SEE WHAT I WANT TO SEE

Leaving Out of the Box Theatrics’ production of See What I Wanna See you too might find yourself ruminating that classic question of who stole the show??

Conductor/Pianist Adam Rothenberg’s keyboard marathon drives all action, and you will be missing out if you don’t glance into the shadows to soak in his energy that animates all.

Certainly the exquisite puppetry design by Tom Lee makes the short list, and especially the stone-faced businessman in pinstripes bunraku puppet. His death —or was-it-murder or was-it-suicide— becomes a focal point of Act One’s film-noir-for-stage style re-imagining of the famed classic film Rashomon.

Then again, we swoon anew when Kevin Moon Loh takes over the puppet’s role as the businessman in death, whose every minutia movement is mirrored by Ann Sanders as the Medium offering her services for free to share his truth from the other side. Better still is when these actors/singers respectively show their comic chops in Act II— as a CPA-turned-manic-vagrant and Italian-socialist-aunt-toying-with-agnosticism.

Add in the production’s superglue of stellar performances by Marina Kondo, Zachary Noah Piser and Sam Simahk. These are talents that can emanate charisma as they strut large Broadway stages, but here you are seeing them show their range very up close in the intimate Theatre 154 basement space home of Out of the Box Theatrics. Kondo’s characters in both acts are both performers but the similarity stops there. Piser’s fresh face let’s us see connections between his characters in Act I and II— a janitor who sees something he doesn’t want to see, and a priest who struggles to see what he wants to see. Simahk is a sociopath —or maybe love-struck in a murderer-for-hire sense of being smitten— and then in Act II is a reporter who has been wondering about himself ever since 9/11.

Alas, for this reviewer— and probably for other admiring fans playwright/composer La Chiusa’s works—the script disappoints, despite the talent explosion delivery it is getting in this production.

Perhaps it is La Chiusa taking on a herculean task or two, like exploring issues of agnosticism in a musical format? See What I Wanna See strives to be an updated and Westernized take on the short stories by Japanese author Akutagawa. The two acts (or three, technically) are united by themes of poking into how competing realities color our interpretations of life’s meaning. In our current age when “alternative facts” has unfortunately become part of our lexicon, the typical Sunday talk show might be doing a deeper dive into this topic than La Chiusa’s script, in this reviewer’s opinion.

Out of the Box Theatrics Brings Super-Sized Talents to Intimate Space

With that caveat, do read the program bios and you too might adore how Out of the Box Theatrics’ AAPI casting is giving so many super-sized talents a chance to shine so up close. If you love small theater’s intimate experience for enjoying out-sized talents, See What I Wanna See is likely a top pick for your time.

CREATIVE TEAM:

A musical by Michael John LaChiusa
Directed by Emilio Ramos
Music direction by Adam Rothenberg
Puppeteering by Nikki Calonge, Takemi Kitamura, Justin Otaki Perkins
Associate direction and Choreography by Paul McGill
Associate music direction by Ian Chan
Scenic design: Emmie Finckel
Costume design: Siena Zoë Allen
Puppet design and fabrication: Tom Lee and Chicago Puppet Studio
Lighting design: Kat C. Zhou
Sound design: Germán Martínez
Props design: Samantha Shoffner
Rehearsal stage Manager: Kyra Bowie
Assistant Stage Manager: Abi Row
Assistant Stage Manager: Sarah Samonte
Japanese translations: Marina Kondo
Production Management: Out of the Box Theatrics