See What I Wanna See
WHAT: See What I Wanna See
WHEN: February 15 – April 12, 2013 (schedule)
WHERE: Steppenwolf Garage Theatre (1624 N. Halsted St.)
RUNTIME: 2 Hours with a 15 minute intermission
WHO: Bailiwick Chicago
PRICE: $20
OUR RATING: Skip It!
(bailiwickchicago.com)
(bailiwickchicago.com)
As we mentioned last week, each year Steppenwolf’s Garage Theatre explodes with new talent in three repertory productions from some of Chicago’s up-and-coming theater companies.
Storefront City takes on Garage Rep 2013 once again, but this time with Bailiwick Chicago’s See What I Wanna See. Bailiwick Chicago, with a mission focused on producing contemporary (and reinventing classical) musicals, is an itinerant theater company that launched in 2009 out of the remnants of Bailiwick Repertory Theatre.
(Credit: Michael Brosilow)
Directed by Artistic Director Lili-Anne Brown, See What I Wanna See is a three-part musical by Michael John LaChiusa. The performance is broken down into two acts with two prologues which journey through feudal Japan with lovers Kesa and Morito. The musical then jumps forward in time in Act 1 to a murder noir in New York City in 1951, and then even further forward in Act 2 to Central Park, New York City, 2002, where a priest undergoes a crisis of faith post-9/11. Exploring desire, hope and truth, this five person ensemble piece utilizes a mix of pop, jazz and classical music, along with some Asian flairs.
(Credit: Michael Brosilow)
Ultimately, despite Bailiwick’s best intentions, See What I Wanna See is a flawed production, complete with musical numbers that fail to capture the imagination of even the most Philistinic member of society, a number of untrained vocalists, and disparate storylines that clearly come from an intelligent yet confused mind, whose comment on culture is unclear.
(Credit: Michael Brosilow)
The redeeming factors of this show are limited. Danni Smith, a collective member of Bailiwick Chicago, proves talented and versatile in her roles as the wife and Aunt Monica. And Lizzie Bracken’s scenic design, particularly the mirroring of the floor design with the stencil silhouette on the wall, is lovely for a show in rep. Mix the two together and you get the seductive and beautiful scene in Act 1 where Smith performs behind Bracken’s screen with Lee Keenan’s adept lighting choices. This, and the general strength of the cast’s ensemble work, are commemorable, but nothing was quite memorable enough to get us wanting more.
(Credit: Michael Brosilow)
When it comes down to it, See What I Wanna See seems a poor choice to produce: its music, lyrics and script being so unfortunately weak. Ultimately, some of the casting decisions seriously undermined the production, and we suspect that qualified musicians would have brought more to the experience.
P.S. If you missed it last week, check out the Garage Rep 2013 trailer!