See What I Wanna See love

[snl89]

Posted: 8/5/06 at 4:42pm

Okay, so I started this on account of I cannot possibly be the only one his is completely in love with this show and its cast :) I will not lie- the only reason I ever was as interested in it as I was was because of Idina, but as it turns out idina is not the ONLY kick ass person in this cast. As a matter of fact, EVERYONE in it is rather kick ass. Mary testa? un freaking believable. Marc Kudisch? just.. yes. Aaron Lohr? holy... friggin.. hotness. And um... he freaking SCARES the daylights out of me in the first act (for the record, the whole Park Scene is MUCH scaryer listening to the *coughhackweez*. They kind of... toned it down a bit for the recording I think, which makes sense). And then in the second act his voice is just chillingly beautiful. And Henry Stram is delightful :) so yeah, AMAZING. And... one of the most intense, thought provoking, well-written shows I can think of. If you know the story and are able to follow it (for those, like me, who didn't get to actually see it), its really really amazing and it'll make you think for a LONG long time afterwards. So, let's discuss! :)

oooh, and also, for people who have the cd and may still not quite get the story (its really complex and can be hard to follow from the cd alone), lea, or leagirl in these parts, made an AMAZING summary for it a while back! I then took the summary and added the pictures from the proofshee. So yeah.. now you can read it and follow it WHILE listening to the cd, AND see the pictures, and by the end it'll practically feel like you've seen the show! yayness sooo, here's the summary:
https://www.angelfire.com/funky/snl89/swiwssummary.html

Updated On: 8/5/06 at 04:42 PM

[Becoz_i_knew_you21]

Posted: 8/5/06 at 4:45pm

Punctuations please.

Updated On: 8/5/06 at 04:45 PM

Posted: 8/5/06 at 4:56pm

Puncuation's please.

"Punctuations."

[WickedMuzzy422]

Posted: 8/5/06 at 11:13pm

I love see what I wanna see. I guess I didn't appreciate it as much when I saw it performed, but now I just love to analyze it. The music is beautiful and the cast is stellar. what are your favorite tracks on the cast recording?

[fiyero8132]

Posted: 8/5/06 at 11:52pm

Kesa, Gloryday, There Will Be A Miracle. Best songs. Hands down.

[WickedMuzzy422]

Posted: 8/6/06 at 12:06am

I love those,I'm gonna include curiosity/prayer. i just think it's really pretty.

[MissElphie]

Posted: 8/6/06 at 12:09am

I love this show. It is beautifully written. I am so glad I go to see it live. It really hit me hard. The cast was incredible. The music gives me chills. The lyrics are beyond brilliant. I just love everything about this show.
Every time I listen to it, a different song becomes my favorite, though I favor "Rising Up" most of the time.

[snl89]

Posted: 8/6/06 at 12:17am

Oooh dear, lets see.. favorite songs:
-She Looked at Me
-See What I Wanna See
-You'll Go Away With Me (Quartet) (okay, Idina and Aaron were just... MADE to sing with eachother. I swear, I've heard VERY few people who sound as amazing together as they do)
-No More (and its ONLY that amazing because of idina's mad acting chops)
-The Greatest Practical Joke
-Central Park
-Coffe
-Gloryday
-Curiosity/Prayer
-There Will Be a Miricale
-Rising Up (UNBELIEVABLY gorgeous and heartwrenching)

and, you know, those are just a few lol

Updated On: 8/6/06 at 12:17 AM

[Jazzysuite82]

Posted: 8/6/06 at 1:22am

Funny thing about this show. I was actually disappointed when I heard Idina was gonna be in it. I was soooo hoping Audra would bring it to NY. So I went inspite of Idina. I hated her in Wicked. But I LOVED her in this. She was def an asset to the cast. However, I walked away saying OMFG Mary Testa. She's a freakin beast man. I'd never seen her live before. She really needs to be working in NY more because she is ferocious.

[gustof777]

Posted: 8/6/06 at 2:02am

I can't even begin to describe how much I love this show. I think that it is one of the most touching, smart, and powerful scores of the past five years. I think it is LaChiusa's most accessible score. I couldn't even begin to try to pick out a favorite or even favorite songs because to me they all are amazing. I had heard the title song before the show came to NYC because of Audra's recording on her CD (yes, Jazzy I too was very bummed when I heard Audra was not bring it to NYC and would have killed to have seen her do it in Williamstown but alas Idina was great in the role and I'm sure her take was very different from Audra's but just as valid)
I remember I had heard the first 30 seconds or so of Kesa on Itunes and that just really hooked me and I was so excited to buy the album. I also kept watching the video of opening night on Broadway.com. I didnt' have a whole lot of money and so when I saw that it came out on Itunes before it hit stores I just couldn't control myself and I bought it. I really should have waited to get the actual CD and I wished I had because I fell in love with every part of the score. It just is so amazing and very hip and sexy and fun in the first half with songs like See What I Wanna See and She Looked at Me. It also has my favorite "angry" song, No More. As others have said, I too love the "Look at her Eyes/ Her Devil Released" part and got chills when I first heard it. It just instantly hooked me and i couldn't believe how kick ass the cast was. How refreshing to see a whole new side of Idina and man does she sound great on the recording. It wasn't until after a few listenings till I really appreciated it but gosh dang does Coffee really pack a punch! Aaron Lohr is quite the talent and really shines on numbers like Curiosity and You'll Go Away with Me and as others have said he sounds incredible with Idina! Marc Kudisch again proves to me why he is one of my favorite actors of the musical theater. He just really hits it out of the park tackling two very different characters. His song in Act Two is feirce and his energy and passion just really comes through on the CD. Mary Testa gives one of her best performances and it is such a shame that she didn't get some kind of award for it because man she was just a hoot as the medium and still a hoot as the Aunt but man does she just break your heart in There Will be a Miracle. Henry Stram is also very endearing as the Janitor and very touching as the distraught priest in Act Two.
I absolutley love the Finale (Rising, Up) It is just so beautiful when they all sing together and the way it just builds. Such incredible music. I really wished that they would have found a way to move this to Broadway (I realize that everything nowadays transfers it seems but this show deserved a longer run!) to like a really small house. I also think it is complete bullsh*t that this didn't win any awards. I think that it is easily EASILY the best score of last season (although it had really tough competition with Bernarda Alba which wasn't even nominated!) I just hope this will be produced quite a bit regionally which I think it will and I hope that it has lots of success and gets Michael John's name out there. I also was really glad to see that there were many people who went to see it just because of Idina and walked away with a whole new appreciation of a new kind of theater. It's a great show and I treasure the cd. There is also a great video seminar on the show at american theater wing's site.

[Katie2]

Posted: 8/6/06 at 4:18am

I know there's going to be a production of this show next year in Boston, I'm not sure when but I'm looking forward to it.

I saw this twice last fall and it is one of my favorite shows... ever. Every member of that cast is so incredibly talented (Mary Testa, my god) and it is just brilliantly put together. Afterwards, my mind was just churning, trying to take in everything I had just seen. This show is beautiful, powerful, and intellectually stimulating and I only wish it had had a longer run - I would've kept going back.

[jv92]

Posted: 8/6/06 at 11:39am

It's a wonderfully experimental, exiting show. It has a terrific score. It's a shame it didn't transfer to Broadway, although it probably would have done quite poorly, even in a small house.

[jv92]

Posted: 8/6/06 at 11:39am

It's a wonderfully experimental, exiting show. It has a terrific score. It's a shame it didn't transfer to Broadway, although it probably would have done quite poorly, even in a small house.

[Buddy Kiss]

Posted: 8/6/06 at 1:27pm

Ditto what everyone said. Stunning show.

What I don't understand is why, since there was not a Pulizer Prize given to a play this year, it wasn't given to this show?! I truly think it deserved it in every way.

[Jazzysuite82]

Posted: 8/6/06 at 4:00pm

I'm not sure about that. Not because it wasn't good but I because I'm not sure what the requirements of the Pulitzer are. Are you?

[snl89]

Posted: 8/6/06 at 4:20pm

Funny thing about this show. I was actually disappointed when I heard Idina was gonna be in it. I was soooo hoping Audra would bring it to NY. So I went inspite of Idina. I hated her in Wicked. But I LOVED her in this. She was def an asset to the cast. However, I walked away saying OMFG Mary Testa. She's a freakin beast man. I'd never seen her live before. She really needs to be working in NY more because she is ferocious.

sorry, this is from a while back but it reminded me of something. I am SOOOO happy that idina did this show, especially after wicked, because although I will always absolutely positively adore her in wicked, I think this proved to all those who DIDNT like her in wicked that she is SO much better than even that. I mean, wicked showed off her unbelievable vulnerability, but other than that I actually dont really think it shows off TOO much more. I think she's way BETTER than wicked, and see what I wanna see proved that. Because, sure, she has an amazing belt, but there's MORE to her voice than just pop belting songs. And sure, she's better at being vulnerable than anyone else I can think of, but she also kicks major ass being fierce, like in No More. So.. yeah, basically, I think this show showed off everything she can do that Wicked DIDNT (and what it did, because coffe was idina vulnerability at its very, VERY best), and I just wish more people could have seen it just so they could see that. Because I think wicked is just so... mainstream, and people dont like that, and people autoomatically think that what she did in wicked is the best she can do and its NOT :) not even CLOSE

oh and yeah, please dont let my ramblings about idina fool you into thinking I liked her more in this show than the rest of the cast. I ADORE the rest of the cast, especially Mary

Updated On: 8/6/06 at 04:20 PM

[Buddy Kiss]

Posted: 8/6/06 at 4:45pm

To be honest, I don't know what the requirements for the Pulizer are. We all know that musicals can and have been given the Prize, but I don't know any details.

Anyone have any clues?

[Jazzysuite82]

Posted: 8/6/06 at 5:33pm

So I just did some research on this and I'm kind of annoyed. Apparantly the Pulitzer prize for drama is a big joke. NOt really but it should be NOW.

SO first anyone can apply for a Pulitzer. There's some paperwork and materials required to send it in. So SWIWS was def eligable for this past year. So either someone from the board has to recommend it or someone from the SWIWS camp had to put it in. So apparantly it wasn't on the radar. Or the board just didn't like it (I'll get to that in a moment). Now why was there no award given this year? Well this comes from their guidlines:

According to The Plan of Award "If in any year all the competitors in any category shall fall below the standard of excellence fixed by The Pulitzer Prize Board, the amount of such prize or prizes may be withheld."

So I guess there wasn't any plays or musicals worthy of the award on the radar of the drama board last year. Sound like Bull****? That's because it probably is. Adam Rapp's Red Light Winter, Christopher Durang's Miss Witherspoon, and The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow by Rolin Jones were all nominated but no award was given. Now I looked at the board members for the different catagories. Most of it is as you expected. The fiction has novelists and professors and A critic. Music has composers musicinas and A critic. History has history professors etc. What does drama have?! 3 critics, 1 English professor and 1 actress/playwright/professor of drama (yes all that is one person). My question is Why are critics basically responsible for giving out the award? Why is it that only ONE person who really does theatre is on the board? The chair of said board is Linda Winer chief theatre critic for Newsday. 1 or 2 critics ok maybe. But 75% of the board don't create art and can't know what that's like...I find that a bit odd. Like someone reviewing a score without any knowledge of how to construct one. No wonder musicals hardly ever win these things.


END OF RANT

Updated On: 8/6/06 at 05:33 PM

[snl89]

Posted: 9/3/06 at 4:43pm

wow.. um... BUMP :)

cause I'm listening to it all the way through again... and I really had forgotten just how amazing it really is. Every single person in the cast blows my mind. And, that's even WITH my huge idina bias! hehe

[ashley0139]

Posted: 9/3/06 at 7:36pm

I couldn't even begin to try to pick out a favorite or even favorite songs because to me they all are amazing.

Same here! I start to name songs that are my favorites and I end up naming every song.

I can't begin to describe how much I love this show, either. I could just talk about it non-stop. It is so brilliant! I can't begin to talk about it because I just wouldn't stop. I love the whole "missing A" motif. Just... brilliant.

Plus, I can't begin to top what gustof777 said.

[IdinaMenzelFan]

Posted: 9/3/06 at 8:03pm

I wish I could have seen this show. I bet Idina was AMAZING!

[folkyboy]

Posted: 9/3/06 at 8:06pm

i haven't heard enough of the show to like it or not but i'm hoping to see the production the Lyric Stage will be doing here in Boston. maybe it'll change my doubts :)

[snl89]

Posted: 9/3/06 at 8:15pm

^haha, oooh I bet it will if the cast is anywhere near as amazing as the off broadway cast anyway.. hehe

[Caroline-Q-or-TBoo]

Posted: 9/3/06 at 8:51pm

I'm going to have to add to the SWIWS love. It's been on a constant loop on my cd player until last week when it was dethroned.

by Bernard Alba.

theme, much?

[ashley0139]

Posted: 9/3/06 at 8:56pm

I can't wait to see it here in Boston. So thrilled about it.

I wish I could have seen this show. I bet Idina was AMAZING!

The entire cast was amazing. Mary Testa blew me away. I had never heard her sing, and that was insane. I honestly couldn't pick one favorite performer in that show. Henry, Mary, Marc, Idina, and Aaron were all perfect in their roles. But what I wouldn't have given to see Audra.