IDINA MENZEL to star in SEE WHAT I WANNA SEE — Page 2

TabooPhan - Check out Marie Christine, LaChiusa's The Wild Party....there are a couple others, I'm just blanking right now, somebody help me out.

Does anyone know if Edna will be doing the matinee performance on Oct. 31? I reeeeeely need to know now, because that night I am going as Elfba for the Halloween Parade (in drag of course) and want to meet her at the stage door to give me make up tips and a boost of confidence. If inyone knows you can PM me. I mean how is she about doing the Matinees? Does she come out inbetween shows? Who is her understudy?

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I'm excited to see her take on a new role.

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Barihunk...EXACTLY what I was thinking. Each is great in her own right, but VERY different approaches to singing....

I guess Mark won't be leaving.. this is from playbill.com (a while back)-

Marc Kudisch, a Tony Award nominee for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, will take a break from that show to perform the role of the victim in See What I Wanna See, Michael John LaChiusa’s musical version of the classic Japanese film, "Rashoman," the actor told NY1.

The Public wouldn't need Idina to sell tickets to a show like this. Caroline certainly sold out is run without any kind of fan-crazed mania.
I'm sure they simply lost Audra for whatever reason and felt Idina was a good choice.

"I'm glad Idina is doing another show. She needs to get out of the IdinaWicked thing a little bit .. because I feel that some people seem to be losing respect for her as a performer over that. It'll be good to see her take on a new character. "

It is amazing to me that ppl can lose respect for a Tony-award winning performance...


That said, I will be abroad so I won't be able to see this... however I am hardly disappointed about missing the chance to be crammed into a room with a bunch of fan girls screaming and crying and clapping every time Idina sneezes.

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Yes, but will she be wearing Plastic Pants?
I miss those RENT days, y'all. She was hot, yo!!!

I am oh so thrilled!! Last summer I was lucky enough to see R shomon when it was presented at the WTF (Williamstown Theatre Festival) I said back then "pray long and hard that this show comes to NY" Well some prayers are answered.
As far as Idina goes.. um... was Audra booked?

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Updated On: 7/28/05 at 01:12 PM

Just a heads up for those dying to see this -- you might want to buy a membership to the Public when you get a chance. I've been a member for a decade and members get to book their seats weeks before the general public. For each show in the season there's a newsletter that goes out a month or so before previews begin listing all of the performance dates and announcing the date and time member tickets are available to be reserved. All you have to do is call in on that date (it's usually pretty easy to get through), give your member number, and tell the person the performance you want to attend and 99% of the time excellent seats are available for your first choice (unlike a lot of other theatres where so much is pre-sold and held in reserve that even if you call the first day tickets go on sale, there aren't any decent seats avalable).

And just so you know, they have a "Preview Pack" available for $150 which gives you the right to 5 seats which you can use any way you'd like to during the preview period of any show during the season. You can go to 5 different shows by yourself, or you can bring along 4 friends to one show, or do any other combination that appeals to you -- it's up to you and you don't have to decide until the newletter for each show comes in the mail. It's a great, flexible option and it's only $30 a seat.

And for whomoever asked, some of the musicals that started at one of the Public's 5 theaters (many of which moved to Broadway:

A Chorus Line
Hair
Bring in da Noise, Bring in da Funk
Caroline, or Change
The Mystery of Edwin Drood
Runaways
Alice in Concert (with Meryl Streep)
Saturn Returns
The Human Comedy
Elaine Stritch At Liberty
Mandy Patinkin in Concert: "Dress Casual"

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Updated On: 7/28/05 at 01:52 PM

I didn't include shows that started at the Delacorte like Two Gentlemen, Pirate of Penzance, Threepenny Opera and On the Town because the original poster asked specifically what shows started the main Public Theatre.

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I did Rashomon many years ago and had a blast - if this is an adaptation, it is a great choice, because the material just begs to be "sung".

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To those wondering what the show's about:
At WTF last summer, the show was called "R shomon" and it consisted of two seperate one-acts.

The first was a transplanted version of Rashomon (classic Japanese story of a theif who murders a man and rapes a woman, and the different accounts of the story from the perspectives of the different characters) that takes place in 1951 New York.

The second act was about a modern-day priest who tells people that a miracle will happen in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

There's also a third, framing story that deals with a married woman and her lover preparing for one last night together.

The WTF production took place on the Nikos Stage (96 seats) and the intimacy was AMAZING. The cast, which included not only Audra McDonald but also Mary Testa, Tom Wopat, and Michael C. Hall, all sang completely unmiked and the music had a very quiet intensity to it (very Japanese, in fact). It was also very much a work in progress, as both LaChiusa and director Ted Sperling were in the back of the house visibly taking notes on the performance.

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