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

[aegeusrocks]

Posted: 7/28/05 at 1:51am

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.

[aegeusrocks]

Posted: 7/28/05 at 1:53am

Agree completely Zoran, I was trying to keep my post somewhat sane....I hope she plans to do some other show this season since she's not in this one anymore.....What if she did The House of Bernarda Alba (also LaChiusa), or....Adriane's or Saycon's part in The Color Purple? OOOOOOH! I'd love to see her play Shug Avery.....

[SueleenGay]

Posted: 7/28/05 at 1:56am

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?

[LoudIrishGirl]

Posted: 7/28/05 at 2:19am

Hmm...I'm getting the distinct feeling that I should go visit my brother in NY in November...

[kim1061]

Posted: 7/28/05 at 7:38am

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

[Barihunk]

Posted: 7/28/05 at 7:51am

Idina Menzel/Audra McDonald. Huh. (Scratches head. Stares blankly. Sings: "One of these things is not like the other. One of these things does not belong...")

[singingwendy]

Posted: 7/28/05 at 9:08am

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

[mabel]

Posted: 7/28/05 at 9:39am

Blech...now it's going to be impossible to get QuikTix for this show. *sigh* While I enjoy Idina, she doesn't quite seem the type that would be next in line after Audra for this or any role (totally differnt league, imho). I didn't see the show in Williamstown, and I'm not really familiar w/ the music...though I did hear great things about the show. Hmmmm.

[sports620]

Posted: 7/28/05 at 9:46am

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.

[Broadway_Bound_Star]

Posted: 7/28/05 at 9:50am

THis was a little suprising.
Idina replaced Audra????? Thats really suprising. Did they put in Idina to get a larger crowd???

[bwaysinger]

Posted: 7/28/05 at 10:10am

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.

[sweetiedarlinmia]

Posted: 7/28/05 at 10:45am

I join the Audra fans who are trying to contain their anger/ unhappiness about this. This just doesnt really click. Mind you I have no issues with Menzel. I just was soooo looking forward to forcing a trip back up here to see this show so I could finally say I saw Audra in a LaChiusa show. Maybe if I wish upon a star, or click my heels together, or make a human sacrifice to the Theatre Godess, or some other equally magical thing, Audra will be in the show and all sense of balance will be restored to my universe. My chest hurts.

[bella cantato]

Posted: 7/28/05 at 12:41pm

"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.

[deck925]

Posted: 7/28/05 at 12:48pm

what is the show about? i'm just curious

[swami666]

Posted: 7/28/05 at 12:53pm

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

[JakeB]

Posted: 7/28/05 at 12:53pm

"just hope her Wicked teenie fans don't flock to a LaChiusa show, because most of them will be expecting another Wicked - most likely"

Hear hear. Couldn't agree more. But the sad sad truth is that it's inevitable.

[mominator]

Posted: 7/28/05 at 1:12pm

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?

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

[NCGuy]

Posted: 7/28/05 at 1:35pm

"just hope her Wicked teenie fans don't flock to a LaChiusa show, because most of them will be expecting another Wicked - most likely"

"Hear hear. Couldn't agree more. But the sad sad truth is that it's inevitable."

Isn’t that a complaint constantly being expressed on this board…that the “Wicked teenie fans” fixate on Wicked and Rent and resist anything beyond the “Pop” musicals? If it takes Idina Menzel to expose them to other composers and more “challenging” forms of musical theater, then what’s the problem?

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 7/28/05 at 1:52pm

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"

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

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 7/28/05 at 1:54pm

Don't forget TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA, Margo, which is returning to the Park and has the potential to end up back in a Broadway house if it's well received.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 7/28/05 at 2:01pm

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.

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 7/28/05 at 2:02pm

Ah ha! But I think DROOD started in the park, right?

[redhotinnyc2]

Posted: 7/28/05 at 2:06pm

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".

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 7/28/05 at 2:10pm

Maybe Menzel is doing a show that 14 year olds won't want to see on purpose.

[professor]

Posted: 7/28/05 at 3:04pm

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.