See What I Wanna See in Boston

Has anyone seen the current production of See What I Wanna See that is now playing in Boston? If so, is it any good and how is it in comparision to the Off Broadway production?

I actually won tickets but wasn't able to go because of the flu. I have heard though that it's an amazing production.

Ok so more detailed information:
Jan 18- post show talk-back
Jan 20- discussion and autograph signing 2pm
Jan 21- audience talk back

I don't know what the difference between them is, but I'm thinking of going to the Saturday one or maybe the Sunday one. But it's so cool that they're doing that. Must see MJL!

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I will be at the discussion and show on the 20th. Can't wait!

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i saw the production of See What I Want To See in Boston and enjoyed it a lot. though i hear it's quite different than the Off-Broadway production. a friend of mine is in the show and he told me that they took some liberties with the characters to suit their goal intent. if i recall correctly the 18th & 20th are the dates Lachuisa is going to be discussing the show afterward. though i could be wrong.

the lighting for this production is really remarkable.

...to suit their goal intent? I'm sure Michael John signed off on this or her wouldn't be there, but what does that mean? What liberties did that take? What was their goal/intent with this piece?

yeah it was about acting decisions and characterisations. my friend plays the CPA/The Husband/Morito. he really does an amazing job. i have never seen the Off-Broadway production so i don't know what liberties were taken but i know that the way it's acted is different than the way it was done prior. my friend was talking to be about how Mark Kudisch did it VERY different Off-Broadway.

the notes in book aren't specific at all, apparently.

but i highly recommend you go see it if you can. i saw it and immediately wanted to go back again to see it thereafter.

The assistant director of the show is good friends with MJL, which I'm sure is why he is doing show much with it.

Reading about MJL and watching interviews, he seems like the kind of guy who would encourage messing around with the material and trying new things.

I saw this show (or some form of it - I'm not too sure how much has changed...) in Williamstown at the summer theater festival a few years ago. Then, it was titled R Shomon and starred a couple of the few characters from the recording, but my favorite, Audra McDonald. Her voice was so stunning with the music, and I enjoyed her live performance much better than Idina's on the cast recording. (Although, I'm basing a live performance on a recorded one...but c'mon.) Mary Testa was also brilliant, and her "The Greatest Practical Joke" was one of the most hilarious moments I've seen on stage.

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Pictures can be found on Lyric's website: http://www.lyricstage.com/Press.htm

re: Audra... I've heard her rendition of the title song, and I just don't like it. I think Idina's rendition of the song is stunning - the song lends itself very well to Idina's belty style. It just doesn't seem to fit with Audra's more legit style. That said, some of the more softer, sweeter sounds the character calls for seem to favor Audra more so than Idina. In all, however, I think Idina is the best part of the SWIWS cast recording.

It sounds like the post show discussion would have been interesting. Please share with us your thoughts on the show.

Hi Ashley. It was good to meet you too. I figured I'd add my thoughts (which I started to do last night and then my computer went crazy so I lost the post).

I found the standouts of the production to be Aimee Doherty and Andrew Giordano. Aimee's acting was superb and she has a beautiful voice, almost a happy medium between Idina Menzel's belting power and Audra McDonald's more operatic style (although she wasn't quite as strong as either woman), that really worked for the role. Andrew Giordano has an incredible voice and, as Ashley said, sounds frighteningly like Marc Kudisch. I enjoyed Brendan McNab but I really prefer the roles that he played to be played by a more nebishy actor. He does get credit for one of my favorite moments in the show though. At the end of act one, as the Janitor, he pulls the knife out of the Husband, looks at it and puts it in his pocket. I thought that it was a great way to make the audience cast more suspicion on the Janitor. I though that Andrew Shifman as the Thief/Reporter was good but left something to be desired. It was his first professional show, and what a way to jump in, but as the Thief he was a little too sleazy which made it hard to believe that the Wife went with him by choice (when the story was told by the husband) and his voice, although very nice, lacked a lot of the warmth and fullness that really makes the role sound beautiful. To me, the weak link in the cast was June Baboian as the Medium/Aunt Monica. Her voice was fine but it was overpowering. During the first act when the Medium and Husband sing together, she really took away from the scene by just singing at the top of her lungs and taking far too much focus away from the Husband. Baboian's acting was much better in the second act, but her singing was still too much. There are some beautiful choral parts that were weakened by the lack of vocal blending. The second act was well done but I am not sure that I liked the directorial choice to have the actors playing the characters other than the Priest play the little parts that were nameless and faceless (in Confession and Gloryday). During Gloryday I preferred when the actual characters were seen in the chaos of the "crazies."

On the whole I really enjoyed the production and I loved noticing little things that I had not noticed when I saw the show at the Public or when I listened to the cast recording. I actually really want to go back and see the production again because I know that other things will jump out at me and surprise me.

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I went to the 3 pm show today. I thought it was very well cast and the singing was fantastic. The show itself was a little bit different than I expected. I've had the cd since it came out so I was familiar with the music. I liked Act 1 better than Act 2. The staging was great - not a bad seat in the house and as already mentioned, a different theater experience depending on the location of your seat.

After today's show, they had an audience talk back discussion with all the members of the cast (except Andrew Schufman), one of the musicians and an employee of the Lyric Stage. It was interesting to hear the questions and comments audience members had for the cast. The cast was also very enthusiatic to share stories about meeting Michael John Lachiusa for the first time this past week as he attended several of their performances. The woman from the Lyric commented that attendance at today's show was only about half full and thought it may be due to the Patriots football game.