Reviews: What Are Critics Saying About All-AAPI See What I Wanna See Off-Broadway?

Off-Broadway News

Reviews: What Are Critics Saying About All-AAPI See What I Wanna See Off-Broadway?

Emilio Ramos is directing the Michael John LaChiusa musical for Out of the Box Theatrics.

Out of the Box Theatrics’ Off-Broadway revival of Michael John LaChiusa’s See What I Wanna See officially opened September 18, and the reviews are in. Find out what critics are saying below.

Performances continue through September 29, with Emilio Ramos at the helm.

The all-AAPI cast includes Marina Kondo (Succession) as Kesa, The Wife, and An Actress; Kelvin Moon Loh (Beetlejuice) as The Husband and A CPA; Zachary Noah Piser (Dear Evan Hansen) as The Janitor and A Priest; Ann Sanders (The Music Man) as The Medium and Aunt Monica; and Sam Simahk (Into the Woods) as Morito, The Thief, and A Reporter. Aaron Albano and Bebe Browning round out the company as covers.

Ramos’ new staging features puppetry by Nikki Calonge and Takemi Kitamura. Justin Otaki Perkins is puppetry captain. Kondo has also penned Japanese translations for the revival.

Read the reviews below.

New York Stage Review (Michael Sommers)

TheaterMania (Kenji Fujishima)

Times Square Chronicles (Suzanna Bowling)

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Playbill will continue to update this list as reviews come in.

The creative team also includes music director Adam Rothenberg, choreographer Paul McGill, scenic designer Emmie Finckel, costume designer Siena Zoë Allen, puppet designer Tom Lee with puppet fabrication by Chicago Puppet Studio, lighting designer Kat C. Zhou, sound designer Germán Martínez, and prop designer Samantha Shoffner. Kyra Bowie is stage managing, with Abi Rowe as assistant stage manager.

Originally premiering Off-Broadway at The Public in 2005, See What I Wanna See is adapted from short stories by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, including the well-known Rashomon. Both acts begin with a prologue inspired by Akutagawa’s “Kesa and Morito,” about a pair of fatally contentious lovers. The work’s first act is mostly a retelling of Rashomon, while the second act takes inspiration from Akutagawa’s Dragon: The Old Potter’s Tale, modernizing it to center around the events of September 11, 2001.

Tickets are available via OvationTix.