You want truth? Composer Michael John LaChiusa presents endless versions of it in “See What I Wanna See,” his intricate, meditative chamber musical, directed with brooding sophistication by Matthew Gardiner for Signature Theatre.
With equal parts elegance and eroticism (this is not a show for the “High School Musical” set) “See What I Wanna See” explores the pliability of truth and how lies become real. Based on short works by the Japanese writer Ryunosuke Akutagawa, the show features a challenging, Asian-infused jazz score and intertwines three stories from three eras.
“Kesa and Morito,” a short set piece opening up each act, concerns two lovers (an emotionally charged Rachel Zampelli and Tom Zemon) from medieval Japan who revel in the ecstasy of their lovemaking while plotting the brutal finality of the affair that same night.
Act I is taken up with “R Shomon” (a play based on Akira Kurosawa’s classic movie, “Rashomon”), a sultry film-noirish look at differing stories surrounding a murder in Central Park in 1951. The crime of passion involves a corpse — the once-dapper businessman Louie (Mr. Zemon) — his wife, a chanteuse (Miss Zampelli); a creep (Matt Pearson); a clairvoyant (Channez McQuay, striking a deft humorous note in an otherwise dark act); and a caretaker (Bobby Smith).
Louie may have been stabbed by the creep, who saw the chanteuse-wife and just had to have her, one way or another (“She Looked at Me”). Or perhaps the vampy wife committed the crime to escape Louie’s control. The caretaker’s fingerprints are all over the crime scene, and, in a highly original variation, the clairvoyant and Louie sing an impassioned duet (“The Medium’s Statement”), a song suggesting a ritualistic suicide after Louis witnessed his wife’s rape. You never really know anything, except that everyone believes his or her version of the truth is the right one.
The second-act, “Gloryday,” takes place one year after Sept. 11. A priest (Mr. Smith, contemplative and commanding) is confessing to the monsignor his crisis of faith, saying he felt God disappeared after the tragedy, so he was unable to comfort the bereaved or seek forgiveness. After visiting his Aunt Monica (Miss McQuay), a die-hard socialist from the Mussolini era — her comic condemnation of religion, “The Greatest Practical Joke,” is one of the show’s highlights — the priest decides to stage a mock “miracle” in Central Park. The joke takes on a life of its own, as people (played with aching desperation by Mr. Zemon, Mr. Pearson and Miss Zampelli) gather in the sylvan setting, desperate for a small show of faith.
It would be easy to come up with comforting answers. Instead, Mr. LaChiusa wrestles with the duel ambiguities of cynicism and a deepening sense of empathy.
★★★
WHAT: “See What I Wanna See,” by Michael John LaChiusa
WHERE: Signature Theatre, 4200 Campbell Ave., Arlington
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays, 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays, 7 p.m. Sundays. Through May 31.
TICKETS: $49 to $77
PHONE: 703/575-7328
WEB SITE: www.signature-theatre.org
MAXIMUM RATING: FOUR STARS
Please read our comment policy before commenting.