Today I saw my first show at The Public Theater! I walked all the way from the Upper West Side down to 425 Lafayette Street and back after the show! It was such a gorgeous day today I thought I'd get a good walk in before the weather turns cold again, and I also got to walk by the Macy's Christmas windows!

I had coffee at the Astor Place Starbucks with a fellow writer and then we headed off to see John Michael LaChiusa's "See What I Want To See" which was directed by Ted Sperling. I actually had bought tickets to see LaChiusa's The Wild Party in 2000 but it closed before I could see it!

What a cool show. It was in the Anspacher Theater on the second floor, sort of a semicircle of seats surrounding the stage. It is a very intimate space, with minimal sets, but great height, and I was sitting about two feet away from the cast, which included Idina Menzel, William Michals, Henry Stram, Mary Testa, and Aaron Lohr. The whole cast was truly phenomenal, but I think my favorite was Mary Testa who sang my favorite song of the show, "The Greatest Practical Joke" which is about religion.

LaChiusa took three short stories by the Japanese writer Ryonosuke Akutagwa and adapted them into one piece of theater. Apparently, he was fascinated by the idea of "what is truth and is it in the eye of the beholder", how you can see a story from many different angles and different colors. He uses Japanese underpinnings for the whole show, with each act starting off with a segment "Kesa and Morito", which has a wonderful sense of ceremony. The first act is called "R Shomon" and takes place in the 1950s, and the second act is called "GloryDay" and takes place in Central Park today.

This is The Public's 50th anniversary, and this is where Hair premiered, so The Public has a history of presenting revolutionary musicals.

Oh, and one more thing -- I saw a small white mouse running around under the seats all through the production. I'm assuming this wasn't part of this production...

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