The Boston Globe has a two-page article on Michael John LaChiusa’s See What I Wanna See, a musical originally inspired by Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon and further developed from Ryunosuke Akutagawa’s short stories. After opening in Williamstown in summer 2004 and having also played in New York and Britain, the act can now be seen in Boston’s Lyric Stage Company until February 23. Tickets range from $25 to $50.

The work takes Akutagawa’s “In the Grove”, from which Kurosawa filmed Rashomon, and sets it in the June of a noirish 1951 New York (Rashomon opened in New York on December 26, 1951). The story also incorporates Akutagawa’s short story “The Dragon”, which is actually my personal favourite from the ones that I have read, and ends with an adaptation of “Kesa and Morito”. In case you are interested in the original stories, all of them are available in English translation as part of the Penguin Classics Rashomon and Seventeen Other Stories.

You can read the full Boston Globe article here.