re: LaChiusa Wild Party

[newintown]

The character's name is Burrs, not "Burse."

[themysteriousgrowl]

CMU did the LaChiusa in 2004, with Matthew (then "Matt") Scott as Burrs. It was great.

They just did the Lippa in March of this year, but I didn't see that one because Lippa.

[AEA AGMA SM]

Most productions of both versions seem to be done primarily by colleges. It makes sense as both have a lot of moments for numerous characters to take the spotlight for a few moments, as opposed to the pieces where you have to stick a lot of people in the chorus where they just blend in as one.

[themysteriousgrowl]

Also, at CMU, Meg Hilty played Queenie, but it’s Lexy Fridell, who played Dolores, that is burned into my memory. It was a wonderful and – I don’t use this word lightly – fierce performance.

[jj39]

In May there was a production done at NYU Tisch by the senior musical theatre majors directed by Kent Gash, who also directed the CMU production in 2004.

[Mr. Nowack]

They just did the Lippa in March of this year, but I didn't see that one because Lippa.

When I first saw they were doing the Wild Party, I got so excited because I thought it was the LaChiusa, but was very dismayed to see it was instead the Lippa.

I would love to see (or hear) Megan Hilty's Queenie! I wonder if anything is floating around of her performance.

[mjohnson2]

Same here. I always thought that if they were to do a revival, Megan Hilty would make a great Queenie.

[themysteriousgrowl]

I haven't turned up any footage, certainly not online. Even information about that production is pretty scarce. This site has some production photos:

http://www.behance.net/gallery/The-Wild-Party/1625225

(I'd forgotten they'd cast a white Black.)

[darquegk]

Is Black written as, well, black in LaChiusa's show? I know his show is essentially about race, but I don't remember Black being racialized as much as all the supporting figures were.

[themysteriousgrowl]

^ I’d be interested to know, if anyone has a script. Obviously, both original NYC productions used men of color in the role, and the character’s name is, well, Black.

Moncure’s poem describes him as “tall; dark; heavy of shoulder.” The only other character described as “dark” is Dolores, who’s also explicitly stated to be part African-American. However, the poem also describes Black thusly…

“His face was tanned, and his smile was white.
His features were sharply cut
And clean:
He looked sporting: he looked keen.
He made you think of squash-rackets;
Polo; and yachting;
And dinner-jackets.”

…language, which, to me, rings of white upper-middle class.

[Brave Sir Robin2]

Fun fact: Aaron Staton, the Black from the CMU production with Hilty, plays Ken Cosgrove on "Mad Men."

[EricMontreal22]

LaChiusa has mentioned that they wanted to cast (I think it was Wolfe's idea) to cast someone of mixed race in the role, for that very reason.

[themysteriousgrowl]

Fun fact: He was horribly boring in THE WILD PARTY, easily the most lacking performance in the production.

[AEA AGMA SM]

"I’d be interested to know, if anyone has a script. Obviously, both original NYC productions used men of color in the role, and the character’s name is, well, Black."

The script was published in an anthology with Rent, Floyd Collins, and Parade. Sadly my copy is locked away in a storage unit back in NY and nowhere near where I currently am in Vermont. I don't recall if it specifically mentioned that the character was African-American.

http://www.amazon.com/The-New-American-Musical-Anthology/dp/1559362006

[mjohnson2]

Both black and Kate are written as racially ambiguous, as is Queenie.

Edit: Queenie is mentioned as being blonde in the opening number, but LaChiusa himself originally wanted a black Queenie.

[Mr. Nowack]

Wasn't Vanessa Williams at one point slated to play Queenie?