Andrew Lippa's The Wild Party @ Secret Theatre

[Lili Von Shtupp]

Posted: 7/15/12 at 1:58pm

I am not going to pretend to not have any connection to this production and I refuse to be a shill. All I will say is that due to certain issues with future plans for the show (and past subpar productions), The Secret Theatre is not allowed to highly promote this show and reviews are prohibited. If able and interested, go see it. You can find tickets on TDF and studentrush.org.

Before anyone comments about this being on the Broadway Message Board, there are cast members with Broadway credits, so I thought it was acceptable to post here.

[Owen22]

Posted: 7/15/12 at 2:05pm

"...due to certain issues with future plans for the show"

Well, isn't that an ominous and scary phrase...

[rougeduck]

Posted: 7/21/12 at 1:53pm

I saw this last night and was blown away. Every cast member had a powerful voice and gave incredible characterizations (thank god it's such an ensemble piece.) I don't see very many outstanding off-off broadway musicals but this one definitely tops my list. Will this show actually have future plans?

Also Old Fashioned Love story was one of the the fiercest comic solos I've ever seen performed live. Updated On: 7/21/12 at 01:53 PM

[darquegk]

Posted: 7/21/12 at 2:15pm

This is a very unpopular opinion, but I like Lippa's Wild Party better than LaChiusa's. I think the blending of rock and 1920s music throughout is strangely compelling, and I like the focus on the parasitic love quadrangle.

LaChiusa's is very good, but I feel like he uses the framework of the grotesque characters in the original March poem/novella and then deconstructs them- figuring out what's under the skin emotionally and sociopolitically. It becomes less a darkly-comic story about a group of weirdos, kooks and creepy characters at a party from hell (March's poem), and becomes more a deconstruction of 1920s stereotypes, cliches and social dynamics.