I've heard there were several additions, deletions and changes to Lippa's Wild Party for the Encores staging and I was wondering if anyone could go into detail as to what they were. I know "how did we come to this" was replaced but that's all I've heard
Lots of dialogue and lines were changed throughout. "Give me a bottle of bourbon and half a chicken...", for example, was cut. Multiple lines in The Juggernaut were changed.
The main problem was as stated, that the two expository songs (Queenie was a Blonde & Out of the Blue) were removed, leaving no exposition, and very little book.
Also the "Queenie was a Blonde" horn riff was kept throughout, even though the song and music was cut.
"What a Party" was likewise cut, was it not? I recall "Raise the Roof" doing double-duty as a replacement for both that and "Out of Blue" and failing spectacularly. The guests now are never introduced by name at any point.
I know I've said it before, but I cannot believe these changes were allowed to occur.
"...everyone finally shut up, and the audience could enjoy the beginning of the Anatevka Pogram in peace."
Andrew Lippa has said in the past that he wants to do a new production. I'm sure he thought he was improving it & preparing for new productions with his changes. I think the opinion on this board (unanimously, which is rare), was that his changes only hurt the piece.
The show already was not exactly top-tier; these changes, however, were so profoundly regressive that it may as well just ditch the book and be a song cycle.
"...everyone finally shut up, and the audience could enjoy the beginning of the Anatevka Pogram in peace."
Most of the sex was cut from the show, most notably when "Come with Me" was inexplicably turned into "You and Me". All of the other edits just felt like change for the sake of change. There wasn't a single rewrite that enhanced the material.
My question is if the version at City Center was Lippa's way of trying to mainstream a polarizing show for a possible second life? Or was this a way to attract Sutton Foster, who had alluded in an interview with being uncomfortable with some of the seedier elements of the show?
i doubt it had anything to do with sutton. She seems pretty game for anything considering she was a dominatrix in the play trust, and plus it was her idea to do The Wild Party anyway. I just think it was Andrew Lippa thinking he was making it better but actually wasnt.
Here is what I remember without a song list in the program... acknowledging that my memory was already pretty faulty a day or two after the show. If nothing else, the fact that so many songs and scenes could have been in any order and still made sense doesn't reflect well on the changes. OBVIOUSLY, SPOILERS TO FOLLOW.
The show begins with Black running out yelling Queenie's name. The curtain drops, restricting the action to the front of the stage as they begin singing A Wild, Wild Party. It has the feel of a vaudeville number but it's unclear because of who is on stage if this is supposed to be one of Queenie's performances or something else. Then they lifted the curtain to Queenie and Burrs' bedroom. Queenie is in bed and she keeps calling to Burrs. Black is also narrating some of this in song. She asks him to get her coffee and he calls her a "lazy sl**." I don't remember how it escalates but there's a long implied rape scene and then Queenie pulls a knife on Burrs.
Out of the Blue was cut but it's possible some of the music stayed as a transition. I'm unclear on this.
Queenie is in their room after Burrs leaves and thinks about retaliating at a party. Ensemble members helped her get dressed and they went right into Raise the Roof. The beginning of Raise the Roof was cut as well as the character introductions. Everyone enters as Queenie is singing (you can see this in some of the promo/press videos).
Kate sings Look At Me Now. I didn't think anything was cut here. You're clear at this point that Kate has designs on Burrs and that distracting Queenie with Black is part of her plan. One problem with Black in this production (not sure about the original) is that he's kind of non-character. He felt more like a plot device than a character in his own right.
Burrs keeps trying to flirt with a young girl in a pink dress. There are few interactions between Burrs and Black and Queenie. At some point Black sings Poor Child.
Miriam Shor did a great job with An Old Fashioned Love Story and I don't remember any changes. The Juggernaut and Two of a Kind also seemed intact.
In a bathroom scene Queenie and Black are joking about the number 12 for some reason and Black starts telling Queenie a story about a man with 12 women. Eventually she asks him what he should have said to get the right woman to fall for him and he sings something to her that makes her fall for him. I don't know the latter half of the cast album well enough to know if anything was recycled or if this was all new. They kiss and Burrs catches them and chokes Queenie. Now I can't remember if this happened before or after a different scene with Queenie and Black where she sings Maybe I Like It This Way and then Burrs comes in with What Is It About Her.
Act two begins with Kate singing The Life of the Party. I don't need to lavish praises on Joaquina again but she was fantastic and I think this song was also intact.
I'm shaky here but I think Burrs started searching the party for Queenie and grabbed May by the arm, angering Eddie. They got into a fight and then Kate took Burrs to the bathroom to tend to him... and give him cocaine. I think this is when he sings Let Me Drown. He then passes out before anything can happen with Kate.
At some point Black sings I'll Be Here and Tell Me Something. There's also a song that's recycled from Come With Me when Queenie and Black finally decide to sleep together. I don't know the name of it but as Bruce said they repeated "You and Me" a lot.
Kate wakes up sleeping on a couch with Burrs on the floor. It's 5 am and Kate wakes him up and plants an idea in his mind about where Queenie is. It wakes him up and he stumbles around the party accosting every woman looking for Queenie. He eventually finds her in bed with Black (they're asleep but wrapped around each other) and he freaks out. He has a gun. He wakes them up. There might be some new material here but eventually it gets into Make Me Happy.
It seemed like Queenie was getting through to Burrs when Black grabbed for the gun. There was a brief struggle and then a shot rang out. Burrs drops to the floor. Then Black falls a bit later. Soon enough it's clear that Burrs was killed and Black is just anxious from the stress of the moment. Queenie runs to Burrs and cradles his head in her lap. I think first she keeps saying "I didn't do this" and then she starts railing at Black. How could you do this? What kind of person are you? WHO are you? Who invited you to this party?
Black tells her they have to run. I think she might consider it briefly. At some point it goes into the new song. I know the clip implies that she does want to go with Black but I didn't believe that watching the show. She decides to take responsibility and tells Black to run and that there was no hope for them anyway. He runs and she picks up the gun and walks upstage (presumably to face the consequences and claim that she killed Burrs).
My chief complaint was they butchered Raise The Roof. It was just terrible, and Sutton doesn't do a good job of singing and mingling at the same time.
A Wild Wild Party was... weird as an opening number because nobody knew what the heck was going on at that point; we saw Black screaming Queenie's name and suddenly... there's a party? Also, as mentioned, the chicken and bourbon were cut, which is disappointing. Finally, the cascading riff near the end of The Juggernaut was cut.
Also, and this is an unpopular opinion, but I thought Joaquina was miscast and shouted wayyyy too much. I did not buy her as "less than a dirty whore".