Which Wild Party is better?

[RW3]

Posted: 10/7/13 at 9:15pm

Which one?

[ClydeBarrow]

Posted: 10/7/13 at 9:28pm

Lippa's

[After Eight]

Posted: 10/7/13 at 9:29pm

They're both dreadful, but if forced to choose, I'd say Lippa's is the less excruciating of the two. But only marginally so.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 10/7/13 at 9:31pm

Close to Death didn't like either? SHOCKING.

[RW3]

Posted: 10/7/13 at 9:32pm

Why After Eight? I'm vaguely familiar with either and I'm trying to find out more information about them.

Updated On: 10/7/13 at 09:32 PM

[hyperbole_and_a_half]

Posted: 10/7/13 at 9:33pm

LaChiusa's is often criticised for being over-the-top (I think my favorite criticism was that the evening felt like a bunch of screaming emotions prowling the stage in search of characters), but I don't think that's a bad thing when the subject is a debauched, gin-soaked Jazz Age orgy. Lippa's is more accessible, I guess.

I've played in the pit for the LaChiusa version and played songs from the Lippa version at various auditions and functions and, in my opinion, LaChiusa's was more musically interesting, for what that's worth.

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 10/7/13 at 9:34pm

I prefer LaChiusa's.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 10/7/13 at 9:37pm

I feel like we do this every day now, but LaChiusa's score is more period appropriate and has the better cast.

[After Eight]

Posted: 10/7/13 at 9:40pm

RW,

Parties are supposed to be fun. These two are as much fun as having one's teeth pulled--- without novocaine.

Miserable people singing miserable songs to ugly music.

If you're looking for fun, spend an evening with Dolly or Mame instead.

[ClydeBarrow]

Posted: 10/7/13 at 9:41pm

"Why After Eight?"

Because he's a sad little man who hates everything.

[showchoirguy]

Posted: 10/7/13 at 9:48pm

I prefer LaChuisia's. It feels so much more closer to the period and the music is just a lot of fun. Gin/Wild is one of my favorite Act 1 closers ever.

[darquegk]

Posted: 10/7/13 at 10:11pm

Lippa's show is about a dark sadomasochistic relationship and the grotesque, enabling characters that circle it.

LaChiusa's show is about racism, capital R Racism, and the way that it infects and corrupts every level of society. This is shown allegorically through a party.

[NYC4Life]

Posted: 10/7/13 at 10:12pm

I am actually one who thought LaChiusa's was brilliant and moving. I am grateful I had the opportunity to see. With that said I am totally aware it wasn't for everyone. I have not seen Lippa's but don't really care for the cast recording.

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 10/7/13 at 10:32pm

showchoirguy, LaChiusa's Wild Party was performed on Broadway as one act. There's no act one finale.

[xxdrewboy85xx]

Posted: 10/7/13 at 11:05pm

I feel like we've had a dozen threads about this already. I feel LaChiusa's version is the better show over all. Lippa's version is good when just listening to the cast recording, which is basically just selections from the show. I saw a regional production of it and thought it was painful. I hated all the recitatives and music not on the recording. I thought the show would have been better with just the selections on the cast recording and a stronger book. I then saw LaChiusa's version at my Alma Mater and thought it to be a really good show...I am a big fan of LaChiusa's though (Bernarda Alba is a show I would kill to direct).

The problem is, the source material is pretty good, but it is hard to care about any character (especially these characters) when their arc happens over the course of one evening.

[showchoirguy]

Posted: 10/8/13 at 12:08am

CATS, I totally forgot! It just has that feel to it you, know?

[LuminousBeing]

Posted: 10/8/13 at 1:54am

LaChiusa's, IMHO. "People Like Us" gets me every time.

[BwayTday]

Posted: 10/8/13 at 2:49am

"People Like Us" is leagues better than anything in Lippa's Wild Party, and I like Lippa's Wild Party.

[Brave Sir Robin2]

Posted: 10/8/13 at 3:01am

It's so interesting that these two happened in the same season and that both had such incredible casts (Toni Collette, Mandy Patinkin, Eartha Kitt, Tonya Pinkins, Norm Lewis versus Idina Menzel, Julia Murney, Brian d'Arcy James, Taye Diggs). I love the Lippa cast recording, but LaChiusa also has some great material - I adore Eartha Kitt's songs and "People Like Us" is one of the best duets in the 21st century.

[devonian.t]

Posted: 10/8/13 at 6:44am

LaChiusa's in my opinion- Lippa's score could have been about anything, anytime.

The Broadway show was exquisite- the lighting some of the best I have ever seen. Kitt ws legendary.

One of the few "great" shows of the century so far.

[artscallion]

Posted: 10/8/13 at 7:03am

LaChiusa's by a mile.

[mallardo]

Posted: 10/8/13 at 7:39am

Yes, LaChiusa's by a mile.

[tazber]

Posted: 10/8/13 at 7:57am

Definitely Lippa's for me.

[newintown]

Posted: 10/8/13 at 10:07am

I find the problem with both to be that they're two not-so-different parades of grotesques so unsympathetic, it's difficult to care for or about anything that happens - and so little actually happens, other than every grotesque stepping downstage to sell their character number. What little story there is (the Burrs-Queenie-Black-Kate thing), I find to be less than compelling, simply because they're all simply awful people. It's much like those shows like Happiness, where you sit and wait for every character to have their say, then go home.

[GilmoreGirlO2]

Posted: 10/8/13 at 10:37am

For me, the Lippa score is superior, hands down. To me, it reflects the tone of the poem much more than LaChiusa’s.

I am a fan of LaChiusa, but he has such a specific style that I feel (in most cases) he only alters to fit the musical’s needs/tone a small bit. Therefore, for me, LaChiusa’s scores only work for shows that fit his style of music in the first place. I find myself occasionally thinking that some of his scores are beautiful, but do nothing for the musical at hand. “Wild Party” is one of those cases.