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SUBMIT UPDATES
Constellation Theatre Company will present Andrew Lippa’s The Wild Party, directed by Allison Arkell Stockman from September 21 – October 29 at Source, 1835 14th Street NW, Washington, DC. Tickets are $25-$55 and can be purchased online at www.ConstellationTheatre.org or over the phone by calling 202-204-7741.
The Wild Party follows the story of Queenie and Burrs, two vaudeville performers in a sexually potent but tumultuous relationship. Queenie, hoping to fan the flames of their romance, convinces Burrs to throw the ultimate bash in their Manhattan apartment. The parade of colorful guests includes Madelaine True, a lusty lesbian; Kate, a vivacious former prostitute who vies for Burrs’s affections; prizefighter Eddie and his girlfriend Mae; and a provocative stranger named Mr. Black, who catches Queenie’s eye and sparks Burrs’s jealousy. The evening takes a dark turn as the partygoers abandon their inhibitions and passions ignite between Queenie, Black, and Burrs. Andrew Lippa’s steamy prohibition tale features a sensational score inspired by jazz, vaudeville and gospel music.
The Wild Party is based on a book-length narrative poem written in 1928 by Joseph Moncure March, which was widely banned upon publication for its risqué content. Composer and lyricist Andrew Lippa (The Addams Family, Big Fish) was inspired to musicalize the Jazz Age tale after picking up a copy of the book in the poetry section of Barnes & Noble. Lippa’s original off-Broadway production enjoyed 54 performances at the Manhattan Theatre Club in 2000, and showcased several early-career Broadway stars including a pre-Wicked Idina Menzel. The off-Broadway production won the 2000 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music and the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Off-Broadway Musical, as well as three Lucille Lortel Awards. In June 2015, New York City Center’s Encores! Off-Center series presented a staged concert version of The Wild Party starring Sutton Foster as Queenie.
As demonstrated by their last two musical productions, Avenue Q and Urinetown, Constellation excels at bringing epic design and larger-than-life action to an intimate performance space. This Wild Party will be a visceral and immersive experience, bringing audiences up close and personal with a top-notch acting ensemble and a live seven-piece band. Founding Artistic Director Allison Arkell Stockman and Managing Director & Lighting Designer A.J. Guban are thrilled to introduce DC audiences to this stunning and dramatic piece of musical theatre. They are joined by a fantastic team of creative collaborators: Walter “Bobby” McCoy (In the Heights, GALA Hispanic Theatre) joins Constellation for the first time as Music Director; Ilona Kessell, who was nominated for a Helen Hayes Award last season for her work on Urinetown, will choreograph; Costume Designer Erik Teague, whose luminous costumes lit up the Constellation stage in The Arabian Nights last spring, will evoke the fashions of the Roaring 20s; four-time Helen Hayes Award winning Scenic Designer Tony Cisek will create Queenie and Burrs’s Manhattan apartment in the intimate Source space; Constellation newcomer Jason Schmitz will serve as Sound Designer; and Robb Hunter (The Fire and The Rain) will serve as Fight Choreographer.
The cast of Constellation’s wild, wild party features some of the DC area’s finest performers, many of them making their company debuts. Farrell Parker (Fiddler on the Roof, Arena Stage) and Jimmy Mavrikes (My Fair Lady, Olney Theatre Center) star as the ill-fated lovers Queenie and Burrs. Ian Anthony Coleman, last seen on the Constellation stage in Peter and the Starcatcher, will play the dapper Mr. Black. Helen Hayes Award winner Kari Ginsburg (Next to Normal, Keegan Theatre) is “the life of the party” as the loud and libidinous Kate. Emily Zickler, who also received a Helen Hayes Award for her scene-stealing role as Lucy the Slut in Constellation’s Avenue Q, will again brighten up the stage as Mae alongside Calvin Malone as her pugilist partner Eddie. Returning Constellation favorites Christian Montgomery (Oscar d’Armano), Tiziano D’Affuso (Phil d’Armano), Carl Williams (Max) and Julia Klavans (Dolores) are joined by newcomers Rachel Barlaam (Madeline True), Patricia “Pep” Targete (Nadine), and James Finley (Sam), and understudies Joshua Simon, AJ Whittenberger, Amy Maniscalco, and Meredith Eib.
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