Dueling versions of The Wild Party

[pinoyidol2006]

Posted: 6/23/13 at 5:26pm

I'm curious if anyone remembers drama during the time when the LaChiusa's and Lippa's musical adaptations of "The Wild Party" was happening. I saw Seth Rudetsky's Chatterbox with Stephen Oremus, and Seth claimed that LaChiusa was very competitive about the whole thing.

And then I read LaChiusa's interview here on BWW (link below) and he calls Lippa's version "more user-friendly."

I really just want some straight up gossip.





link to interview

Updated On: 6/23/13 at 05:26 PM

[dramamama611]

Posted: 6/23/13 at 6:40pm

Did you do a search? I know there are other threads about this very thing.

[darquegk]

Posted: 6/23/13 at 11:12pm

I'll say my piece. LaChiusa's may possibly be a more artistically ambitious and intellectually grappling piece of theatre, but Lippa's is, in its own way, truer to the novel-length poem.

LaChiusa's "Wild Party" made the story an allegory for the social injustices of the 1920s, most notably capital-R Racism, with mad clown Burrs conceived as a blackface minstrel. Many of the party guests have tragic or unfortunate backgrounds, and most are linked to racial prejudices of the day.

Lippa's "Wild Party" is perhaps less three-dimensional in its treatment of characters and theme. Rather, it's all just there to be sordid, silly and a little bit surreal- music of the 1920s blends in and out of vintage showtune styles and modern, post-rock Broadway music. The party guests are less three-dimensional, emotionally vivid characters, and more an assortment of sinister and comical grotesques, which is much more in line with the way they are portrayed in the novel. The party doesn't MEAN anything the way it does in LaChiusa's, there is no allegory or deep meaning- simply a tragic self-destructive relationship against a nightmarish Gatsby-like atmosphere.

[After Eight]

Posted: 6/24/13 at 4:09am

Both of them were godawful.

And here I thought parties were supposed to be fun.

[aasjb4ever]

Posted: 6/24/13 at 7:47am

The other day on twitter, Jen Tepper compared Instagram Video and Vine with the dueling Wild Party productions. I lol'd

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 6/24/13 at 9:45am

LaChiusa's score is a triumph, IMO.