"People Like Us" from LaChiusa's WILD PARTY....

I've had the cast album for years, but I am now just discovering the greatness of this song! In my opinion, It's easily the best song in the score and I'd say better than anything from Lippa's version.

When the show opened, were people singling out this song as a highlight? Anybody else adore this beautiful song?

It was always the standout song for me! Overall, I still think the LaChiusa version is better than Lippa's but we've argued enough about that on here. Bottom line, yes, the song is gorgeous.

This song has been at the top of my most played iTunes playlist for a LONG time. It's a stunning song, and the Toni Collette is fantastic in it.

Oh, absolutely. This song is a theatre gem. It's still in my rotation on occasion.

I've been obsessed with this song for a good 10 years--but I love the show in general (and I think Lippa's is generally pretty poor, if admittedly more "hummable"). It's an interesting song in that it does seem like a more surefire hit than LaChiusa ever really does (and I'm a huge LaChiusa fan, so that's not a complement or insult, just my observation). I do know that the reviews in general thought that Yancey Arias was miscast as Black--he had the look but not the presence seemed to be the consensus, especially compared to much of the cast, but he comes off fine on the CD, to me.

I LOVE this song.

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Everyone seems tohave LaChiusa favorites, but the two other recorded shows of his I think are the most acessible are Hello Again and Marie Christine--but I'm sure others will disagree. The last twenty minutes of Act I of Marie Christine on CD are some of my fave theatre music ever.

But I've grown to love all of his recorded shows--some were harder for me to get into than others. I just wish we had more--I'd love to hear anything from the Japanese, bizarre sounding Nutcracker he did did over there, or the Chicago Opera commision Lovers and Friends, or more than the few clips I've heard of Highest Yellow and Petrified Prince. Hopefully we'll get recordings of Giant and Queen of the Mist.

I know we're lucky to have the recordings that we have--he's hardly a huge seller, and he's pretty crazy prolific...

Lida Rose thanks so much for posting that clip--I'd only ever found three clips--all official performances--before--Eartha did one solo on Rosie O, Toni did one on Rosie O, and the Tonys montage. I know Wild Party was rough going for many theatre goers, partly because of how intense it was, and critics hardly greeted it all with glowing reviews, but it still slightly baffles me that it only ran 68 performances...

I would put See What I Wanna See right after Wild Party in terms of musical and dramatic effectiveness. And Hello Again right behind that.

Coincidentally (for this thread) I'm in London at the moment and going to see a production of Bernarda Alba tomorrow. Word of mouth here is very good.

And a final note. I've seen three productions of The Wild Party and the character of Black has never quite worked. I think Yancy Arias caught way too much flack for his performance. I like the way he sings it.

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I saw BERNARDA ALBA four times at Lincoln Center. I think it is one of LaChiusa's finest pieces.

I love "People Like Us", but like to start with "Lowdown-Down" and listen through the end of "After Midnight Dies". There's a flow to it all...

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I bought the CD shortly after seeing both Toni and Eartha perform on Rosie (as I was 13 and not living in the city, and wouldn't have been able to see it if I tried), and this has been on my short list of favorite songs ever since. It really is just stunning- I'm glad to see there's a lot of love for it.

I remember in high school I sang "Lowdown-Down" for a competition and a classmate sang "Life of the Party" from Lippa's- no one in my class had heard of the LaChiusa version. So disappointing.

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I've played in the pit orchestra for this show in an off-off Broadway production. What an amazing experience! I played the reed 4 part, which in some shows can be kinda boring, playing more of the bass/beat notes...definitely not the case in this show, and especially "People Like Us." It's simple but beautiful, just the way it flows, and the way the orchestra sounds as a whole. And the timing is difficult, but it just makes perfect sense, and every part of the song just seems...perfectly together. The best compliment I could give it is it's a great song even without lyrics, but of course the lyrics add quite a bit.

The score as a whole is really cohesive, but varied. I love it, and I loved playing it.

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