Question about The Wild Party off-Broadway . . .

[gherbert]

Posted: 12/24/03 at 6:06pm

Wasn't The Wild Party at MTC supposed to transfer to Broadway at the Richard Rodgers Theatre, but didn't because of money troubles and mixed reviews? I though so, but can't find the news story on Broadway.com or Playbill.com. Can anyone relate just what happened with the planned Broadway transfer of this show and why it didn't go through and possibly direct me to an article about it?

[Amneris]

Posted: 12/24/03 at 6:14pm

could it be that the OTHER WILD PARTY beat it to bway and they didn't want 2 different shows with the same name both which were musicals playing at the same time? (both which were bad i might add)

[gherbert]

Posted: 12/24/03 at 6:20pm

No. That wasn't it because The Wild Party at MTC opened before the Broadway Wild Party, so amid talks of the planned transfer they knew very well that if they transferred they would be playing oppposite a show that had the same source and name.

[Amneris]

Posted: 12/24/03 at 6:27pm

then I too am at a loss...only thing i could think of...sorry.

[magruder]

Posted: 12/24/03 at 6:33pm

The MTC production of The Wild Party was indeed scheduled for the Richard Rodgers, but the move did not happen following the mixed to negative critical reception. (In fact, the photos in the CD booklet for the MTC Wild Party were intended for the Broadway ad campaign). Had the reception been better, both Wild Partys would have been playing on Broadway...confusing, but it would have been kind of cool. I don't think there would have been a situation quite like it since The Swing Mikado and The Hot Mikado played on Broadway at the same time (and even switched theatres once, for a publicity stunt).

You will get wildly differing opinions on the quality of the two Wild Partys. I thought both had considerable virtues and detriments.

[gherbert]

Posted: 12/24/03 at 7:30pm

Speaing of how they compare: how do people compare them? How was Tonya Pinkins as Kate in the Broadway show? It seems to me that Kate was the focus a lot more off-Broadway than on. Can anyone give me a detailed description of the differences and similarites between these two shows? And I know I'm asking for a major spoiler, but no matter what I read I can't find out who dies in the nend or what the ending is for that matter? Can anyone tell me?

[gherbert]

Posted: 12/24/03 at 11:08pm

Anyone? Anyone?

[Corine2]

Posted: 12/24/03 at 11:56pm

I have been a Patron of MTC FOR 7 years.
I hated the Wild Party. Glad it was not moved. It was terrible.
You did not miss much.
The cast was very talented but the musical was not very good.
At the time I took my boyfriend and he begged for us to leave.
Updated On: 12/24/03 at 11:56 PM

[BwayTheatre11]

Posted: 12/25/03 at 12:41am

I love the Wild Party's score. It is great!

[WhatDoINeedWithLove?]

Posted: 12/25/03 at 1:20am

I got the recording tonight for christmas eve! :)

[Songsstresss]

Posted: 12/25/03 at 1:24am

I love the Lippa Wild Party. I think the music is really fun and it's one of the best shows to belt along with! And to answer your question, gherbert (SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER)......








Burrs is shot and killed when Black attempts to wrestle the gun away from him.

[MusicMan]

Posted: 12/25/03 at 1:56am

It didn't transfer because, very simply, it sucked (the sheer lunacy of considering a transfer before the show even proves itself is typical of the ineptitude and bad decision-making on Broadway today--do producers even know HOW to read a script anymore?).

[WhatDoINeedWithLove?]

Posted: 12/25/03 at 2:01am

you are so negative music man!!!

[magruder]

Posted: 12/25/03 at 12:42pm

These knee-jerk verdicts on shows like "It was terrible" and "It sucked" are of such little value. I don't think either Wild Party was a successful evening (probably due to the inert quality of the source material), but there was too much talent involved in both productions to dismiss them so cavalierly.

Updated On: 12/25/03 at 12:42 PM

[WhatDoINeedWithLove?]

Posted: 12/25/03 at 12:52pm

I dont mind if someone did not like a show that I enjoyed at all, but saying "it sucked" does not cut it...Give a reason why so you validate yourself!!

[JohnPopa]

Posted: 12/25/03 at 1:17pm

Both shows are terrible in their own special way. Lippa's is generic and vague (and once again shows that anyone considering Lippa a 'pop' composer is someone who doesn't know anything about popular music in the slightest,) LaChiusa's pretentious and lifeless (once again showing that in trying to be 'sophisticated' LaChiusa is writing for no one and then wondering why that's the audience he gathers.)

[MusicMan]

Posted: 12/25/03 at 1:58pm

First off, the topic is why the show didn't transfer. As the show was misconceived as an entertainment and poorly written, the show was a liability from the start, regardless of the interpretative talent involved. (The reason two versions appeared is because the source poem came into public domain within the last few years and no underlying stage rights had to be secured by the authors). Why producers were unable to recognize that is a mystery. Since the reception of the show is public record, I am not alone in my "negative" estimation of the show. The show has been debated here a-plenty and I've weighed in my critique on other threads. But, ultimately, it's not really necessary for me (or anyone else, for that matter) to justify my feelings--I'm not a critic and this forum is designed for such opinion-mongering.
Once again, I agree with you completely, John Popa.

[magruder]

Posted: 12/25/03 at 2:04pm

JohnPopa, you actually hit on something that's probably the major problem with Broadway musicals from about 1964 on. When popular music changed, Broadway didn't change with it, leaving the musical theatre largely irrelevant to entire generations. Shows have dabbled with a contemporary sound, here and there over the past 40 years, but then, making contemporary music work for theatrical purposes is often not a marriage made in heaven. David Yazbeck did some very interesting, inventive modern things with his Full Monty score. I'm also very curious to see what Lawrence O'Keefe (Bat Boy) comes up with next. And although Mark Hollmann wrote in traditional Broadway mode for Urinetown, his background was in Chicago's art-house rock scene, so I'd think he has a few tricks up his sleeve. Perhaps this is a topic worthy of its own thread . . .

[Corine2]

Posted: 12/25/03 at 4:37pm

I agree with you Musicman. The cast however were exceptional I loved Julia Murney.
I just hated the score.
My favorite MTC Production was and always will be
"A Class Act"!
IT WAS MARVELOUS!
Oh and Fuddy Meers. I loved the lady in that show and she was in his other show and damn I am blanking on her name.
Jim help me out. Updated On: 12/25/03 at 04:37 PM

[MusicMan]

Posted: 12/25/03 at 6:17pm

Magruder, I agree with you about the writers you mention and their interesting approaches in their respective shows, particularly in their characterful lyrics and nimble parodies of various genres. I'm less convinced on a strictly musical level, however, particularly Yazbeck's and O'Keefe's work. When they have to wax more serious and poetic, I find the results, frankly, banal and undistinguished.
The issue of "pop" music in theater is a complicated one and one that's been debated for 40 years. Contemporary music's reliance on rhythm and formulaic "hooks," its limited "vocabulary" and (arguably) inherent adolescent sensibility seem to render it limited in its usefulness for the musical theater. I think a writer with a strong, theatrical, melodic gift could incorporate pop music elements to illuminate character and narrative. "Talk Amongst Yourselves" from TABOO accomplishes that---and one wishes the rest of the score was as disciplined and full of feeling. But the majority of most "pop" scores on Broadway (Rent, Mamma Mia, Aida, Wicked, Taboo) is nothing but so much wheel-spinning.

[JohnPopa]

Posted: 12/25/03 at 6:28pm

Yazbeck has yet to impress at all, 'The Full Monty,' while charming still feels like a random collection of songs and I don't get the impression the score was assembled to be the spine or engine of the show. 'Bat Boy' though is very thoroughly crafted and structurally detailed. I think O'Keefe is certainly one of the composers to watch, I'm very curious to see a score of his that's not so reliant on schtick. (I haven't heard 'Sarah Plain and Tall.')

[magruder]

Posted: 12/25/03 at 6:32pm

Music Man -

Any new musical theatre writers that you particularly admire? I don't think we lack for talented writers out there. However, I think musical theatre today is missing the strong arm of the great directors and producers of the past, who were able to take a project from scratch, edit the weak material, sharpen the good material and create the kind of well-integrated musicals that make you go out of your mind with excitement when everything works properly.

[magruder]

Posted: 12/25/03 at 6:43pm

I think "Breeze Off The River," "Michael Jordan's Ball" and "Scrap," in particular, from The Full Monty score were extremely inventive songs. Other things in the score had more of a 70s funk thing going on, but overall, I found a lot of Yazbeck's writing caught my attention. I was sorry that his score got bulldozed by the Producers phenomenon.

[Elphie]

Posted: 12/25/03 at 7:11pm

Come on, wheres the good old fashioned lesbian love story?
Haha.
I like Lippa's THE WILD PARTY a lot- Well may be because Idina was in it, I would like it no matter what- sucky or not- but I do like the music esp. The Juggernaut, Out of the Blue, Wild Wild Party, Life of the Party..those are some goodies.
I even like the other version- I like the jazzy vibe of it all. I mean yeah I can see how people say the Broadway version completly sucks..but the Off Broadway one is a little harder for me to see why.

[TxTwoStep]

Posted: 12/26/03 at 2:06pm

i'd just like to submit that even when popular music and theatre music were more combined, not EVERY song in a show, even it was by extremely popular composers, made for "stand-alone" hits. Hell, even in operas at the top of the canon you can sit through medoicre recits to get to the glorious arias or duets or trios. i think Magruder's examples point to composers who are doing interesting things in the context of a musical theatre score, not creating masterpieces of innovative songs one after the other. People bemoan that no one is writing like Lerner & Loewe or Rodgers plus Hart or Hammerstein, but they had "workmanlike" numbers in all their shows too. When i hear people just ravaging a new score like TABOO or WICKED or AVENUE Q (in this season alone) sometimes i feel like asking "not good enough compared to what?" The truth is no one knows what scores (or selections thereof) resonate until they have time enough to do so. The rest is just subjectivity. Now, if a show is full of MAINLY inept music and/or lyrics, that's a different story.