The Wild Party: Battle of the "L's"- Page 4

[apdarcey]

Posted: 4/4/05 at 3:05am

i hear you on that ff.

[WiCkEd BaCcHaE]

Posted: 4/4/05 at 11:54am

This maybe the wrong place to ask this but could someone provide a short synopsis, or a link to a synopsis, of LaChiusa's Wild Party?

I recently bought the CD and am a bit confused on the plot.

Thanks!

[Thenardier]

Posted: 4/4/05 at 2:17pm

I recommend you buy the book by Joseph Moncure March.

I am sure you could get it cheap on Amazon.

Other than that, there isn't really a plot - other than Burrs and Queenie throwing a party to end all parties. As different people of different walks of life show up, people's inner feelings and desires are seen.

As LaChiusa described it, it's basically people taking off their "masks."

(consider the end of the Wild Party:

"And she hid what she was
With a mask of snow"

Other than that, listen to the lyrics, they explain the characters very well. Listen to Gin/Wild and "Love Ain't Nothin'/Welcome to Her Party" - they really show the characters beginning to break down and breaking down.

Updated On: 4/4/05 at 02:17 PM

[Thenardier]

Posted: 4/4/05 at 3:33pm

Actually, I apologize. "Wouldn't It Be Nice" really starts off the downward spiral of the party.

[iluvtheatertrash]

Posted: 4/4/05 at 4:20pm

In a personal opinion, at first listen, I HIGHLY preferred Lippa's. However, after a few listens to each, it has become more of a guilty pleasure for its easy listen. It's exciting, sexy. But there is something so much darker and mysterious in LaChiusia's. ADORE 'People Like Us' and all of the performances. I just think you have to WORK at loving LaChiusia's and Lippa's comes a little easier to appreciate.

[Thenardier]

Posted: 4/4/05 at 7:07pm

I wouldn't call it work.

I would call it understanding. Lippa's is more superficial, meaning it is easier to understand.

Nothing beats Mandy's Burrs.

[WiCkEd BaCcHaE]

Posted: 4/4/05 at 7:31pm

Thanks Thenardier!

[Thenardier]

Posted: 4/4/05 at 8:12pm

Anytime.

[Thenardier]

Posted: 4/4/05 at 11:03pm

I'm gonna talk to the theatre dept of my school to see if they'd consider doing TWP...

[apdarcey]

Posted: 4/5/05 at 1:48am

honestly, they'll probably consider lippa's before lachiusa's simply because i think it is more accessible to a college audience, especially one in the middle of pennsylvania! ha. i talked to my theatre department about doing falsettos next year. it's in the final list... we'll see what happens with that.

[Thenardier]

Posted: 4/6/05 at 6:44pm

I asked some of my friends today - they knew there were two versioons and when I said "LaChiusa" they gave me a look. I don't think they knew the specific name of each.

I am having a meeting on Friday with my theatre advisor, so I can ask him then.

[eslgr8]

Posted: 4/7/05 at 8:15pm

I LOVE the Lippa version. The songs are so melodious and catchy. Many many winners among them. Plus the performances are all show-stoppers. That being said, I finally listened to LaChiusa's version a couple of times and I must admit that it does grow on you. The one with the "hits" in it is Lippas, though, by all means.

[Thenardier]

Posted: 4/7/05 at 8:52pm

Well, the thing is, I think, that every song in Lippa's is a show stopper - whereas La's version flows nicely as one continuous show with feeling and emotion.

[apdarcey]

Posted: 4/8/05 at 1:17am

yes, it feels more like lippa wanted a hit score, lachiusa wanted a show that was high art.

[Jazzysuite82]

Posted: 4/8/05 at 1:33am

I really wish people would stop thinking hits equals good. because lippa's version has the hits it's therefore the better one? Ummm not quite.

[eslgr8]

Posted: 4/8/05 at 2:31am

I don't know about other posters, but I myself never said that Lippa's is "better." I implied that I like it better, which is not the same thing. It's just more to my taste, and the one I respond to more emotionally, though LaChiusa's is certainly more sophisticated melodically. Since the songs are different, the lyrics are different, the melodies are different, I'm not sure that it's even fair to say one is "better" than the other. They are two very different shows which different people will respond to in different ways.

[apdarcey]

Posted: 4/8/05 at 2:32am

jazzy that's not what i was saying at all. i'm sad you construed it that way. i much prefer la's and think it's much better. but individually, li's has more hit songs that aren't related to the show (can be performed individually). with la's the songs are so integral to the party, to the show. it's just amazing.

[Jazzysuite82]

Posted: 4/8/05 at 3:09am

First of all I didn't construe anything. I made a 1 sentence response based on what was written. I never said you said that or anyone else. The fact is many people have said that accessible is better and that the best theatre is the hopeful happy kind. I was making the comment more to the "my college won't do this version" statement. It wasnt a personal attack.

Also I think there is a better. I mean just structurally and what a score is supposed to be. Since they both come from the same material it's easier for me to tell which is theatrically more effective. These are mechanical things like character development and how one deals with themes in creating a score and blah blah blah. Taste is subjective. It's opinion which I believe to be different.

[apdarcey]

Posted: 4/8/05 at 3:25am

for the record jazzy, i agree with you.

eslgr8- i think it's completely fair to judge them against each other. they were written at the same time using the same source material. it's fine to have an opinion about which works more effectively as a piece of theatre.

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 4/8/05 at 3:33am

I agree, apdarcy.

(La Chiusa all the way!)

[bjivie2]

Posted: 4/8/05 at 3:46am

I'm not sure if it's fair to compare them. Yes, they're about the same thing and they came out within months of each other, but they're not trying to do the same thing. LaChiusa's was much more atmospheric, jazzy and dark, while Lippa's was young, sexy and rock (not to mention commercial). But of course they're going to be compared, b/c they're both The Wild Party. Why did I just write that?

Do people compare the two Parades...?

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 4/8/05 at 3:48am

I found La Chiusa's WILD PARTY far more sexy than Lippa's.

And no, post people don't know the other PARADE.

[apdarcey]

Posted: 4/8/05 at 3:49am

you know, i've always wondered why more people don't compare the two parades!!!

i think lippa's fails for precisely that reason, it's trying to be something that the poem is not. it is jazzy, dark, alcoholic, scary, in the 20's. i think lachiusa's makes you feel that.

but i do enjoy lippa's music too, never doubt that when i'm drunk i'll bust out a little "life of the party"
hahahahaha

[bjivie2]

Posted: 4/8/05 at 3:51am

Yes, LaChiusa's is sexy, but in a different way. Lippa's is much more blatant. LaChiusa's is more teasing, in my opinion, not to mention more sophisticated. The two also weren't written for the same audience. Lippa's was written for the Wicked-ites, while LaChiusa's was written for a more mature theatregoer. Nothing wrong with either way of writing, just different.

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 4/8/05 at 3:52am

How do you know who each show was written for? You don't. That's just who the show NOW appeals to, 5 years later.