The Wild Party: Battle of the "L's"- Page 6

[apdarcey]

Posted: 4/8/05 at 3:02pm

but i think at the beginning you get a theatre crowd, who goes to see all new stuff, before the "potential crowd" gets cornered with a show. so i think that originally they got the same people seeing it.

[Thenardier]

Posted: 4/8/05 at 3:03pm

Sorry, didn't understand that exactly...

[apdarcey]

Posted: 4/8/05 at 3:07pm

i mean that when you originally stage a new show you are going to get a general theatre crowd rather than people from a specific gender/age breakdown because they don't know the show/music yet. i think that the shows have garnered their respective audiences more in their after-life on cd than they did onstage. also, with these two specific composers, they weren't greatly known when these two works debuted. these works were the ones that helped build their bios and reputations. so not many people knew their "styles"

[Thenardier]

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

Gotcha.

I agree. I meant composers composing shows in general. I agree, though.

[apdarcey]

Posted: 4/8/05 at 3:13pm

you know what i forgot. mjlac was up against himself for marie christine and the wild party in the same year.

[Jazzysuite82]

Posted: 4/8/05 at 3:16pm

Yes he was. But who won the Tony? Elton John for Aida....something wrong there? Je pense que oui!

[apdarcey]

Posted: 4/8/05 at 3:17pm

you know i loves me some audra jazzy.

[Thenardier]

Posted: 4/8/05 at 3:19pm

The Wild Party is now one of my favorite "shows" that I haven't seen - so I guess I mean one of my favorite scores.

[Jazzysuite82]

Posted: 4/8/05 at 3:20pm

What's not to love! She thinks I'm crazy but I'd listen to her read from a chemistry text book.

[Thenardier]

Posted: 4/8/05 at 3:23pm

A chemistry book?

I'd listen to Ben Stein read that!

[Thenardier]

Posted: 4/8/05 at 3:59pm

Some nice links:

http://www.geocities.com/TelevisionCity/6025/mpart.html

http://www.curtainup.com/wildparty2.html

[apdarcey]

Posted: 4/8/05 at 4:26pm

audra is amazing. when i saw ragtime i was so sad that she had already left the cast... little did i know lachanze had replaced her and was obviously amazing too. but i mean i would kill to see audra in anything. she needs a new broadway vehicle that will be more appreciated than marie christine was.

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 4/8/05 at 4:37pm

When saying La Chiusa's version actually succeeded in what it set out to do (over Lippa's, I guess you were saying,) how on EARTH do you know what La Chiusa set out to do and if in face he succeeded without even seeing the show?

[bjivie2]

Posted: 4/8/05 at 4:37pm

That year at the Tonys, the LaChiusa votes were probably split between Marie Christine and Wild Party.

[Jazzysuite82]

Posted: 4/8/05 at 4:38pm

I'm sorry but the Post is foolish. They've always been sensationalist and they're sources are sketchy at best. Notice how they kept refering to all the quotes as a "cast member said". That's not journalism. You name your sources and if they don't want to be indentified you say, a cast member who did not want to be identified. The fact that no one's name is mention as a direct quote is George C. Wolfe (and he doesn't seem to be talking about the antics of Mandy). I'm sure that quote was from an entirely different conversation (probably press rehearsals). There is even a point in the article where they say a cast memeber said that Mandy said. Second hand information is not news and it's crappy journalism. Of course this is hardly news for anyone. Everyone knows the Post is Sh*t

[apdarcey]

Posted: 4/8/05 at 4:41pm

munk, i've seen it. and in my opinion it succeeded where lippa's did not.

[Jazzysuite82]

Posted: 4/8/05 at 4:42pm

Munk, who was that question directed at?

Bjivie, Tony voters should be voting for shows, not for composers. Marie Christine and Wild Party are both infinantly better than freaking Aida. Who voted for Aida? They must not know much about scores. I'll bet they know alot about money and touring.

[bjivie2]

Posted: 4/8/05 at 4:45pm

Yeah, I agree Jazzy. The Wolfe quotes have nothing to do with what the author is talking about.

And what I was saying about the "LaChiusa votes" are the people that prefer LaChiusa theatre over Elton John theatre. I guess it would be more appropriate to say the people who are art house fans were split between Wild Party and Marie Christine.

[Jazzysuite82]

Posted: 4/8/05 at 4:49pm

I personally don't think that either one of them had a chance against Aida. I mean look at this and then look at Bernedette loosing to marissa jaret Winokur or even Idina winning last year. As much as the american theatre wing wants it to be, the tony's are about box office. the same people who are voting have vested interests in certain shows. All these unjustices that have happened, have happened because a Tony award means box office potential. So now more often than not, they're awarded to the show that will make the most money on the road.
Updated On: 4/8/05 at 04:49 PM

[apdarcey]

Posted: 4/8/05 at 4:51pm

i'd agree bj. i'm sure votes were split so aida ended up on top. though i'll never understand swing! getting a best musical nomination over aida. aida was good, maybe not the best, but better than swing! for god's sake.

[apdarcey]

Posted: 4/8/05 at 4:53pm

ugh. let's not even bring up the bernadette losing to mjw or harvey beating antonio or bsm.

[LostLeander]

Posted: 4/8/05 at 6:51pm

I saw Harvey, Antonio, and BSM, and I must say, even though Brian Stokes Mitchell is my demi-god, that Harvey did deserve the Tony.

MJW, on the other hand did not. What's wrong with her voice?
It's just.. grating!
Bernadette, not brilliant, but still more worthy of the Tony.

[Jazzysuite82]

Posted: 4/8/05 at 6:58pm

I thought Bernedette was pretty damn brilliant in that role. The standing ovation after Rose's Turn is a pretty good indication too. 1 of 2 that night.

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 4/8/05 at 7:19pm

While Lippa's Wild Party is very commercial, I consider LaChuisa's to be an artistic masterpiece, one of the best and most creative scores of the last 20 years. While quite tuneful, I find Lippa's score to be a bit "musical theatre 101" for my taste, sort of an idea of what modern musical theatre is supposed to sound like. LaChuisa's score is composed of material/songs that those characters would have heard at such a party, while Lippa's is much to contemporary for its source. Some of Lippa's songs are good, but I can't say they fit into a musical based on the poem "Wild Party". While the source material itself may not be the most ripe for musicilazation, LaChuisa is able to capture the feel/mood of the piece more fully than Lippa.
Updated On: 4/9/05 at 07:19 PM

[Thenardier]

Posted: 4/8/05 at 7:29pm

While the source material itself may not be the most ripe for musicilazation, LaChuisa is able to capture the feel/mood of the piece more fully than Lippa.

I disagree - I mean, yeah I heard the music before reading the book, but I think the poem was just waiting to be turned into a musical. I mean, so many lyrics in La's version are right from the book.