The wonder of the Wild Party!

Oh, how I love this show. Toni Collette should have won the Tony...

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An amazing, perfect score. Great performances too. One of my favorite Cast Recordings ever. Though, See What I Wanna See is taking away some of its play time.

The Broadway version Joey. Otherwise known as "The good one".

That too.

If Murney, Menzel, and Diggs weren't in the "other one" nobody would care.

It is best that I keep my mouth shut on this subject...

Oy... Not that the comparison between the two Wild Parties hasn't been done to DEATH, but really, to say that no one would care about Lippa's because it had some "names" in it, is silly. Compare all you want, but Lippa's version is highly enjoyable and has some killer songs. No need to bash it by calling it "the other one" and saying that LaChuisa's is the "only one."

After listening to LaChiusa's precise version, it is hard to "enjoy" anything about Lippa's pop score.

LaChiusa's "The Wild Party" had me leaving the theatre thinking I had seen the "Follies" of my generation. I think history could bear this out.
It was absolutely phenomenal.

It is kind of the Follies of our generation isn't it?

I don't know if I've ever been more moved and astounded (and surprised) at a leading female performance in a musical than I was with her. Heaven.

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I have seen over a hundred Broadway shows and national tours over the last 15 years and THE WILD PARTY is hands down the most riveting, rewarding...religious... experience I have ever had in a theatre. The show was absolutely perfect in every way. Ethan Mordden, who RAVES about the show in his book THE HAPPIEST CORPE I'VE EVER SEEN, calls it "the most deranged musical in history" and I think he's quite right. I think that that had a lot to do with the commercial and critical failure of the piece. It was too confrontational. It was too intellectual. It was too special. There was absolutely no pandering to the audience at all (well, a little: in early previews the show ran about 2 hours 20 minutes with no intermission and most of the songs did not have button endings... some of which was changed before opening). Nonetheless, the score is absolutely breathtaking. There are simply not enough words to describe the vitality and brilliance of the score (and the show). The performances were pitch perfect. The set was brilliant (Robin Wagner can design a brilliant set if he has brilliant material). Everything just worked, and the sum of the parts was somehow greater than the already excellent pieces. I get chills just reflecting back on certain images...

The original Broadway production IS the FOLLIES of the new millenium, as anyone who saw it will attest. Some loved it. Most hated it. But it provoked strong emotions in people. Isn't that what good theatre is supposed to do?

AND, the cast recording is the best produced album of any Broadway show as well , in my humble opinion. It PERFECTLY captures the mood of the show and the already top-notch performances are expertly realized on disc. Thank GOD for Phil Ramone!

Enough MJL raving for now...

A Good Nightmare Comes So Rarely,
P genre

Although Follies has always been brought down by a soap opera of a book and tinkered with endlessly in its subsequent restagings, whereas I think Wild Party is tight. This may be because MJL did book and music. All the elements are aligned.

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As for audience reaction... as much as it pains me to recall, droves of people left throughout the performance the night I saw it. I mean DROVES. Like 30 people in the first half hour. Right around "Like Sally" was when the walkouts began and they just continued throughout the show. Also, the topless Sally Murphey stumbling out onstage to sing "After Midnight Dies" also prompted a couple groups of people to head for the hills. Those who stayed gave rapturous applause throughout and Eartha, Mandy and Toni got standing O's.

And those same people who ran out of THE WILD PARTY sit through all 2 and a half hours of HAIRSPRAY with a sh*t eating grin... ah, the trials and tribulations of the theatre!

A Good Nightmare Comes So Rarely,
P genre