The wonder of the Wild Party!

[devonian.t]

Posted: 2/23/06 at 2:36pm

I've loved the Broadway recording since its release. This week I was lucky enough to see an archive video of the show and I can safely say this is one of the few occasions where the physical staging exceeds what I imagined it could be!

Stunning, stunning show- and design and lighting that should have won every award going! Maybe it's just my cup of tea, but this show seemed to be a landmark. How did it slip through the net? (OK, so it's dark and not easy, so that's the answer to my own question, I guess). Even so, this production seems to me to be important in Broadway's history.

Anyone else have a similar/ different view on the show?

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 2/23/06 at 2:37pm

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

[Roninjoey]

Posted: 2/23/06 at 2:38pm

Wait. Which Wild Party?

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 2/23/06 at 2:39pm

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".

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 2/23/06 at 2:40pm

The ONLY one!

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 2/23/06 at 2:41pm

That too.

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

[charliebrownkid]

Posted: 2/23/06 at 2:45pm

really? i enjoy the off broadway (lippa) alot more. the music has such wonderful energy to it and the performers are wonderful. i listened to the broadway one a few times and i wasnt that into it. the one song that did stick out in my head was best friends, but other than that i wasnt crazy about it.

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 2/23/06 at 2:47pm

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

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 2/23/06 at 2:48pm

Me too. I've had this argument too many times.

[Songsstresss]

Posted: 2/23/06 at 2:49pm

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."

[Roninjoey]

Posted: 2/23/06 at 2:49pm

"Best Friends" is probably one of the tracks I don't like so much, but I can go for a few repeated listenings of "How Many Women?" any day. I often find myself at work suddenly singing "When the golden boy goes do---own..."

You have to be uber careful when treading into murky Wild Party waters!

Maybe I'll head over to the Lincoln Center and see if they have it archived.

I freakin' love your sig. I'm imitating you.

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 2/23/06 at 2:50pm

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

[charliebrownkid]

Posted: 2/23/06 at 2:52pm

ok well i guess i'm going to have to listen to it a few more times, regardless though, i love them both.

[bwaysinger]

Posted: 2/23/06 at 2:59pm

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.

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 2/23/06 at 3:00pm

Yes! No joke, that's what I thought too! Great minds think alike.

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 2/23/06 at 3:00pm

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

[morosco]

Posted: 2/23/06 at 3:01pm

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 2/23/06 at 3:02pm

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.

[children&art]

Posted: 2/23/06 at 3:05pm

there is only ONE broadway version of the wild party, and lachuisa wrote it.

i totally think it's the follies for my generation, yes, yes, yes!

[Pgenre]

Posted: 2/23/06 at 3:13pm

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

[devonian.t]

Posted: 2/23/06 at 3:14pm

Ooh- there were a couple of seconds when I thought thread-napping had turned everything nasty, but glad to see we're back on the point.
I can't recall having seen a revolve work better. I saw Eartha in Follies in London, but I don't remember her being as killer as she is in Wild Party! God, the audience LOVED her, (and the show, come to mention it- wild applause and laughter).

The lighting going into Gin is incredible and the duet out on the balcony- wow!

And then Toni Collette! (Thanks for the photo by the way). POWERHOUSE!

Without getting into comparisons, I love how right the sound of this show is, too!

This show has to be in my top 3 ever, and yes, it must be as important Follies!

When people saw it live, what were the audience reactions?

(Sorry PGenre- posted about same time as you so didn't see your excellent comments!)


Updated On: 2/23/06 at 03:14 PM

[Roninjoey]

Posted: 2/23/06 at 3:20pm

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.

[morosco]

Posted: 2/23/06 at 3:22pm

[Pgenre]

Posted: 2/23/06 at 3:39pm

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

[BSoBW3]

Posted: 2/23/06 at 3:50pm

I can't do this anymore.

While I love discussing the wild party and LaChiusa - please search.

There have been some great convos that get pushed down by Wicked and Rent threads.

Bring 'em back and lets continue them!