Which Version of 'The Wild Party' Do You Prefer?- Page 2
Which Version of 'The Wild Party' Do You Prefer?
snl89
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/4/05
#25re: Which Version of 'The Wild Party' Do You Prefer?
Posted: 9/3/06 at 9:19pm
haha, again, for me, it absolutely IS the idiggs complex 
(I must say, I like "idiggs" better than "tidina"! but I generally do just say "taye/idina" lol)
and... admiteddly, I DONT know the LaChuisa version very well, but, from what I HAVE heard, I still do like the lippa music better. However, I ADORE swiws... so, if the lachuisa version is as well written and well crafted as swiws... I may just have to look more into it :)
I don't need a life that's normal. That's way too far away. But something next to normal would be okay. Something next to normal is what I'd like to try. Close enough to normal to get by.
#26re: Which Version of 'The Wild Party' Do You Prefer?
Posted: 9/3/06 at 9:24pm
well, at least you admit it 
that's good
the LaChiusa one is, obviously, less accessble. But brilliant. Black is a Moocher and This is What it Is are two of LaChiusa's most amazing songs.
"Picture "The View," with the wisecracking, sympathetic sweethearts of that ABC television show replaced by a panel of embittered, suffering or enraged Arab women" -the Times review of Black Eyed
BSoBW2
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/8/04
#27re: Which Version of 'The Wild Party' Do You Prefer?
Posted: 9/3/06 at 9:53pm
Munk - that "test" might be the funniest thing ever...and should be added to the FAQ to prevent this question again.
When a show begins and ends with the same tone, yet there is supposed to be a definite dramatic tone, something is wrong. Very wrong.
LaChiusa's has a very definite arc throughout the party.
#28re: Which Version of 'The Wild Party' Do You Prefer?
Posted: 9/4/06 at 2:01pm
"All you who keep saying Lippa, do you even KNOW the LaChiusa version?"
Yes, I do.
teh_pretty
Featured Actor Joined: 4/2/05
#29re: Which Version of 'The Wild Party' Do You Prefer?
Posted: 9/4/06 at 2:24pm
LaChiusa, by a long shot.
I love the depth of the characters, the grittiness, and the music -- not necessarily because it is "truer to the era," but because it's perfectly written, a lovely reflection of the story itself, and so difficult not to enjoy.
While I enjoy Lippa's for the fun of the show, LaChiusa's tends to be my favourite for the 'theatricality' of it.
#30re: Which Version of 'The Wild Party' Do You Prefer?
Posted: 9/4/06 at 2:32pm
Lippa's 
Of course I wil admit to never having heard LaChuisa's
"TO LOVE ANOTHER PERSON IS TO SEE THE FACE OF GOD"- LES MISERABLES---
"THERE'S A SPECIAL KIND OF PEOPLE KNOWN AS SHOW PEOPLE... WE'RE BORN EVERY NIGHT AT HALF HOUR CALL!"--- CURTAINS
#31re: Which Version of 'The Wild Party' Do You Prefer?
Posted: 9/4/06 at 2:33pm
Ourtime - I find your answer about how people would come across Lippa's version condescending as hell. I buy just about every cast album that comes out, so, naturally, I purchased both recordings as I would any other show. I had not, and still have not, seen either.
On first listen, without a doubt I would say Lippa's was the more appealing to me. Yes, it's easily accessible, yes the songs are hummable ("what's wrong with letting them tap their toes a bit?"), yes the performances are more pop - but it's a VERY entertaining recording.
LaChiusa's DID strike me as being a bit on the artsy side the first time. A couple of songs jumped out at me as ones I liked right away (especially Norm Lewis and Eartha Kitt's songs), but the whole thing took time to grow on me.
I'd say at this point I'm about even and couldn't really say which I prefer. It depends on the mood I'm in. Does LaChiusa's take more work? Absolutely. Does that instantly make Lippa's pop-trash? That's ridiculous.
I think it's pretty pretentious to reduce people who like Lippa's version to all being teeny-bopper trend followers. Get off your high horse already.
Hi, Shirley Temple Pudding.
#32re: Which Version of 'The Wild Party' Do You Prefer?
Posted: 9/4/06 at 2:38pm
I don't think Ourtime's statement was THAT offensive or off-base at all. It makes perfect sense.
I loved THE WILD PARTY, so I bought the MARIE CHRISTINE recording. Loved MARIE CHRISTINE so I went to see SEE WHAT I WANNA SEE, and bought the recording.
Many people love RENT or WICKED, see that Idina and Taye are in THE WILD PARTY, and they buy it because they love them. If you're offended by this, especially when it doesn't apply to you, then that's just absurd. It makes perfect sense.
To say that people may have heard "My New Philosophy" and then kept an eye out for Lippa's other work is perfectly conceivable and fair.
I have and will buy anything by Sondheim. I have and will buy anything by Guettel. Same thing.
"If you are going to do something, do it well. And leave something witchy."
-Charlie Manson
BSoBW2
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/8/04
#33re: Which Version of 'The Wild Party' Do You Prefer?
Posted: 9/4/06 at 4:09pm
I don't get what people mean by hummable.
I always hum LaChiusa's.
I'm usually out of breath and dead tired by the end, but hummed the score has been nonetheless.
#34re: Which Version of 'The Wild Party' Do You Prefer?
Posted: 9/4/06 at 4:42pm
I have a Toni Collette complex the same way people have the 'idiggs' complex. Toni Collette is my idol, my inspiration, and a godess of an actor. I will buy anything she is in, without question.
I hate the word hummable. EVERYTHING is hummable, as long as it can be sung. What people mean is simple, or more readily farmiliar, or predictable. I can hum all of Sondhemi's wor because I know it so well. The same goes for much of MJL's work. One you are farmiliar with soething you can hum it. I also hate when people say, "well, it just isn't as melodious.' Melody is musical structure. It exists whetehr or not you think a song is pretty.
"We don't value the lily less for not being made of flint and built to last. Life's bounty is in it's flow, later is too late. Where is the song when it's been sung, the dance when it's been danced? It's only we humans who want to own the future too."
- Tom Stoppard, Shipwreck
C is for Company
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/16/05
#35re: Which Version of 'The Wild Party' Do You Prefer?
Posted: 9/4/06 at 6:08pm
I can't really go into why/how much I love the LaChiusa, you might have to compile my reasons from about the 5 other threads I've posted my opinions on about this same topic.
I just find it everything that a compelling musical should be. A show like this is not around often and I consider it the first masterpiece of the new millenium.
TheaterAddict7652
Broadway Star Joined: 2/7/06
#36re: Which Version of 'The Wild Party' Do You Prefer?
Posted: 9/4/06 at 6:49pmI recommend both. Both are very different, but also very beautiful scores, in their own ways. Currently, I only own the Lippa verison. I have heard a couple of songs from the LaChiusa verison, and they are AMAZING, so I'm definately going to buy the LaChiusa verison soon.
There's a lot I am not certain of...
#37re: Which Version of 'The Wild Party' Do You Prefer?
Posted: 9/4/06 at 9:55pm
Well, I apologize if my answer was offensive to anyone. I can understand if you felt it was condescending, because I've followed threads like this in the past and found that a good number of people rave about Lippa based on the scenario I described above. And if you look at this thread, several people have stated that their means of introduction to the work had everything to do with it featuring Idina Menzel - so you can't really say that my scenario is far-fetched. Nor is it necessarily wrong. I'm just saying that if you are likely to respond to a show based on it featuring cast members from Wicked and Rent, Lippa's version may be for you.
I also went to pains to say that such a scenario is only one avenue by which people might come across the work. So if you flet inappropriately grouped in with teeny-bopper groupies, I do apologize.
Like you, jasonf, I bought the OCR of Lippa's Wild Party because I try to get my hands on just about everything that comes out. Because it featured Julia Murney and because Lippa's work on YAGMCB seemed promising, I hoped to really like it. But in the years since its release I've scarcely listened to it, and it rarely stays in my player after the title track is over.
And the reasons for that have everything to do with the factors described elsewhere in this thread, namely Toni Collette's amazing performance and the dramatic arc and period feel of LaChiusa's score. I don't look down on those who honestly prefer Lippa's work, but I will admit to thumbing my nose a bit at those who rush to it because it is Wicked's second cousin once-removed.
ashley0139
Broadway Legend Joined: 1/3/05
#38re: Which Version of 'The Wild Party' Do You Prefer?
Posted: 9/4/06 at 10:21pm
it is Wicked's second cousin once-removed
One of the best comments I have heard on this board in a long time. Perfect. And so true.
I really and truly enjoy both versions, but if I had to pick one it would be Lippa's. I originally got it because someone mentioned that it might have some good audition songs in it. It is in my cd rotation quite frequently and I listen to every song on that cd.
"This table, he is over one hundred years old. If I could, I would take an old gramophone needle and run it along the surface of the wood. To hear the music of the voices. All that was said." - Doug Wright, I Am My Own Wife
#39re: Which Version of 'The Wild Party' Do You Prefer?
Posted: 9/4/06 at 11:45pmLaChiusa. Some of Lippa's melodies are just weird. especially those with 1920's electric guitar riffs.
mejusthavingfun
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/12/06
#40re: Which Version of 'The Wild Party' Do You Prefer?
Posted: 9/5/06 at 10:01am
I saw both; I really hated the source material and was upset both were presented almost simultaneously. What huge waste of Broadway resources.
I have by now forgotten both scores,,, probably as soon as I walked out the door. The only thing I remember from those productions was Eartha Kitt LIVE ON STAGE and... Taye Diggs in his undies. Now being a gay man it's hard to decide which I enjoyed more. Both had like the same set, and the songs were almost identical. Lippa got the shaft from me because I saw it after the LaChusia version.
BSoBW2
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/8/04
#41re: Which Version of 'The Wild Party' Do You Prefer?
Posted: 9/5/06 at 10:46am
"and the songs were almost identical."
Which...discredits your opinion...
#42re: Which Version of 'The Wild Party' Do You Prefer?
Posted: 9/5/06 at 10:56ami have both but i listen to LaChiusa's more
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