The Wild Party

A CONCORD THEATRICALS TITLE

The Wild Party

Full-Length Musical, Drama  /  7w, 8m

Music and Lyrics by Michael John LaChiusa
Book by Michael John LaChiusa and George C. Wolfe
Based on the poem by Joseph Moncure March

1920s Manhattan sets the backdrop for this musical fable about debauchery, decadence and sexual freedom.

Image: 2017 Off West End Production (Tristram Kenton)

  • Cast Size
    Cast Size
    7w, 8m
  • Duration
    Duration
    105 Minutes
  • SubGenre
    Subgenre
    Period, Docudrama/History
  • Audience
    Target Audience
    Adult, Teen (Age 14-18)
Accolades
Accolades
  • Nominee: 2000 Tony Award, Best Musical
    Nominee: 2000 Tony Award, Best Book of a Musical
    Nominee: 2000 Tony Award, Best Original Musical Score

The Wild Party

Details

Summary
Manhattan decadence in the 1920's provides the backdrop for this tough musical fable. Queenie, a vaudeville chorine, hosts the blow-out of the title with her vicious lover, a black-face minstrel. The guests are a vivid collection of the unruly and the undone: Queenie's conniving rival; a cocaine-sniffing bisexual playboy; a washed-up boxer; a Black brother act; a diva of indeterminate age and infinite life experience; the fresh-off-the-farm ingénue whose naïveté quickly evaporates; a lesbian actress and her comatose girlfriend; and the bargain basement Valentino who catches Queenie's roving eye. The jazz- and gin-soaked party rages to a mounting sense of threat as artifice and illusion are stripped away. When midnight debauchery leads to tragedy at dawn, the high-flying characters land with a sobering thud, reminding us that no party lasts forever.
History
The Wild Party premiered on Broadway at the Virginia Theatre on April 13, 2000. Directed by George C. Wolfe, the production featured Toni Collette, Eartha Kitt, Marc Kudisch, Norm Lewis, Sally Murphy, Mandy Patinkin and Tonya Pinkins.
  • Time Period 1920s
  • Setting Queenie and Burrs' Apartment in New York City. 1928.
  • Features Period Costumes
  • Duration 105 Minutes
  • Cautions
    • Intense Adult Themes
    • Mild Adult Themes

Media

“A dark, sensual and glittering musical... Bravo!” – TalkinBroadway

“The first musical triumph of the new century!” – New York Daily News

The Wild Party is a dark, sensual, and glittering musical. [It proves] that the good, old-fashioned book musical form is still vibrant and very much alive. Bravo!” – Thomas Burke, TalkinBroadway.com

The Wild Party unfolds with all the speed of Jazz Age rhythms, and by the time its 100 furious minutes have run their course, the ferocity of it all leaves you both exhilarated and exhausted.” – Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun-Times

“It’s a good bet you will never find a more brilliant rendering of this party (based on Joseph Moncure March’s classic Jazz Age narrative poem).” – Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun-Times

The Wild Party should make you want to go to a wild party, and this one surely does. It functions, in essence, as a musical manifestation of the effects of cocaine and bathtub gin.” – Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune

“It should have many more reincarnations in the regional theatres and elsewhere and take its rightful place among the few great works of contemporary musical theatre.” – Suzanne Bixby, TalkinBroadway.com

Photos

  • The Wild Party

    Image: 2017 Off West End Production (Tristram Kenton)

Music

Music Samples

  • Musical Style Jazz, Country/Western, Contemporary Broadway
  • Dance Requirements Moderate
  • Vocal DemandsModerate
  • Orchestra Size Large
  • Chorus Size No Chorus

Licensing & Materials

  • Licensing fees and rental materials quoted upon application.

Music Rentals

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Authors

Michael John LaChiusa

Michael John LaChiusa

Michael John LaChiusa – composer, lyricist and librettist – established himself as a powerful presence on the American musical theatre scene after winning Off-Broadway’s 1993 Obie Award for his musicals First Lady Suite and Hello Again. Six years later, LaChiusa was represent ...

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George C. Wolfe

George C. Wolfe

George C. Wolfe directed Caroline, or Change (nominated for six 2004 Tony Awards, including Best Musical and Best Direction) and directed and co-wrote The Wild Party (nominated for seven 2000 Tony Awards, including Best Musical and Best Book). He won the Tony Award for his di ...

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Joseph Moncure March

Joseph Moncure March

Joseph Moncure March (1899-1977) wrote his daring, electrically charged poem "The Wild Party" in 1926, and saw it published two years later in a limited edition that became something of a success de scandal that was banned in Boston. The noted writer and editor Louis Untermey ...

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