The 1920s proved to be a difficult time for Queenie, a vaudeville dancer, and her violent lover Burrs, a vaudeville blackface actor. When things get violent between them and Queenie threatens Burrs, he suggests they throw a party and invite all their friends over to ease the tension. The party is an eclectic collection of their rough and tumble friends. Queenie's rival, a young "ambisextrous" drug addict, a has-been boxer, a duo of brother-lovers, a diva, an ingenue, a lesbian actress and her morphine-addicted girlfriend, and a mysterious escort who attracts her. attention from Queenie. The party slowly decays with passion and pleasure to a sobering tragic end. Illusions disappear as guests find themselves in the reality of who they are and what they are faced with in this world masked with glamor.
General information
- Style : Tragedy
- Theme : Showbiz, 20s, Violence
- year of creation : 2000
Music
- Composer :Michael John LaChiusa
- Lyricist :Michael John LaChiusa
- Librettist : George C. Wolfe & Michael John LaChiusa
- famous songs "Queenie Was a Blonde/Marie Is Tricky/ WildParty" "Dry" "Welcome to My Party" "Like Sally" "'Breezin'" "Uptown" "Eddie & Mae" "Gold & Goldberg" "Moving Uptown" "Black Bottom" "Best Friend" "A Little MMM" "Tabu/Taking Care of the Ladies" "Wouldn't It Be Nice?" "Lowdown-Down" "Gin" "Wild" "Need" "Black Is a Moocher" "People Like Us" "After Midnight Dies" "Golden Boy" "The Movin' Uptown Blues" "The Lights of Broadway" "More" "Love Ain't Nothin'/Welcome to Her Party/What I Need" "How Many Women in the World?" "When It Ends" "This is What It Is" "Finale"
- Famous performers : Toni Collette, Frances Ruffelle, Mandy Patinkin, John Owen-Jones, Yancey Arias, Simon Thomas, Eartha Kitt, Donna McKechnie, Marc Kudisch, Dex Lee, Tonya Pinkins, Victoria Hamilton-Barritt, Norm Lewis, Ako Mitchell, Genesis Lynea, Bronte Barbe.
kinships
- Inspired by another work : The musical is based on the narrative poetry "The Wild Party" by Joseph Moncure March.
Awards
- Appointments and Awards : The musical won 1 Theater World Award.
- Number of performances : 68
- anecdotes : There are two musicals called "The Wild Party". They opened in New York a few months apart in 2000 and still divide fans. Even if they are both inspired by the same work, they are very different in style and on the themes addressed.