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

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
Cast Attributes
Performing Groups
- Time Period 1920s
- Setting Queenie and Burrs' Apartment in New York City. 1928.
- Features Period Costumes
- Duration 105 Minutes
- Cautions
- Intense 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
Image: 2017 Off West End Production (Tristram Kenton)
Music
Music Samples
- Musical Style Jazz
- Dance Requirements Moderate
- Vocal DemandsModerate
- Orchestra Size Large
- Chorus Size No Chorus
Licensing & Materials
- Licensing fees and rental materials quoted upon application.