Test your knowledge of the provocative musical *The Wild Party* with fun trivia. How well do you know Andrew Lippa’s adaptation of the 1928 poem about love, obsession, and a wild night in 1920s Manhattan? From its off-Broadway debut in 2000 to starring performances by Brian d'Arcy James, Julia Murney, and Idina Menzel, this show has a rich history. Dive into the world of vaudevillians, intrigue, and jazz-inspired scores as you challenge yourself to remember key details of this iconic production.
Musical Composition
- The Wild Party won the 2000 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music and also received accolades from the Outer Critics Circle and Lucille Lortel Awards.
- The contrasting styles of Andrew Lippa's and Michael John LaChiusa's versions of The Wild Party are notable; Lippa's has a pop-rock sound while LaChiusa's score is closely tied to the jazz of the era.
Notable Tours
- In 2004, The Wild Party was produced as a part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and has since been staged in several U.S. cities including Brooklyn, St. Louis, Chicago, and Baltimore.
Production Facts
- The Wild Party, a musical by Andrew Lippa, is based on a 1928 narrative poem of the same name by Joseph Moncure March.
- The Wild Party made its off-Broadway debut in the 1999-2000 theater season, coinciding with a separate Broadway production that shared both its name and source material.
- The musical opened Off-Broadway on February 24, 2000, at the Manhattan Theatre Club where it ran for a total of 54 performances.
- Among the original Off-Broadway cast were notable actors such as Brian d'Arcy James playing Burrs, Julia Murney as Queenie, Taye Diggs as Mr. Black, Idina Menzel as Kate, and Alix Korey as Madelaine True.
- The Wild Party was performed as a workshop at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center in 1997 featuring Kristin Chenoweth in the role of Mae.
- The musical has a varied set of characters including a vaudevillian clown, a lesbian, a thug, a dimwit, a dancer, lover-brothers, a hooker, and a minor.
- The story unfolds during the roaring 1920s and explores the themes of love, obsession, and the darker side of human nature through its complex characters and dramatic narrative.
- Sutton Foster starred as Queenie in a staged concert version of The Wild Party in 2015, featuring direction by Leigh Silverman and choreography by Sonya Tayeh.
- Steven Pasquale, who played Burrs in the 2015 Encores! Off-Center production, was originally a member of the off-Broadway company of The Wild Party.
- The musical was nominated for thirteen Drama Desk Awards in categories including Best Actor, Best Actress, and Featured Actress in a Musical.
