Review: Hedonism And The Heady Days Of The 1920's Come Alive In THE WILD PARTY

Friday 16th November 2018, 7:30pm Reginald Theatre Seymour Centre

Michael J. LaChiusa (music, lyrics and book) and George C. Wolfe's (book) musical interpretation of Joseph Moncure March's once scandalous 1928 poem THE WILD PARTY is an escapist night of deliciously dark debauchery. The latest production from Little Triangle Theatre is a feast for the senses with fabulous music combining with brilliant choreography and creative costuming.

Based on the book length narrative poem of the same name, LaChiusa and Wolfe's version, which opened on Broadway in 2000 (not to be confused with Andrew Lippa's Off-Broadway interpretation that opened the same year), takes the audience into showgirl Queenie's (Georgina Walker) world for a night. Set in the roaring '20s when vaudeville still dominated the entertainment scene, the world weary and disillusioned Queenie is lured out of her lethargy by her hot tempered partner Burrs' (Matthew Hyde) suggestion that they throw a party which also turns out to be an opportunity to try to impress Jewish theatre producers Gold (Zach Selmes) and Goldberg (Simon Ward) to include them in their new show uptown. In the era of prohibition, the promise of bootleg booze, bathtub gin and copious amounts of cocaine are enough to lure the most colorful of the industry and an array of vaudeville performers gather in Queenie and Burrs' apartment for a night of dancing, drugs, drinking and highly charged libidos as relationships are tested and ambitions are revealed. Each character shares their story as a series of vaudeville acts whilst underlying plots of old rivalries and jealousies bubble beneath the fun.

Director and Designer Alexander Andrews has created a relatively detailed set whilst still ensuring the focus remains on the large cast of 20. Creating Queenie and Burrs apartment, a brass bed dominates the space with the implication of a window overlooking Manhattan whilst a darkened sign of the Bowery theatre links their livelihood to the stage and the Lower East Side bohemian setting. Conrad Hamill's (Musical Director) eight-piece band can be spotted tucked behind an partial curtain and an upright piano which doubles as the drinks bar. The costuming design is driven by the influence of burlesque on Vaudeville with the Chorines (Victoria Luxton, Matilda Moran, Rosalie Neumair, Sophie Perkins (Dance captain) and Jordan Warren) dancing in their scanties and the rest of the women in styles of the era, from the older Dolores' (Victoria Zerbst) dramatic robes and turban reminiscent of Gloria Swanson's Norma Desmond, young Nadine's (Tayla Jarrett) sailor style shorts, successful singer Kate's (Katelin Koprivec) flapper fringe and Queenies own sequined shift designed for the famous boyish figures that were favored in the era.

LaChiusa draws on the sounds of the era to deliver a musical score filled with up beat vaudeville smaltz and passionate jazz. Some works are delivered as solos with a upright microphone whilst others incorporate the Chorine or the entire ensemble. As with other Little Triangle productions a strong group of singers have been cast but unfortunately the sound design lets them down with unbalanced sound and issues with not having all of the cast wearing body microphones, most notably when the Chorines feature and cannot be clearly heard over the band. These technical issues result in many of the lyrics being lost, reducing the impact of the work.

The choreography, led by dance captain Sophie Perkins, captures the spirit of the era wonderfully. The large ensemble successfully maneuvers in the relatively small space without making the work look cluttered and the dance quality is high. The use of the Reginald Theatre's unique upper balcony and centre aisle has also been utilized to allow audience interaction before the show and during interval but the audience are thankfully mere observers for the actual party.

Walker is a perfect fit for the 1920's flapper in both her physicality and her ability to present a bold but vulnerable performer realizing that her relationship and her career aren't where she would like them to be but she has to put on a brave face and convince everyone else that she has the perfect life. She has a warm sultry tone that gives Queenie an air of the world weariness and also an alluring darkness. Walker's Queenie is matched well with Matthew Hyde as the explosive and dangerous Burrs. He gives the role a gravitas that ensures there is the belief that Burrs could be a violent lover whilst having the sinister allure that could prove enticing in a vaudeville act.

Emily Hart is delightful as Mae, the former Chorine turned respectable wife of prized black fighter Eddie, presented by Olivier Rahme. Hart initially captures the sentiment of the era where women were expected to want to settle down and become a wife and enjoy the status change that also forced them to give up careers. She layers this with ever increasing hints to an underlying resentment that she had to leave the life she loved to be seen as a 'white trophy wife' for the black champion. Rahme gives Eddie an equally layered expression of a man relishing in his success but having underlying issues with the hypocrisy of his fans, exposing the issues of racism that saw him being lauded as a champion but restricted from entering through the front door.

Queenie's frenemy Kate is delivered with gravity by Katelin Koprivec as she gives the impression of a more successful showgirl but has the underlying fear that her gigilo partner Black (Andre Drysdale) will soon tire of his role of mooching off women to secure his lifestyle. Kprivec and Walker have great chemistry as the hissing cats firing insults at each other in their quiet jealousy of each other's life. As the mysterious Black, Drysdale ensures that Queenie and the audience are kept guessing as to his true nature but once revealed has an open honesty that few others are willing to expose.

The rest of the cast is generally strong, each giving their character a uniqueness with a depth that indicates each is harbouring an underlying loneliness, longing, disappointment or unfulfilled desire. Prudence Holloway's Madelaine is tragic as the sapphic stripper desperately seeking connection with a woman who can't even remember her own name let alone Madelaine's. Tayla Jarrett delivers a sweet and innocent Nadine, Mae's younger sister from upstate New York who is desperate to follow her sister into showbusiness and is a delightful counterpoint to Queenie's world and allows the audience to see Queenie as caring as she offers to mentor the young girl. The weak point however is surprisingly Victoria Zerbst's turn as the Dolores, the older wiser singer wanting to make a comeback. Whilst most of the cast is considerably younger than the characters they portray the biggest age gap is between Zerbst and Dolores, who was performed by Eartha Kitt during the Broadway premiere. This leads to unnatural movements and a feeling that nothing is intuitive with the direction behind each move and delivery of each line evident resulting in a jarring expression that leads the audience to want to do the same as the rest of Queenie's guests and try to ignore the character.

Aside from the sound issues and miscasting quibbles THE WILD PARTY is another wonderful production from Little Triangle Theatre. An interesting exploration of a bygone era fueled by gin, cocaine, sex and fabulous music, THE WILD PARTY also shows how far, or not we've come in our connection to image, violence, love, relationships, self indulgence and ambition.

THE WILD PARTY

https://www.seymourcentre.com/events/event/the-wild-party/

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