Theater Online - New York Theater Reviews

A unique party is happening on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, but it's not the type of social gathering you might expect. It's a Jazz Age Prohibition blast with booze in the bathtub, men hitting on women, women hitting on men, women hitting on women, and a couple of men hitting each other. After imbibing, one might expect to wake up with a hangover. Ironically, the experience last evening left me with a feeling of theatrical euphoria.

The address is The Theresa Lang Theater at Marymount Manhattan College, and the event is a presentation of Andrew Lippa's musical "The Wild Party" by the college's Theater Production Workshop. The on-stage sexy, raunchy, erotic revelers (before over-indulgence sets in) are superbly portrayed by students (not a ringer among them) of the higher-learning institution.

The plot of the play is based on a 1926 poem of the same title by Joseph Mancure March. Despite or because of its being banned in Boston, the narrative gained a certain amount of popularity which was revived in print several times and in a 1975 movie. Perhaps, if you are a littler older than an undergraduate, you might recall that there were two different musical versions of "The Wild Party" staged in New York City in 2000. Mr. Lippa's was presented off-Broadway at the Manhattan Theater Club and the "other" adaptation by Michael John LaChuisa and George C. Woolf (with Toni Collette, Mandy Patinkin and Eartha Kitt) was presented at Broadway's Virginia Theater.

At the opening we meet the hostess ("Queenie was a blond and her age stood still/And she danced twice a day in vaudeville"), sensuously played by Katie Donohue, who decides to throw a "no limits" party to get even with Burrs ( the vocally gifted Chris Pinnella), a stage clown and her abusive lover. An assortment of eccentric friends arrive at their apartment to set the stage for a bit of decadent dissipation and some fine musical performances: the lustfully self-proclaimed lesbian Madeline (Rachael Perez) ironically sings "An Old-Fashioned Love Story," the big boxer Eddie (Kevin O'Malley) and his pint-sized, devoted girl Mae (Erica Wilpon) faithfully present "Two of a Kind," and late in the evening Jackie renders a skillfully tapped "Jackie's Last Dance."

Since on-stage debauchery can sustain interest only so long, the pleasures of the production are enhanced with appropriate and engaging costumes by Kirche Leigh as well as multi-level set by Robert Dutiel. The choreography for twenty-four cast members by Edmond Kresley is delightfully entertaining and often uplifting. I also feel that the direction by Melissa Hart, with perhaps one minor lapse, is superb as manifest by the young actors' intensity and their ability to consistently portray characters, sometimes (hopefully) not very much like themselves.

The tone of the festivities becomes more plot-involved with the arrival of an intriguing couple, the passionately profligate Kate (Chloe Elizabeth Cahill exhibiting shades of Bernadette Peter's charm and talent) and Mr. Black (Miguel Sierra in a solid performance). Queenie's plan begins to change. Burr begins to notice. A series of confrontations motivated by lust, jealousy and even love ensue. The story then progresses in a rather predictable fashion, but the four major players are skillfully able to transcend the plot and take the audience into the "moment and meaning" of their songs. Particularly memorable are Burrs' Pagliacci-like "Let Me Drown" with a gospel flair and Queenie's perplexed "How Did We Come to This“"