Love in the Time of Decadence: J-Term musical opens

Boy meets girl, boy goes out with girl, boy moves in with girl, boy gets tired of girl, so girl throws boy a party. She is functioning under a few assumptions: the party will be a smashing success, hook-ups will abound, boy will get jealous, and passion will descend on their relationship once again.

This is the world according to Queenie, played by Casey Panagua ’10, and this Winter Term musical features her party — “The Wild Party,” playing at the Town Hall Theater Jan. 22-23 at 8 p.m.

Roaring and rollicking, the musical, which debuted off Broadway in 2000, is a contemporary take on the lives of the artistic set of 1920s New York.

“The entire play is centered around a crazy party in 1929 and takes place in one night,” associate costuming director Hannah Rommer explained.

“It’s all about decadence and flaming youth. The end of the show perhaps hints at how hollow that all is. It’s very colorful, there’s lots of energy, and as the party goes on it gets wilder and wilder, people show more skin, it gets sketchier.”

The musical highlights Queenie, her boyfriend and vaudeville clown extraordinaire Burrs (Schuyler Beeman ’10), her friend Kate (Michaela Lieberman ’10.5) and Kate’s boyfriend Black (Max Kanter ’10.5), a relative innocent who won Kate over when, according to one song, he “held the door and nothing more.”

Even so, the play is largely ensemble driven. Much is happening in the background, behind not-so-closed doors.

Cast member Emily Romero describes a favorite scene.

“There’s a fun little piece — essentially vignettes of everyone’s characters interacting,” she said.

“I talk to Sam, a producer. My musician friends want me to convince him to listen to them. I play a hooker, so of course my convincing him involves me putting my hand on his [genitals].”

But far more than being a wild party, this musical is also a complicated one. Spoken word amounts to little more than 33 lines. Actors must exert enormous stamina, singing almost non-stop, and improvising through several jazz passages.

The musical challenge is especially appropriate for a Winter Term production, which is a joint venture between the music department at the College and The Town Hall Theater. The collaboration began in fall, when cast members met weekly to learn the notes, all the way until this month, when most students involved took the play as a class. The intensive 18-day rehearsal schedule has reduced the usual 12 weeks of preparation to a mere 3 weeks. Actors are on call eight hours a day.

"In many ways, it’s the ideal J-Term class,” director Doug Anderson said.

“Students may do many plays over their college careers, but they rarely get to focus so exclusively on one thing. Our schedule is very similar to professional companies and students are able to dig in deep.”

The intensive environment also provides a place to take chances. In addition to playing Queenie’s boyfriend (a clown), Schuyler Beeman ’10, was also able to take his love of dancing and immerse himself in choreographing all the musical’s dance numbers.

“I choreographed a lot in my head over break, came back, and taught three dances in two days,” he said.

“I’d never choreographed before. I wanted to stick to the 1920s aspect, but a side people don’t usually think of — the low life, sexier aspect, fused with the sharpness and precision of Fosse, and — to connect with a contemporary audience — Britney Spears.”

Anderson believes audiences may be surprised by how strongly they relate to the play, which is based on an epic poem of the same title.

“In 1926, Joseph Moncure March quit his New Yorker job,” he explained.

“He was frustrated by the decadence he saw. In 1928, he published his book. It was a scandal, banned in Boston, but really he was just writing what he knew. You don’t have to work too hard to see parallels between the people of this play and people today. No party can last forever.”