Slinky, jazz infused chords tumbled from the pit orchestra settling around one of the Wild Party’s female leads, Queenie (Casey Donahue ’10.5), balanced carefully on a single chair on the dimly lit stage, silkily (but scantily) clad. Her opening lines: “Queenie was a blonde, and her age stood still and she danced every day in vaudeville.”
The first scene set the stage for the rest of this Winter Term’s steamy musical, a contemporary take on the dark side of the Roaring Twenties. The play ran Jan. 22, 23, 25 and 26 at the Town Hall Theater.
The musical featured Queenie’s party — a wild party — and highlighted her relationships with boyfriend and vaudeville clown Burrs (Schuylar Beeman ’10), best friend Kate (Michaela Lieberman ’10.5), and Kate’s newest acquisition, relative innocent Black (Max Kanter ’11).
Director Doug Andersen imagines the 1920s as a volatile time. “The old ways weren’t working — they produced something called The Great War,” he explained.
“A sudden influx of new technology created an intoxicating sense of freedom […] Mix in bootleg liquor and something new called jazz, and you have a very potent cocktail.”
Mixed together, the cast is a representation of decadent youth and a rapidly changing society. The guest list is extensive and varied — one early scene gives the audience quick snippets of personality as ensemble members arrive, all dolled up, at the party:
“Madelaine True, lesbian; Eddie, pugilist; Jackie, sweet dancer; the brothers D’Armano, pianists, composers; Dolores, a hooker; Mae, a looker; Nadine, a minor.”
But, like the slightly peeling walls of Queenie’s apartment, these designations conceal dark secrets and desperate pasts. As the night goes on, boas are lost, lipstick is smudged, hearts are won, fights break out and empty bottles begin to crowd all available surfaces.
“One exercise Doug suggested to the cast,” stage manager April Dodd ’13 said, “was to think about what their characters’ parents looked like — conservative, uptight, and for women, completely modest — and then to see the difference in the next generation, where young people are smoking and dancing and wearing less and drinking more. That is freeing, but it is also hard on a person.”
As the party progresses, the night — not to mention the decade — takes its toll on the ensemble. The play’s startling denouement literally resolves the narrative with a bang, when Queenie falls for Black, angering a violently possessive Burrs. The ensuing confrontation spins rapidly out of control and ends with Black shooting Burrs with his own gun.
Despite its dark underlying themes, it is easy for audience members to be carried away by the party. Among other things, Madelaine (Nejla Calvo ’12) sings of her unending desire for an “old-fashioned lesbian love story,” Nadine (Sarah Lusche ’13) is rendered somewhat less innocent, Dolores the hooker struts her stuff with producer Sam (Emily Raymundo ’12 and Charles Giardina ‘12), adoring couple Eddie and Mae (Michael Kessler ’11 and Heather Pynne ’11) are pulled into some unfortunate fisticuffs with Burrs and the ensemble — led by composers Oscar and Phil (Darryl Johnson ’12 and Nathaniel Rothrock ’12.5) — entertains with a rousing retelling of Moses’ classic Bible story.
The play’s form adds a unique challenge: “Because it is almost entirely sung, it requires enormous stamina,” Donahue said.
“The music is very difficult, we’re singing at the top of most of our registers. It’s also an acting challenge. Making the story clear while singing is a struggle; it’s harder to show a character’s motivations.”
Everyone wants to be the life of the party, so Burrs’s unexpected death is that much more shocking.
“[The play’s] a picture of a broken and confused generation, and people don’t get their happy endings,” Dodd said.
“They just get to live.”
Show relies on actors to get a bit ‘wild’
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