Starring: - Brian D'Arcy James
- Taye Diggs
- Idina Menzel
- Andrew Lippa
Description:
Some 70 years after being written, Joseph Moncure March's 1928 Jazz-Age poem, The Wild Party, proved it still knew how to inspire: a pair of musicals dedicated to the sultry tale of excess were produced virtually concurrently. Too bad good parties, like good jokes, are often hard to recount. While the Tony-nominated, star-studded, and short-lived Wild Party by Michael John LaChiusa embraced the dark side of the Prohibition-era fête, this off-Broadway production by Andrew Lippa tries too hard to have a good time. March's poem is a seething, seedy work filled with internal struggle, but on this disc we never sense that underbelly. It's not until Taye Diggs, as Black, sings the touching "Poor Child" that we sense any tenderness at all in this morality play. For lighthearted good times, Julia Murney as Queenie and Brian d'Arcy James as her abusive lover Burrs do the job. On the fun, upbeat numbers ("What a Party," "Raise the Roof") this cast shines. But, despite its fascinating premise--a life-changing, epic event in the lives of a bunch of Prohibition-era misfits--this musical somehow still suffers from shallowness.
1. Queenie Was A Blonde
2. Out Of The Blue
3. What A Party
4. Raise The Roof
5. Look At Me Now
6. Poor Child
7. Old-Fashioned Love Story, An
8. By Now The Room Was Moving
9. Juggernaut, The
10. Wild, Wild Party, A
11. Two Of A Kind
12. Maybe I Like It This Way
13. What Is It About Her?
14. Life Of The Party, The
15. I'll Be Here
16. Let Me Drown
17. Tell Me Something
18. Come With Me
19. Jackie's Last Dance
20. Make Me Happy
21. How Did We Come To This? / Queenie Was A Blonde
Wild Party
