Pit & Balcony Throws a ‘WILD PARTY’

Pit & Balcony community theatre will be closing out a truly phenomenal and daring 92^nd Mainstage Season with their regional premier of a completely original, immensely challenging, and utterly daring series of performances of playwright Andrew Lippa’s no-holds barred modern Jazz musical Wild Party, which coincidentally featured Saginaw native and nationally renowned actor Brian D’Arcy James when it make its off-Broadway debut back in 2000.

Based upon Joseph Moncure March’s 1928 long narrative poem, and with performances set to run Friday through Sunday, May 10-12 & 17-19, WILD PARTY is a powerfully rendered and unforgettable musical with book music, and lyrics by Andrew Lippa that takes audiences back to the 1920s - a time of sizzling jazz, love and longing, lust and loss, risk and revenge, and people living on the edge.

Sound familiar?  Just as the Spanish flu of 1918 cut a terrifying swath through people’s lives, followed by prohibition, the lawlessness that ensued during the wild abandonment of the Roaring 20s and the Jazz Age, only to culminate in the Stock Market Crash, the same can be said about the 2020s in the aftermath of COVID-19, which has also made an indelible mark on society, along with ensuring economic uncertainty offering intriguing parallels  separated by 100 years that makes Wild Party a surprisingly timely theatrical experience.

“Wild Party is unlike any musical of which I am aware,” confirms Director Todd Thomas. “Although set in the 1920's, the consequences of an unwavering pursuit of self-pleasure and attention and the resulting boredom when we aren't entertained are not that different now, 100 years later. I think audience members will love the music and be entirely immersed in the characters and story of this show.”

Wild Party won the 2000 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music, the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Off-Broadway Musical, and the 1999-2000 Obie Award for Best Choreography and takes place in one night at the Manhattan apartment of lovers, Queenie and Burrs who decide to throw the party-to-end-all-parties.   

Audiences are introduced to an array of guests including a Mr. Black who catches Queenie’s eye. Soon, the three find themselves in a whirling love triangle with a violent and shocking ending. Set in the Jazz Era, this amazing libretto also updates classic jazz sounds with pop motifs and instruments, giving theatre-goers a unique and delightful experience.

“Wild Party is just that,” says Amy Spadafore, Managing Director of Pit & Balcony. “It’s a wild party. There’s so much energy and passion in the script and score, you really feel like you’re at this ‘party-to-end-all-parties’ when you’re watching the show. It’s a really fun note to close this ambitious season on.”

Back when his narrative poem was written in 1928, March’s THE WILD PARTY was highly controversial in its time and even banned.  With this contemporary theatrical version, Wild Party is a sung through musical which tells it story in music. 

“It’s actually more of a Rock Opera,” notes Thomas, “and probably doesn’t have more than 2 or 3 pages of actual spoken dialogue.” Music styles range from lyrical and atonal to jazz and opera. Each song carries the tale a little further along emotionally and plot-wise, and Thomas is navigating the show with an eye to its historic context, as well as to the universality of its many themes.

“Of all the musicals I’ve directed this one has an interesting paradox, which is why I wanted to tackle it,” he states. “It has tremendous music along with what I call Big Broadway dance material, but it’s also really dark and at the end of the day not one of those stories where everybody lives happily ever after once the curtain closes, which is fascinating for me.”

“While there are four principal characters in this play, each actor can create quite a backstory because of who their characters are, which is why they are invited to this party in the first place,” he continues, “so it’s a journey into the type of complicated relationships that I thought would make it challenging for community theatre to pull off.  For this play to work the actors have to immerse themselves into these roles and put in a lot of work. ‘This show is hard’ is probably the phrase I’ve used most while directing it.”

“It took me awhile to gain perspective on what Lippa was really after writing his musical, “continues Thomas, “and in essence coming off the pivotal swing of the 1920’s Jazz Age and the pursuit of all sorts of human pleasure, this is partly a story about where things can go when pleasure is your main focus and the consequences of a life focused on debauchery and indulgences.”

“Because none of these characters lives are anchored somewhere one of the unique things about this narrative is that there is no clean hero type of character to get everyone morally in line, so essentially this story is placed in a different spotlight when no moral compass is going on.”

“The main female character is a woman with strong appetites who marries this vaudevillian, who’s not a nice guy, but she likes that about him,” reflects Thomas. “ They’ve got this dynamic going on and invite all these other characters to this party,  because one thing they both share is they like things rough and on the edge, so then we see how crazy that life is. When they become bored with that journey, she decides they need to throw this party,  partly to fire him up again in order to remind him of what he’s got with her, and partly to get him to pay attention to her more by making him jealous.”

Pit & Balcony’s cast is made up of fourteen community members. Amber Hadley, Spencer Beyerlein, Rhiannon Evans-Hall, and Colton Jordon are at the center of this party. The remaining cast includes Steven Axtell, Elizabeth Reinhardt, Lauren Hanson, Trashan Donald, Wendy Yaworski, Justin Russell, Matthew Howe, Steven Cantu, Andrew Fergerson, and Bre Sklar.

“Because this is such a challenging production, this is one show we hired a professional choreographer, Megan Meyer, along with Ryan Sequin as our musical director,” states Thomas. “All the actors are really pushed in this production, especially for the dance, and because of the way these characters connect to one another there’s a lot of work with the choreography.  I couldn’t handle it because I would probably pass out,” he laughs.

Thomas says by far  the biggest challenge of this show is that because it has such a high level of drama, sexuality, and vice interlacing together, the hardest thing involved from a show standpoint is figuring out how to set that level of vice so the audience doesn’t become distracted by what’s going on. 

“Every single  character on the stage has some type of vice going on the entire show - someone is doing coke, another might be on their third or fourth drink, someone else is doing heroin, so it’s very challenging getting the audience into this story without making these vices a standout factor. Consequently, the actors  need to cultivate a collective mindset in how best to engage in this behavior without distracting the audience from the songs and the movement of the script.”

Because for some actors the actions these characters take with one another might involve taking things a step too far to the edge, Thomas says Pit has also hired an Intimacy Choreographer who will work with each of the actors that have some intimacy moment involved with their roles in order to help them establish rules with one another.

“When I say this show is really choreographed I truly mean it,” states Thomas. “I’ve never done a show with this much preparation involved, because while some actions are meant to be appropriate for that particular character, and in some cases are meant to be funny, it still has to be okay with the actors involved, so there’s lots of factors to balance. But without doubt, one of the biggest challenges is there’s lots of pressure in simply telling this story properly.”

"That’s why we are stating directly that this is an ‘Adults Only’ production,” concludes Thomas. 

“Wild Party has never been done on a regional stage and we’re all really excited about doing it, but I’m sure that every night there will be someone in the audience who will love the music and the dance but won’t find it their cup of tea because of its intensity. But that’s also what fascinates me about this production.”

“The ending is intense and doesn’t give you much relief, but I really like those shows where emotionally you don’t get much of a choice when all is said and done simply because the show is written so well.”

“It’s like reading a really good book that takes you on an unforgettable ride - once you’re on the track there’s no jumping off.”

Performances of Pit & Balcony’s production of ‘WILD PARTY’ will run Friday - Sunday, May 10-12 & 17-19^th. Friday & Saturday showings begin at 7:30 PM and Sunday matinees begin at 3:00 PM. This show contains mature content including adult language and situations and depictions of physical and sexual assault. Wild Party is proudly preented in partnership with Green Acres Golf Course. Tickets are only $20.00 and be purchased at www.Pit&BalconyTheatre.com or by calling 989-754-6587.