Threaded Order Chronological Order
| Marie Christine, 100% -- and LaChiusa's The Wild Party | |
| Last Edit: Chazwaza 11:27 pm EST 11/19/22 | |
| Posted by: Chazwaza 11:24 pm EST 11/19/22 | |
| In reply to: A trio of contemporary recordings and one "classic" - DanielVincent 11:19 pm EST 11/19/22 | |
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| I couldn't agree more. Marie Christine was a compelling, fascinating show to see, but the score lives on to me as a standout in the top tier of modern musical scores, and is easily one of the most original and dynamic scores I've ever heard. The Wild Party i think is a masterwork... i forget sometimes that it flopped on broadway because I was so wowed by it, the show, the score, the cast. It was incredible. And as piece of writing, I can't say enough about it. Neither has had much life since the broadway runs... though I do think the cast album to Wild Party is pretty well regarded and a favorite among musical theater nerds. Somehow despite Marie Christine being a vehicle written for Audra, and some of the most compelling and impressing singing and acting she's done (which is saying a lot), MC doesn't seem, to me, to have had the same amount of life as an album even. I listen to both cast albums A LOT. LaChiusa has never had a "hit" show, they have all either done their scheduled runs (maybe a few extensions) at the non-profit they started at, or failed on Broadway. That doesn't make any of them failures to me, but I don't see them as "flops" because most were off-bway and not intended to have long runs. Some of more life regionally and in schools than others. But I think i'd put *many* of his scores in this thread. MC and WP of course, Bernarda Alba which is stunning to me, See What I Wanna See is produced more than many of his works but not enough, Giant... so many. And many of his shows have cast albums, but some don't (including The Highest Yellow, Rain, and the recent Gardens of Anuncia which was absolutely wonderful). High hopes for his new musical, workshopping in nyc right now. |
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| LaChiusa's The Wild Party | |
| Posted by: DanielVincent 12:19 am EST 11/20/22 | |
| In reply to: Marie Christine, 100% -- and LaChiusa's The Wild Party - Chazwaza 11:24 pm EST 11/19/22 | |
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| I'd rank as one of the five best scores of the 1990s. The only reason I didn't mention it is because, based on my own experience, I assumed it *has* been produced quite a bit since its Broadway production. I've seen three productions in Chicago and one production in New York. | |
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| re: LaChiusa's The Wild Party | |
| Posted by: Chazwaza 01:19 am EST 11/20/22 | |
| In reply to: LaChiusa's The Wild Party - DanielVincent 12:19 am EST 11/20/22 | |
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| Top 5 of the 90s is a big honor for a decade that includes Kiss of the Spider Woman, Passion, City of Angels, Once On This Island, Secret Garden, Titanic, Parade, The Life, Rent, Ragtime, Violet, Hedwig and Floyd Collins! But... It technically premiered in 2000, and not even on the cusp, in March. Marie Christine was technically 1999, on the cusp... but the both ran around the same time, but they didn't even run concurrently, which screws with my mind because I remember seeing them within 2 weeks of each other, but MC closed Jan 9 and WP didn't start until March 10. But I wouldn't object to calling them both 2000, because that's their Tonys year. I'd rank Wild Party as one of the top 5 scores of the 2000s too (competitors include Caroline or Change, Piazza, Hairspray, Taboo, Spring Awakening, Grey Gardens, In the Heights, Passing Strange, Color Purple, Wicked) ... and in the Top 10 scores of the last 30 years. But when was there a NYC production of LaChiusa's Wild Party after the broadway run? I'm generally not aware of many productions of it, sadly. It was produced once in LA that I'm aware of, by a small theater, maybe 10 years ago. And that was largely because they have a relationship with MJLaC. |
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| Don’t forget The Lion King, Side Show, When Pigs Fly, Zombie Prom, even Scarlett Pimpernel | |
| Last Edit: KingSpeed 05:19 pm EST 11/20/22 | |
| Posted by: KingSpeed 05:16 pm EST 11/20/22 | |
| In reply to: re: LaChiusa's The Wild Party - Chazwaza 01:19 am EST 11/20/22 | |
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| All from the 90s | |
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| re: Don’t forget The Lion King, Side Show, When Pigs Fly, Zombie Prom, even Scarlett Pimpernel | |
| Last Edit: Chazwaza 01:27 am EST 11/21/22 | |
| Posted by: Chazwaza 01:26 am EST 11/21/22 | |
| In reply to: Don’t forget The Lion King, Side Show, When Pigs Fly, Zombie Prom, even Scarlett Pimpernel - KingSpeed 05:16 pm EST 11/20/22 | |
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| I'm not sure I'd consider most of those among the competitors for top 5 of the decade. Maybe Lion King. But I dunno if my love for the opening number and the songs added for the stage show move it close enough to the top for me to even consider it in the top 10. | |
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| Oops! I feel stupid… | |
| Posted by: DanielVincent 12:33 pm EST 11/20/22 | |
| In reply to: re: LaChiusa's The Wild Party - Chazwaza 01:19 am EST 11/20/22 | |
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| I remembered The Wild Party as being a musical of the 1990s because I associate it with running while I was in high school. I forgot, of course, that the tail end of my high school career was indeed in 2000. (And now you all know how old I am.) At any rate, in 2007, “Columbia Stages,” which I think is just the gussied up name of MFA productions at Columbia University, did The Wild Party. Anne Tolpegin, who would later cover Marin Mazzie in Carrie and go on several times, was Mae, and Katy Frame, who is now better known as part of the comedy country duo Reformed Whores, was Nadine. |
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| re: the superior Wild Party | |
| Posted by: kidmanboy 08:10 am EST 11/20/22 | |
| In reply to: re: LaChiusa's The Wild Party - Chazwaza 01:19 am EST 11/20/22 | |
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| What's most frustrating is that Lipppa's Wild Party seems to get much more attention - the Encores Off-Center production, schools and regional theaters, etc. I was shocked at Encores by how little that version mines from the story compared to LaChiusa's. It made me downright angry that they did that version before LaChiusa's, which I think is a masterpiece and hope it gets its day again in NY in my lifetime. | |
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| re: the superior Wild Party | |
| Posted by: Chazwaza 02:36 pm EST 11/20/22 | |
| In reply to: re: the superior Wild Party - kidmanboy 08:10 am EST 11/20/22 | |
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| I couldn't agree more. Looking at the two supposed adaptations offers a masterclass in adaptation from LaChiusa & Wolfe, compared to a surface level lazy attempt by Lippa. I'll grant that Lippa's score is fun, and a lot of people like it, but the show itself is not my cup of tea... whereas I can't get enough of LaChiusa's. LaChiusa's score is an intelligent layered masterpiece and is also very fun - a lot more fun if you ask me. I think Encores did Lippa's because Sutton wanted to do it (miscast though she was). But I think it was a bad choice. It's also a show that gets produced pretty often around the country. |
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| I love Andrew Lippa's wild 'Wild Party' | |
| Last Edit: WaymanWong 01:42 pm EST 11/20/22 | |
| Posted by: WaymanWong 01:28 pm EST 11/20/22 | |
| In reply to: re: the superior Wild Party - kidmanboy 08:10 am EST 11/20/22 | |
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| I didn't get to see Encores' version with Sutton Foster, Steven Pasquale, Brandon Victor Dixon and Joaquina Kalukango in 2015. Or the West End revival in 2019. But I caught the original 2000 Off-Broadway production a couple of times at Manhattan Theater Club. What a great and energetic cast! Brian d'Arcy James, Idina Menzel, Julia Murney, Taye Diggs and Alix Korey. I've never forget Korey bringing down the house with ''An Old-Fashioned Love Story'' or James raising the roof with ''Let Me Drown.'' Plus, Michael Gibson's rousing orchestrations. But above all, Andrew Lippa's sensational score, which (to me) is one of the most terrifically tuneful ones of the 2000s. Other songs I enjoyed: ''A Wild, Wild Party,'' ''Raise the Roof,'' ''What Is It About Her?'' and ''How Did We Come to This?'' I wish Lippa's show moved to Broadway for the Tony attention it deserved. Oh, well. We've always got the cast album. ''What a Party,'' indeed. |
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| Link | 'The Wild Party' - Off-Broadway 2000 - Reviewer's Reel (snippets of the show) |
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