enjoying a newfound freedom that had kept them so buttoned up and rigid in the Victorian and Edwardian eras. So despite the banning, or maybe because of it, it was a hit. In Smith’ s article he writes that the poem“ painted a vivid picture of a decadent and deadly all-night party in late 1920s Manhattan, capturing the potent cocktail of bewildered innocence and worldly cynicism, poised at the fiery peak of the Jazz Age, just a year before the Crash of 1929, when nearly everything in America would collapse.”
He goes on to explain that the piece is“ a morality tale, a fable about how the singleminded pursuit of pure selfish pleasure almost always leads to destruction, and about the death of common civility in America.” It was written at the height of Prohibition, a time that revealed something rather frightening. With speakeasies and bootlegging rampant throughout the country, American citizens were blatantly demonstrating a disdain for the law enacted in 1920 to prevent the sale and production of alcohol, which they deemed ridiculous. But Smith writes about the stark reality that this mentality encouraged a disrespect for the law in general.“ If Prohibition was a silly law, maybe other laws were silly as well,” says Smith.“ And with this new disregard for the law, came a companion disregard for other formerly accepted norms of behavior.” The
characters in“ The Wild Party” show little regard for decorum or gentility. They all just want to have a good time.
With its over indulgent characters and glorification of all things tantalizing, set against one of the most glamorized decades in history, this scandalous poem lent itself perfectly for a staged version.
... A WILD RIDE OF LOVE, HATE, DEBAUCHERY, LUST, FRIVOLITY, AND DANGER...
That’ s exactly what Andrew Lippa thought when he came across it in a Barnes & Noble in 1995. According to a 2015 interview with Playbill, Lippa was struck by the piece immediately.
“ There was something about the beginning of the poem, the description of that woman, that spoke to me personally,” said Lippa.“ I just knew that I was more excited about something than I’ d ever been in my life.”
He decided to write a musical.
His initial intent was to write it like Cats, just taking the poem verbatim and putting it to music. But he struggled with the third person narrative. Lippa wanted the characters to be able to use‘ I’ statements like“ I want,” I am,” or“ I feel”. So while incorporating much of the lines of the poem into the show, Lippa also added his own lyrics and dialogue.
Andrew Lippa’ s The Wild Party opened Off-Broadway at the Manhattan Theatre Club on February 4, 2000. It starred several now household names like Idina Menzel, Taye Diggs, and Brian D’ Arcy James.
Ironically enough, Lippa was not the only writer to be inspired by March’ s work. Michael John LaChiusa, along with George C. Wolfe, wrote their own version which opened on Broadway on April 13, 2000, just two months after Lippa’ s.
Theatre Cedar Rapids will be producing the Andrew Lippa version with its eclectic and exciting score, and a story that focuses intently on the four central lovers. The show is a wild ride of love, hate, debauchery, lust, frivolity, and danger.“ A fascinating story, as they go.” •
10 theatrecr. org | FALL MARQUEE