The Wild Party
Andrew Lippa (Book, Music & Lyrics)
Jocelyn Pickett as Queenie Held on High |
In case there were any remaining doubts that the most
consistently exciting, exuberant, and excelling musical theatre being staged in
San Francisco was not coming from Ray of Light Theatre, then the company’s
current production of Andrew Lippa’s The
Wild Party will surely lay the case to rest. Staged with the erotic energy of Cabaret, the steamy sizzle of Chicago, and the dark decadence of Three Penny Opera, ROL’s
Wild Party bursts onto the stage with
voices that soar, dances that ignite, and a parade of society’s misfits that
equally repulse and attract. Based on
Joseph Moncure March’s 1928 Prohibition-era, narrative poem by the same title,
Andrew Lippa’s book weaves a seductive, sordid tale of a hedonistic heroine and
her lovers. His music employs varying
genres that skirt jazz, gospel, and swing but are always underscored with a
hard rock beat; and his lyrics trip over tongues with smart, snap, and
surprise. The result is that this
successor to Ray of Light’s recent line-up of Lizzie, Heathers: the Musical, and The Rocky Horror Story is yet another edgy example of theatrical
dare-deviling that pushes boundaries without sacrificing excellence.
As she enters a sea of hot men first groping and then
lifting on high her beautiful, blonde, and buxom body, Queenie in lacy, black
lingerie and stockings sings, “How was she ever to love them? ... There were so
many of them.” She is on the hunt for a
man to be the next among all the men she has already known; and a hot, tattooed
Burrs captures her eye, captivates on her lust, and conquers her bed in a hot
sex scene before the opening number is even complete (“Queenie Was a
Blonde”). Three years of his temper and
tantrums and his drunken slur, “You lazy slut!” leads Queenie to propose a
party where she plots to humiliate the bum in front of all his friends. “Tonight, I’ll raise my skirt and make him
hurt,” she concludes after noting in “Raise the Roof,” “If you keep the whiskey
flowing, you can reap what you’ve been sowing.”
The Party Guests |
Among other quirky sorts, their party attracts Eddie the
low-life boxer and his not-too-bright gal Mae, the lesbian-on-a-hunt Madeleine
True, Dolores the hooker, the brothers-lovers Oscar and Phil d’Armano, a male
dancer named Jackie, and a female minor called Nadine. But just as Burrs is adding to Queenie’s
anger by going after the minor Nadine with his lust-filled hands and hips, in
comes showstopper Kate (“Look at Me Now”) with a smartly dressed, mysterious,
and dripping-with-sex-appeal, Mr. Black.
As the heat of the party rises, the illegal alcohol flows, and the coke
streams into nostrils, competing love triangles begin to form with Queenie and
Burrs each getting pulled into beds and bathtubs by either Black or Kate. The sweat of sin and sex permeates the air as
these lovers and their guests indulge in each other’s pleasure in every manner
conceivable – all building toward a climax involving a fight, a gun, and one
less lover. In a tale where there are no
winners, Queenie’s earlier phrase “you can reap what you’ve been sowing”
returns to haunt her in ways she never meant it to.
Jocelyn Pickett |
She is so hot that it is tempting to swear that steam is
rising from her inviting eyes of enticement; her smiles that seethe in
sexiness; and her long limbs that point, lift, and wrap with feverish
intensity. Jocelyn Pickett reigns
supreme on her throne as Queenie, bringing a voice that can electrify and rally
(“Raise the Roof”), can rise from lowest-to-highest decibels without any
distortion (“Out of the Blue”), and yet can settle down into quiet soul-searching
tones full of doubt and questioning (“Who Is This Man?”). Whether in solo, duet, or the center of a
stage full of arms and legs moving in frenetic choreography all around her,
this Queenie knows always how to be the star and how to capture our sympathy
after we have long forgiven her vile.
Paul Grant Hovannes as Burrs |
Her lovers are a contrasting pair -- literally black and
white differing in so many ways-- and each portrayed by actors who give
award-deserving performances. Paul Grant
Hovannes is the sometimes scary, always sexy Burrs who is part devil, part
clown. His black-make-upped eyes often
stare with drink-and-drug-induced blankness but tell a haunting story of a man
who is bad, but not all bad. When he voices
his love, his anger, his lust, and his cries for help in song, his vocals match
the mood with the clarity and confidence of an actor who has embodied his Burrs
with every ounce of his muscled being.
RaMond Thomas as Black |
Queenie’s newer attraction, Black, comes in with a standoff
coolness, a mannered politeness, and pointed looks with determined outcomes
written all over them. His aim is to
rescue Queenie and protect her in his arms and his bed. He mourns pensively in song, “She’s a
beautiful, virginal, sensitive, generous, poor child” while later in a pained
voice that is also full of desire, he sings with rich, silver tones in “What Is
It about Her,” “This woman make me cry ... makes me burn ... can cut me to the
core.” RaMond Thomas is the perfect
combination of outward debonair, inner burning, and mounting rage to pull off
the Black needed to complete this doomed love triangle.
Alexandra Feifers as Kate |
The other three-part intrigue involving Queenie and Burrs
includes the always lurking Kate who can be seen visually plotting how to get
Burrs bare and in a bed (or bathtub, if necessary). In a black flapper dress with plenty of
swinging beads and bangles, Alexandra Feifers plows into the already romping
party with a voice that cuts through the air like a Siren’s call of tempt as
she blasts, “Look at Me Now.” She
shimmers, shakes, and sings with bold moves in dance and a voice of coke-happy
glee, “You could be the life of the party if you were more ... like me!” Ms. Feifers, too, is stunning in performance
as she slinks about to woo Burrs or as she centers herself in spotlight with
all her boozing buddies.
James Mayagoitia & Zachariah Mohammed as the D'Armano Brothers |
Among this exceptionally talented cast, others rise to shine
for moments worth notice, often to bring humor to this seedy tale of love and
revenge. Kathryn Fox Hart stops the show
as her seducing, sex-hungry Madeline sings in full, rousing voice, “I need a
good-natured, old-fashioned lesbian love story, the kind of tale my mother used
to tell.” Daniel Barrington Rubio and
Lizzie O’Hara are a male/female Mutt and Jeff as the big and burly boxer and
his petite and pixie girlfriend sing in “Two of a Kind” a series of
back-and-forth, comic complements like “She’s a one-two punch ... He’s a
catered lunch.” Another pair of lovers,
this time the hilarious look-a-like brothers Oscar (James Mayagoitia) and Phil
(Zachariah Mohammed) D’Armano have their time to draw laughs at the piano and
then to step in to be the unlikeliest of Queenie heroes (pun not intended) as
Burrs is hurting her in a fit of jealousy.
Even Queenie and Burrs join in with comedic tongue-in-cheek as they
re-enact with full ensembles’ help twisted versions of the Adam and Eve and Sodom
and Gomorra biblical stories in “A Wild, Wild Party.”
Malakani Severson as Jackie |
While not providing a laugh break, Malakani Severson does
step forward to secure his well-deserved solo spot in “Jackie’s Last
Dance.” With moves that range from
ballet to acrobatically modern steps, from animalistic lunges to graceful
leaps, his dance freezes all action just before discovery of infidelity leads
to a fierce fight between Queenie’s lovers.
Director Jenn BeVard has envisioned dozens of ways to fully
utilize the massive stage of the Victoria Theatre to keep her cast of fourteen
in constant rearrangement, sometimes in full frenzy of moving bodies and other
times as reposed, ever-watchful, and often-responding to the goings-on as a
Greek-like chorus.
The Cast in Dance |
Alex Rodriguez has created and directed scene after scene of
invigorating, gyrating, even frenetic choreography that this ensemble performs
with perfection clearly always the target. Hands, hips, knees, heads, and entire bodies
swirl, snap, and swing in start-and-stop motion in the crowd-pleasing “The Juggernaut.” At another point, ensemble members mold
amazingly into a descending staircase of bodies to guide Queenie from bedroom
to party room (“By Now the Room Was Moving”).
In choruses full of voices that blend robustly and richly, the full-cast
numbers of dance and song repeatedly draw huge audience appreciation.
The dresses, suits, hats, and shoes of the feathered,
beaded, scarfed Roaring Twenties (along, of course, with the appropriate under-garment
styles) are re-created in full color by Co-Designers Sibilla Carini and Melissa
Wortman. A multi-level stage with band
integrated into the cast in one corner, a tilted series of illegal booze
bottles lining the back wall, and just enough props to set individual scenes in
corners left and right are all the fine handiwork of Erik LaDue. A major starring role must be laid at the
inventive mastery hand of Lighting Designer Joe D’Emilio who makes use of the
Victoria’s side walls for dramatic shadow effects, who uses lighting to give
stark and ghastly faces to a lined-up chorus, and who splashes color and spots
to ensure debauchery, party, and jealousy all have their time on the
stage. David Aaron Brown conducts a
fabulous, nine-piece band that really makes Andrew Lippa’s score pop and zing
in sound and tempo.
For anyone who likes to feel the mounting energy emitting
from an audience that is fully in engaged as a participating partner with a
cast in creating an auditorium bursting with electric excitement, now is the
time to rush for a ticket for Ray of Light Theatre’s The Wild Party before the mad, manic scene comes too soon to an end
on June 11.
Rating: 5 E
Ray of Light Theatre’s The
Wild Party continues through June 11, 2016 at the Victoria Theatre, 2961 16th
Street, San Francisco. Tickets are
available online at http://www.victoriatheatre.org/index.php/box-office.
Photos by Nick Otto
Like the party
ReplyDeleteWow!! Happy to see this wild party. Have never attended such a party but would love to if gets a chance. My friend recently arranged a DJ party at one of event space San Francisco. Attended it and was really happy to enjoy it.
ReplyDelete