At a wild party being thrown at Tufts University, guests could’ve left, grabbed a bite at the local convenience store and arrive back just in time for the drama. The same goes for the production of Torn Ticker II’s production of Andrew Lippa’s The Wild Party.
Based on a pre-depression book-length poem by Joseph Moncure-March, The Wild Party is about an eclectic group of New Yorkers who are trying to find companionship and feed their desires – sex, drugs, love quagmires – through a raucous, underground party. At the center of these guests are the hosts: Queenie, a leggy blonde tease who craves the attention of any man that enters the room – gay or straight – and Burs, her long-term jealous and abusive lover and vaudeville clown.
While most of the loose plot is centered around Queenie’s and Burs’ struggle to be the life of the party, their other guests – a minor, a lesbian, gay men, a pugilist and his wife, a slut and her “new friend” – struggle for the spotlight too, though ultimately failing and falling into positions of isolation.
It’s forgivable that Julia Arazi (Queenie) wasn’t blond (the opening song is called “Queenie was a blond”) and although she has a powerful voice and a strong stage presence to accompany her acting, it wasn’t suited for the catchy, jazzy tunes of The Wild Party. Not to mention that Queenie is supposed to be a graceful seductress and Arazi lacked the grace of a gazelle.
But her performance is almost forgivable because she garnered great support from the antics of Sean Hefferon (Burs), whose experience (not to mention singing and dancing) in New York City-area productions helped drive Arazi. But Hefferon wasn’t carrying the entire show. He received more support from the rest of the cast. Emi Norris (Kate) was as spicy as temptresses go, as she shimmied and attempted to seduce Burs the entire night. And while Brian Raphel and Samantha Karlin didn’t have major roles, they provided relief and entertainment to an otherwise dull party – even with the multiple orgies on stage toward the end of the performance.
And while this does sound a bit like F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, it doesn’t quite measure up to the drama and grandeur of a Gatsby soiree.
But if The Wild Party has taught anything, it’s that parties can’t and shouldn’t last forever … or more than two hours and five minutes. m