The Wild Party

The story of The Wild Party

Set in New York City during the 1920s, The Wild Party centers on Queenie, a vaudeville performer, and her volatile lover Burrs, a clown by trade with a cruel streak offstage. When the couple decides to throw a raucous party in their apartment, the guest list fills with fellow performers, hangers-on, and a mysterious woman named Kate who arrives with a stranger, Black, who quickly draws Queenie's attention.

As the liquor flows and the night stretches toward dawn, old jealousies and buried resentments surface among the partygoers. The show plays out almost entirely across this single, increasingly chaotic evening, using the claustrophobic setting to build tension toward a shocking climax that exposes the desperation lurking beneath the era's glamorous surface.

The music and the makers

Andrew Lippa wrote the music, lyrics, and book for this version of The Wild Party, drawing on Joseph Moncure March's 1928 narrative poem as his source material. His score uses a deliberately anachronistic pop-rock sound, complete with electric guitars, rather than imitating 1920s jazz, giving the piece a hard-edged, sensual, modern energy.

Lippa's songs move between sultry ballads and driving ensemble numbers, capturing the reckless glamour and underlying menace of the party. The result is a score that demands powerhouse vocal performances and has become a favorite for singers looking to show off both belt and nuance.

The two Wild Parties of 2000

Andrew Lippa's The Wild Party premiered off-Broadway at Manhattan Theatre Club in February 2000, in one of New York theatre's strangest coincidences: a completely separate musical adaptation of the same poem, written by Michael John LaChiusa with George C. Wolfe, opened on Broadway at the Virginia Theatre just weeks later. Two rival Wild Parties in one season made theatre fans take notice, and the two scores have been compared ever since.

Lippa's version found its audience among those drawn to darker, character-driven musicals rather than traditional feel-good fare. Its appeal lies in its unflinching look at flawed, complicated people and its willingness to let a musical get genuinely dangerous. For fans of jazz-age atmosphere and morally messy storytelling, it remains a compelling piece of American musical theatre.

The Wild Party: frequently asked questions