Before the first brass blast cuts through the theater, “The Wild Party” announces itself with a sly wink. The show curtain, emblazoned with a stylized, vaudevillian flair, evokes not just the Jazz Age world of the musical but the idea of performance itself—a party that is also a show, populated by people who are always acting, even when they’re unraveling.
That framing proves essential to understanding Michael John LaChiusa and George C. Wolfe’s ambitious, unsettling musical, now revived by City Center Encores! more than 25 years after its short-lived Broadway debut. At the time, “The Wild Party” was overshadowed by the strange coincidence of a competing adaptation (Andrew Lippa’s more accessible version) and perhaps rejected for being too dark, too dense, and too unconventional. Today, it looks less like a misfire and more like a missed opportunity.
Based on Joseph Moncure March’s 1928 narrative poem, the musical follows vaudeville performers Queenie and Burrs as they host a raucous, gin-soaked party in their Manhattan apartment. Over the course of an intermissionless two hours, a parade of guests—lovers, rivals, opportunists—arrive, flirt, posture, and implode, as the festivities shift from playful decadence to something far more volatile and destructive.
The structure is intentionally sprawling, with nearly every character introduced through their own musical number. That design gives the show texture and variety, but also contributes to its central weakness: a sense of narrative diffusion. The first half can feel overstuffed, even indulgent, as the musical lingers on secondary characters before the central drama fully takes hold. When it does, the second half pivots sharply into a darker, more somber register—less a party than a slow-motion collapse—which the intermissionless format makes difficult to sustain.
Yet what emerges, especially in this revival, is a work of striking ambition and originality—arguably LaChiusa’s best score. Restless, brassy, and often deliberately dissonant, the music doesn’t simply evoke the Jazz Age—it weaponizes it. Songs surge, fracture, and bleed into one another, creating a sense of mounting unease that can feel almost physically overwhelming. It’s exhilarating when it clicks, exhausting when it doesn’t, and never merely background.
Photo by Joan Marcus
Encores!, which previously staged Lippa’s version a decade ago, finally turns its attention to the LaChiusa score—and the result is a vivid, if imperfect, rediscovery.
Director Lili-Anne Brown opts for a fully staged production rather than a stripped-down concert presentation, with a detailed apartment set. But the physical staging proves to be a mixed bag. Unlike the original Broadway production, which used a revolving set to create fluidity, this static environment can feel crowded and oddly inert, with characters frequently sitting or lingering in place.
The material might have benefited from a more minimal approach—or even a more intimate venue. One can easily imagine “The Wild Party” thriving at a space like Classic Stage Company, staged in the round, where its claustrophobic intensity could fully register.
Still, musically, the production is hard to fault. Under Daryl Waters’ music direction, the Encores! orchestra delivers a full-bodied, thrilling account of LaChiusa’s score, giving numbers like the aching duet “People Like Us” and Dolores’ show-stopping “When It Ends” the kind of richness and clarity they demand.
At the center is Jasmine Amy Rogers (“Boop!”), who continues her rapid ascent with a vivid, mercurial turn as Queenie. Face caked in white makeup, she presents a character who is at once alluring, volatile, and increasingly fragile, her emotional shifts sharpening as the night unravels. Opposite her, Jordan Donica offers a compellingly grounded Burrs—not just explosive, but weary, bitter, and quietly menacing, as if already aware of where the night is headed. The casting of both roles with Black performers adds a resonant layer to the material, sharpening its themes of identity, performance, and self-presentation.
Photo by Joan Marcus
Among the supporting players, Adrienne Warren brings precision and authority to Queenie’s frenemy Kate, while Jelani Alladin lends smooth charm to Black, the outsider whose presence destabilizes the central relationship. Tonya Pinkins—who appeared in the original 2000 Broadway production as Kate—returns here as Dolores Montoya, commanding the stage with veteran authority and delivering her climactic number with effortless control.
The evening’s standout, however, may be Lesli Margherita, whose Mae is by turns hilarious, strange, and unexpectedly poignant—a fully realized character amid the show’s crowded landscape. Claybourne Elder also makes a strong impression as the hedonistic Jackie, pairing a powerful voice with an unsettling edge.
To be sure, this cast does not eclipse the original Broadway company, which included Mandy Patinkin, Toni Collette, and Eartha Kitt. Nor does this production surpass that original staging. But that’s not the point. This is Encores!, not Broadway—and by Encores! standards, it is a strong, musically robust production tackling a notoriously difficult piece.
And that difficulty remains central to the experience. “The Wild Party” is a show without pause—relentless in structure, tone, and emotional trajectory. It dazzles in bursts but can feel draining as a whole, particularly as the second half leans into its darker impulses without always fully landing their emotional weight.
More importantly, the production affirms the value of revisiting challenging work. If “The Wild Party” felt out of step in 2000—losing Best Musical to “Contact,” a dance piece that barely qualified—the party now lands, and Broadway may finally be ready for it.
City Center, 131 W. 55th St., nycitycenter.org. Through March 29.
