"The Wild Party" isn't your average musical. You won't find any of the usual elements - no good guy, no bad guy, no painfully catchy melodies or laughably corny lyrics. What you will find is sex, drugs and one heck of a party.
Torn Ticket II's fall major revolves around four vaudeville actors in the roaring '20s: Queenie (senior Julia Arazi), Burrs (freshman Sean Hefferon), Kate (senior Emi Norris), and Mr. Black (sophomore Theron Corbin). Queenie and Burrs have been together for a few years, but there are indications that their relationship may be going a little sour. Maybe it's that Burrs slaps Queenie, or that she holds a knife up to him. Suffice it to say, the couple's relationship could use a bit of a boost.
To solve the problem, Queenie decides to throw a huge party. She invites all her friends from the vaudeville underground, creating an interesting crowd that includes two gay playwrights, a minor and a hooker. It's an eclectic and volatile mix: Kate, for example, makes her entrance into the party by giving the middle finger to the entire room. Yep, that's the kind of party this is going to be.
The party starts as fun and games, but tensions soon escalate when Queenie meets Kate's date, Mr. Black. Their attraction is instant and powerful, and what starts off as an attempt to hurt Burrs becomes something more. This creates all kinds of problems, which the characters work out through song, dance and lots of alcohol.
There are several elements that make "The Wild Party" different from traditional musicals. The play isn't structured in the typical musical fashion, where audience members can guess what ought to happen and then watch how everything falls into place. "Everything isn't neat and wrapped up with a bow at the end," said the director, senior Laura Espy. "But that makes it more real. That's life."
The play also contains complex characters that defy labels like good guy or bad guy. "The characters are very multi-layered," Arazi said. The characters must struggle with themselves constantly and grapple with difficult moral choices that have no easy answers. Their relationships with one another are equally complicated, leading to exciting and dynamic interactions on stage.
The fact that each character is deeply flawed makes for some interesting acting challenges. "Burrs is probably one of the hardest characters I've ever played," Hefferon said. "But what they say about the villains being more fun, that's true."
Arazi agreed. "I had to find a lot of anger in myself to play Queenie. It was hard," she said.
Perhaps what most sets "The Wild Party" apart from other musicals is its modernity. Although the play takes place in the 1920s, the pit is guitar-heavy, giving the score a very rock sound. Coupled with sleek choreography, the show has a contemporary look despite its historical setting.
The story is also more than accessible to the modern college student. "If you think about it, what's happening here isn't so different from what happens at frat parties all the time," Espy said. "People become archetypes, it becomes a performance. We're attracted to the drama, that's why we go."
The play is also rather modern in another respect. "It's so sexy," said Arazi. And it is. At one point, the entire ensemble has stripped down to their underclothes, and there are so many couples and kisses that it's hard to keep track. It's certainly not "Oklahoma!," but it is fun to watch.
Espy said that she hoped this would take away some of the stigma associated with more "traditional" musical theater.
"It's not one of those musicals where you walk away saying, 'That was so unrealistic. No one would just break out in song like that,'" she said.
Instead, the music emphasizes the fact that the characters really are putting on a performance, not just for the audience but for each other. The score isn't there just for its own sake, and that sets "The Wild Party" apart.
In the end, its modern, hip feel is what makes "The Wild Party" worth seeing. It's edgy, complex and fun. Even those out there who aren't "theater people" might want to give this party a go.
