The production, which features music and lyrics by Michael John LaChiusa and a book by LaChiusa and George C. Wolfe, is based on the 1928 poem by Joseph Moncure March. It continues through Nov. 1 at Victory Gardens Richard Christiansen Theater.
Brenda Didier directs and choreographs, and Aaron Benham provides musical direction.
The Wild Party features Danni Smith as Queenie, Matthew Keffer as Burrs and Danielle Brothers as Delores with Molly Coleman, Gilbert Domally, Patrick Falcon, Desmond Gray, Jason Grimm, Christina Hall, Sharriese Hamilton, Ryan Lanning, Steven Perkins, Khaki Pixley, Jason Richards and Sasha Smith.
"Manhattan decadence in the 1920s provides the backdrop for this tough musical fable," press notes state. "Queenie, a vaudeville chorus girl. hosts a titular blowout with her vicious lover Burrs, a blackface minstrel. The guests are a vivid collection of the unruly and the undone: Queenie's conniving rival, a cocaine-sniffing bisexual playboy, a washed-up boxer, a black 'brother act,' a diva of indeterminate age and infinite life experience, the fresh-off-the-farm ingénue whose naïveté quickly evaporates, a lesbian actress and her comatose girlfriend, and the bargain-basement heartthrob who catches Queenie's roving eye. The jazz- and gin-soaked party rages to a mounting sense of threat as artifice and illusion are stripped away. When midnight debauchery leads to tragedy at dawn, the high-flying characters land with a sobering thud, reminding us that no party lasts forever."
The production team for The Wild Party includes Megan Truscott (scenic designer), Theresa Ham (costume designer), Brian Hoehne (lighting designer), Patrick Bley (sound designer), Cameron Turner (assistant choreographer), Wil Deleguardia (technical director), Geoff Bleeker (assistant director/dramaturg) and Mallory Bass (stage manager). The Victory Gardens Richard Christiansen Theater is located at 2433 N. Lincoln Ave. in Chicago. Tickets and more information are available by calling (773) 871-3000 or visiting victorygardens.org.
