SU Drama season roars in with “The Wild Party”

Monday, September 26, 2005, By News Staff

SU Drama season roars in with”The Wild Party”September 26, 2005

The 2005-06 Syracuse University Drama Department season will begin with a bang as Andrew Lippa’s “The Wild Party” brings to the Storch Theatre all the steamy seduction of the 1920s jazz era. The show takes audiences to New York during the Roaring Twenties for a stiff shot of out-of-control passion and a whole lot of dancing that’s hot, hot, hot.

“The Wild Party” opens Oct. 7 and runs through Oct. 23. Rodney Hudson, assistant professor of drama, directs with Associate Professor Anthony Salatino as co-director and choreographer and faculty member John Pike as musical director.

“This show is a combination of ‘La Boheme,’ ‘He Gets Slapped,’ ‘Rent’ and ‘Moulin Rouge,'” says Hudson. “It’s operatic in its scope.”

Musical director Pike points to the score, which combines the jazz of the 1920s with later jazz influences from the 1930s to 1990s, as one of the real highlights of the show. “It’s challenging harmonically, rhythmically and gives students the rare opportunity to work with this form of music in a musical theater work,” says Pike. He also pointed out the show’s contemporary feel. “All of the dark elements of humanity are exposed in this piece at one point or another,” he says.

Two unrelated versions of “The Wild Party,” each based on the 1928 poem of the same name by Joseph Moncure March, opened within months of each other in New York City in 2000. One version, written by Michael John LaChiusa, played Broadway’s Virginia Theatre from April to June of that year; Andrew Lippa’s version played off Broadway from February to April. The original Lippa cast featured performers including SU alumni Taye Diggs ’93 and Julia Murney ’90.

Filling the role of Queenie in the SU Drama production is senior musical theater major Jenna Lee Barber. Playing Queenie’s jealous lover Burrs will be senior Stephen Carrasco. Playing the scheming “life of the party” Kate is Andrea Goss, a junior. Mr. Black will be played by senior David Watson.

Tickets are $18 for adults and $16 for students and senior citizens. “Pay what you can night” is for valid SU I.D. cardholders. The show is recommended for mature audiences only. For tickets and more information, contact the SU Drama Department Box Office at (315) 443-3275 or visithttp://vpa.syr.edu/drama.