Bygone party pooper

The Wild Party is not as roaring as the age it seeks to evoke
Matt Connell|Metro10 April 2012

Four years after its debut in New York, Andrew Lippa's The Wild Party finally washes up across the Atlantic for a lacklustre London premiere at the Riverside.

Based on the poetic novella by Joseph Moncure March, David Dorrian's production evokes the dizzy hedonism of the Roaring Twenties in a musical heavy on gin but with little in the way of tonic.

The threadbare plot involves the failing relationship of two vaudeville performers and their fateful decision to host a 'wild' party that inevitably ends in disaster.


But even the wildest of parties takes a while to get going, and not until the guests arrive can a capable cast tackle Lippa's eclectic score, hurtling from the Latin-infused beats of standout number Raise The Roof to the poignant ballad Poor Child.

The music might not take its influences from the jazz-fuelled age the show seeks to recreate, but the dubious sexual politics of the piece clearly hark back to a bygone era.

Unreconstructed sexual stereotypes abound, with disturbing tendencies toward harassment and domestic violence. Not quite The Beautiful And The Damned then, more 'the beautiful and the bruised' as one song eloquently puts it.

The musical highlights are all during the climactic ending, so while this amateurish party might not be a roaring success, it is at least one worth sticking around until the end for.

Until Sat, Riverside Studios, Crisp Road W6, Tue to Sat 7.45pm, £15, £9 concs. Tel: 020 8237 1111. Tube: Hammersmith

The Wild Party

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in