I’ve been a fervent supporter of Michael John LaChiusa’s The Wild Party ever since I saw the cast perform a vivid and vicious snippet at the 2000 Tony Awards, however at auditions it’s always Lippa’s version that I hear and accompany while singer’s tend to ignore the trickier LaChiusa work.

For those who don’t know, the year 2000 saw the release of two musicals based on the same source material, Joseph Moncure March’s poem first published in 1928, telling the story of Queenie and her lover Burrs who decide to hold a party filled with life, unique characters and gin. The poem was banned for being too racy, but obviously drew the attention of both Michael John LaChiusa and Andrew Lippa. LaChiusa’s production was mounted on Broadway with Toni Collette, Mandy Patinkin and Eartha Kitt while Lippa’s sat off-Broadway with Julia Murney, Brian D’Arcy James and Idina Menzel.

Both shows have merit but from the cast recordings and what I’ve read, I’ll always listen to LaChiusa’s Wild Party over Lippa’s. Here’s why.

• LaChiusa gets the tone right. It has always disturbed me that in a piece set in the 1920s, Lippa’s Wild Party features pop ballads and Frank Wildhorn-esque wailing electric guitars. I have no problem with sound not matching era – take Spring Awakening for instance – particularly to create contrast, but Lippa’s seems to sit in an uneasy halfway between “tried to be authentic” and “completely disregarding the sound of the era”, which comes off more like forgetfulness than craft. Instead, LaChiusa’s score sounds like vaudeville when it should (“Marie Tricky”), and perversely romantic when (“Tabu”) when he wants to cool things off but not let you forget that this is all Not Quite Right.
• LaChiusa makes it hard. I’m always drawn to things that are so imperceivably complex or skilfully crafted that I wonder how someone’s mind makes it to that destination at all. He uses difficult rhythms to portray the chaos and dissonance to paint the party like a . After all, isn’t it a wild party? It’s not just the singer’s who are worked hard; that orchestra earns their pay packet by the end of the night. Flamboyant clarinet credenzas are the norm and LaChiusa’s writing is never typical broadway.
• LaChiusa focuses on the relationships. It’s more interesting to hear three minutes of a conversation (particularly when things are spicy between those people) than three minutes of someone telling us a how they feel. Take “Best Friend”, a catfight between Queenie and Kate. During the song (filled with plenty of fun rhymes), we learn about Kate, Queenie and their Bosom Buddies relationship. Lippa uses “Look At Me Now”, a big belt for Idina Menzel, but we learn nothing from it other than Kate wishes to portray herself as a “I’ve been down, but now look at me” kind of girl, which is not exactly an interesting sentiment. At the end of LaChiusa’s character introductions, I feel like I have a much more intimate understanding of their personalities and, if you’ll excuse the use of the phrase, what makes them ‘tick’.
• Bruce Coughlin’s orchestrations are supreme. Bruce is one of Broadway’s most talented orchestrators along with the likes of Ted Sperling and Michael Starobin. He’s a magician with a pit orchestra who can craft superb tone colours that make me wonder “How is he doing that?”, just as I do when I listen to Ravel or Stravinsky. I’d love to know what is written in the score for the brass players in “Marie Is Tricky” to get them to sound like that. A few years ago I read an article Bruce wrote on his website about his dissatisfaction with the recording quality of the scores he’s orchestrated. His particular gripe with The Wild Party was the fact that the strings were mixed too quietly. I’d love to hear what it sounds like in his head, because it’s magnificent from this side.
• There’s a bit of patriotism at play too. Toni Collette is shockingly good on the recording (and youTube). This was before we all knew she was excellent courtesy of The United States of Tara. In the early-2000s I passed up an opportunity to see Toni Collette perform with her band at the local pub, something I’ll always feel a quiver of regard about. The rest of the cast is great too and I can’t imagine Mandy Patinkin offered anything less than an intense and truly terrifying performance.

I appreciate singer’s tend to like belty stuff, particularly if they are better vocalists than actors, but in my opinion LaChiusa’s score has a greater potential to captivate an audience, even when presented out of context.