Full casting has been announced for Michael John LaChiusa’s The Wild Party, which will receive its London premiere at The Other Palace (formerly the St James Theatre) on 13 February 2017. Tickets are now on sale.
Joining the previously announced Frances Ruffelle as Queenie are John Owen-Jones (Les Miserables, The Phantom Of The Opera) as Burrs, Simon Thomas (Phantom Of The Opera, Legally Blonde) as Black, Donna McKechnie (A Chorus Line, Promises, Promises) as Dolores, Dex Lee (Grease, In The Heights) as Jackie, Victoria Hamilton-Barritt (Murder Ballad, In The Heights) as Kate, Ako Mitchell (Ragtime, Grey Gardens) as Eddie, Gloria Obianyo and Genesis Lynea as The D’armano Bros, Melanie Bright as Sally, Lizzy Connolly as Mae, Steven Serlin as Goldberg, Sebastian Torkia as Gold, Bronté Barbé as Nadine and Tiffany Graves as Madelaine.
Set against a backdrop of Manhattan decadence and 1920’s excess, The Wild Party tells the story of Queenie and Burrs, a Vaudeville showgirl and a Vaudeville clown whose relationship is marked by vicious behaviour and recklessness. In an attempt to salvage their toxic union, they decide to throw a party to end all parties. The guests are a vivid collection of the unruly and the undone: a cocaine-sniffing bisexual playboy; a washed-up boxer; a diva of indeterminate age; a fresh-faced ingénue; and a handsome Valentino 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. But when midnight debauchery turns into tragedy, the revellers must sober up and face reality. After all, no party lasts forever.
The Wild Party will be directed and choreographed by Drew McOnie, who directed and choreographed Strictly Ballroom at West Yorkshire Playhouse and received the 2016 Olivier Award for Best Theatre Choreographer for his work on In The Heights.
The Wild Party has music and lyrics by Michael John LaChiusa and a book by George C. Wolfe and Michael John LaChiusa. It is directed and choreographed by Drew McOnie with musical direction by Theo Jamieson (Funny Girl, West End), set and costume design by Soutra Gilmour (Dr Faustus, Urinetown, The Commitments, West End) and lighting design by Richard Howell (Jekyll and Hyde, Old Vic). Casting is by Will Burton. It is presented by Paul Taylor-Mills by arrangement with R&H Theatricals Europe.
