IU Theatre and Drama throws ‘Wild Party’ on stage

Act II opens with a song by a coked-out 1920s vixen.

The cast strips down to barely any clothing, and they drink alcohol and do drugs.

IU’s Department of Theatre and Drama will perform the musical “The Wild Party” on Saturday, lighting up the Wells-Metz Theatre with all the splendor of the dark side of the roaring ’20s.

Andrew Lippa’s “The Wild Party” is based on Joseph Moncure March’s 1928 poem of the same title.

Directed by Emmy Award-winning professor George Pinney, the show is a high-energy integration of acting, singing, music and dance.

It is full of “killer lines and high energy,” Pinney said.

“It’s funny, erotic and sexual,” he said. “It starts out very classy with the height of the 1920s evening ware, and then dissolves into human oblivion.”

“Every seat in the house is a good seat,” Pinney added. “There are great scenes one after another, from the opening to the closing.”

It’s an R-rated piece, so it might be best to leave the kids at home, Pinney said.

“It’s for adult audiences,” said junior William Angulo, who plays Burrs in the play. “We are not censoring anything in this show. George is really big on not censoring.”
The musical is dark – full of sex, drugs and booze and shows the worst of the human condition, Pinney said.

“The Wild Party” has some great music and a racy plot, but this is backed up by a great cast, cast members said.

“This is a tour de force for a musical theater performer,” Pinney said. “All the roles are challenging. The cast is really rising to the occasion. Students are going to have a ball.”

The scenes of “The Wild Party” presented challenges to the cast. Members had to push their own limits and become even more comfortable on stage than they already were, Angulo said.

“We had to get past the physical uncomfortableness,” he said. “Now that we have done it a hundred times, it’s not as jarring. We are getting past some of that physical uncomfortableness now.”

Senior Lovlee Carroll, who plays Kate in the musical, said the show is one of her favorites.

“Sex, drugs, alcohol,” Carroll said. “I know that these are things that are very big hot topics. This is a wild party. If audience members don’t want to go to a party but just watch one, then this is a show for you.”


‘The Wild Party’
When: The show opens at 7:30 p.m. Friday. Additional performances are Saturday, and Tuesday through Nov. 1
Where: Wells-Metz Theatre
More info: The musical takes place at a party, and the plot follows the abusive relationship between Queenie (Ariel Simpson) and Burrs (William Angulo) and Queenie’s plan to make Burrs jealous.
Tickets: $20 for adults and $15 for students, seniors and people 30 and younger. Student rush tickets, available the day of each performance, are $12 cash with a valid IU-Bloomington student ID. Group prices are also available.
For ticket information, call 855-1103. Tickets are on sale at the IU Auditorium Box Office, through Ticketmaster at 333-9955 or online at www.theatre.indiana.edu.