Santa Monica’s Morgan-Wixson Theatre once again gives professional houses a run for their much bigger bucks with a fabulously staged and performed Andrew Lippa’s Wild Party.

As in the 1928 epic poem by Joseph Moncure March that gives Lippa’s musical its name, The Wild Party has platinum stunner Queenie (Serenity Ariel Robb) persuading Burrs (Hamilton Davis), her abusive lover of seven years, to throw what she hopes will be the wildest party in all New York.

On the guest list are in-your-face lesbian Madeline True (Emilia Sotelo), pro boxer Eddie (Spencer Johnson) and his boop-boop-a-doop girlfriend Mae (Mirai), mute dancer Jackie (Krystal Combs), flamboyant “brothers” Oscar and Phil D’Armano (Jonathan Saia and Sam Gianfala), blowsy hooker Dolores (Holly Weber), underage nymphet Nadine (Kelsey Weinstein), bigshot theater producer Sam Himmelstein (Roland Vasquez, stepping in for Steve Weber), and quite a few more.

Things start out wild and get even wilder when russet firecracker Kate (Kaitlin Doughty) arrives with her latest flame, Black (Deonte Allen), and when Black and Queenie hit it off, you can be sure that something not so pretty is about to hit the fan.

Madeline goes hunting for fresh young female flesh with whom to share “a good-natured, old-fashioned lesbian love story,” the mismatched Eddie and Mae proclaim rather improbably that they are “Two Of A Kind” in yet another of book-and-song-writer Lippa’s instantly contagious tunes, partygoers revel to the dance craze called “The Juggernaut,” and the D’Armanos get the joint even more a-jumpin’ in “A Wild, Wild Party,” the last two numbers just a couple of the many that showcase Michael Marchak’s sensational, high-powered choreography.

Director Kristin Towers-Rowles (who like Marchak has The Wild Party on her acting resume) directs for the Morgan-Wixson with consummate imagination and flair, eliciting one impressive performance after another.

Robb’s Queenie sizzles in voluptuous Marilyn Monroe mode while digging deep into the wild party gal’s conflicted emotions and desires and bringing down the house with “Maybe I Like It This Way” and “How Did We Come To This?”

 Davis matches his costar every step of the way, dangerously handsome and downright dangerous when things aren’t going his way, and like the electrifying firecracker that is Doughty’s humongous-voiced Kate, can sing all the way up to the rafters, no amplification needed.

And just wait until Allen’s silkily suave Black joins Robb, Davis, and Doughty in a pair of show-stopping quartets, “Poor Child” and “Listen To Me.”

Featured players Sotelo (a force of nature as Madeline) and the comically mismatched duo of Johnson’s big burly Eddie and Mirai’s squeaky blonde bombshell of a Mae steal the show more than once.

Gianfala, Saia, Weber, Weinstein, and Vasquez are terrific too in their cameo roles, Combs’ gender-bending Jackie dances a stunning “Last Dance,” and Eric Eberle, swing Eadric Einbinder, and Kaitlyn Coon complete The Wild Party’s multitalented ensemble.

The entire cast perform unmiked to prerecorded tracks under Daniel Koh’s expert musical direction, kudos shared with sound designer Ryan Rowles, soundboard operator Cody Holmes, and the Morgan-Wixson’s remarkable acoustics.

Scenic designer Yelena Babinskaya’s striking New York apartment set (painted to perfection by scenic artist Orlando De La Paz) is spectacularly lit by Derek Jones.

Costume designer Michael Mullen once again outdoes himself with an array of fabulous 1920s party wear, with Jon Sparks’ wigs and Mia Staraci’s props completing a nearly pitch-perfect Roaring Twenties look marred only by several very anachronistic male hairdos.

Amanda Noriko Newman’s fight choreography has spectators believing its participants are actually doing each other harm, and Emilia Ray directs stage intimacy (of which there is a great deal given just how wild this party is).

Understudies Iah Bearden-Vrai, Coon, Combs, and Javon Ford take over the roles of Burrs, Kate, Queenie, and Black from September 30 to October 2. Anna Domenica Gagliardo and Gianna Pira are swings.

Andrew Lippa’s Wild Party is produced by Johnson and Regina Niles. Marchak is assistant director. Emily Ellis is production stage manager and Ethan Kuwata is assistant stage manager. Mario Espinoza is lighting assistant. William Wilday doubles as technical director and master builder.

A mere two days before Andrew Lippa’s Wild Party was set to open on March 14, 2020, the production was “postponed,” though no one at the time could have predicted for just how long.

A whopping thirty months later, Andrew Lippa’s Wild Party proves well worth a two-and-a-half-year wait. Blurring the line between community and professional theater, it is the Morgan-Wixson at its sizzling, provocative, stand-up-and-cheer best.

Morgan-Wixson Theatre, 2627 Pico Boulevard, Santa Monica. Through October 15. Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00. Sundays at 2:00.
www.morgan-wixson.org

–Steven Stanley
September 24, 2022
Photos: Joel Castro