March 25, 2026: Theatre Yesterday and Today, by Ron Fassler.

“Queenie was a blonde, and her age stood still,
And she danced twice a day in vaudeville.”

These are the first two lines of Joseph Moncure March’s narrative jazz poem, The Wild Party, written in 1926 but only published in 1928, the year before the stock market crash brought the Roaring Twenties to an abrupt halt. Depicting a sordid moment in time, the poem’s boldly sexual text created something of a sensation, the reason for its delayed publication. Banned in Boston (naturally), it would be illustrated many years later and brought back as a graphic novel in 1994 by Art Spiegelman (of Maus fame and many a New Yorker cover). March himself was a New Yorker writer prior to publishing “Wild Party” and was one of the writers who contributed to the creation of “Talk of the Town,” still featured in every issue after one hundred years.

In 2000, two theatre composers saw separate versions of their visions of The Wild Party reach the New York stage at the same time, each exhibiting decidedly different storylines. Andrew Lippa’s was presented by the Manhattan Theatre Club off-Broadway, and Michael John LaChiusa’s was produced by the Public Theatre and presented on Broadway at the August Wilson Theatre (then the Virginia). Their scores featured some terrific music and lyrics with Lippa’s rock/pop sensibilities somewhat more accessible than LaChiusa’s heavily jazzed influenced melodies. Sharing rousing opening numbers (“Queenie Was a Blonde”), both were set to the quoted first lines of the poem (see above). Directed by George C. Wolfe, who also wrote the book, the Broadway Wild Party was a financial disaster despite star turns from Toni Collette (her Broadway debut), Mandy Patinkin, and Eartha Kitt. All were Tony nominated, as were Wolfe and LaChiusa, but everyone went home empty-handed and the show closed six days after just 68 performances. It was a tough sell.

Well, hang on to your hats because The Wild Party is back at City Center’s Encores! and it’s a lollapalooza! Cast with a brilliant set of singer-actors and directed with a ferocious energy by Lili-Anne Brown, it positively levitates. Hailing from Chicago, Brown pushes her way to the “top of heap” in the words of John Kander and Fred Ebb’s “New York, New York” and, slightly misquoting another of its lyrics, she’s “made it here” with this full-throttle production. First and foremost, as a Black artist, she has changed how Queenie and her husband Burrs are ordinarily portrayed. Now with Black actors Jasmine Amy Rogers and Jordan Donica, we are treated to two opposite sides of the coin. Rogers’ Queenie wants to pass for white (her makeup is superb) while Donica’s Burrs is caught in the trap of being a vaudevillian during the time when a Black performer was only allowed on stage if they performed in exaggerated blackface (think the sad comedian Bert Williams). The program notes refer to The Wild Party as “a tragically beautiful piece of American art” and with these emotionally charged changes, Brown is unmistakably raising the temperature of LaChuisa and Wolfe’s ambitious heat.

Its plot is slight, but the night of debauchery hosted and depicted by Burrs and Queenie is anything but. Everyone is sexually aggressive, from a fourteen-year-old brought to the party (Maya Rowe carefully treading the line between naïve and seductive) as well as two Jewish producers (KJ Hippensteel and Andrew Kober, both very funny) looking to land a star for their next show and find themselves, by evening’s end, in their underwear not knowing where their pants have gone. Meghan Murphy is a standout as Madelaine, a reckless, boozy broad and Claybourne Elder shines as a horny provocateur. The always reliable Leslie Margherita fashions a comic gem out of Mae, with what feels like a loving salute to Jean Harlow in Dinner at Eight. The team of Wesley J. Barnes and Joseph Anthony Byrd are inspired as Oscar and Phil (incestuous brothers, no less), leading with superb singing and precision dancing from the tops of their head to the tip of their toes. And Jelani Alladin offers solid support in the small but crucial role of Black, a man out to get what he wants by whatever means it takes. His scenes with Adrienne Warren as Kate, the last character to enter the wild party, sizzle. It’s a joy to have the Tony Award winning Warren (Tina) back onstage after a year’s absence since last season’s Last Five Years. And in the cleverest casting of the night, Tonya Pinkins, the original Kate in the 2000 production, is here playing Dolores Montoya, the role previously purred by Eartha Kitt. It’s hard to believe it’s been 45 years since she made her debut in the original cast of Merrily We Roll Along, but here she is, and she’s still a knockout.

But the stars of the show are Queenie and Burrs and Rogers and Donica prove a most powerful pairing. Rogers, who killed it in 2025 as the title role in Betty Boop, is a chameleon-like actor who has dazzled since that auspicious performance; first as Ado Annie in a one-night concert version of Oklahoma! at Carnegie Hall in January, and second, in the current hit off-Broadway production of The Putnam County 25th Annual Spelling Bee (thankfully, she was given time off to do Wild Party). Not only is she unrecognizable in these three totally different parts, but she has a singing voice to die for, moves in ways that would have made Bob Fosse fall in love with her, and the acting chops of someone twice her age with three times the experience. Jasmine Amy Rogers is the real deal.

Donica, who made a gallant and exceedingly well-sung Lancelot in the 2023 Lincoln Center revival of Camelot, first gained attention as Freddy Eynsford-Hill in the 2018 Lincoln Center My Fair Lady. A commanding presence at 6’4”, like Rogers, he is also enjoying another gig at the moment in the recurring role of Dr. Kirkland, affianced to Peggy (Denée Benton) on HBO’s The Gilded Age. Roaringly wild as Burrs, my only issue with Donica’s performance is in the difficulty of finding the delicate balance between the resentment and pent-up rage the character must go through and how to not let it go over the top. At times, both actor and director appeared to be struggling with an excessiveness that felt forced. But there is no doubt Donica’s singing is magnificent.

The musical direction by Daryl Waters conducting a fifteen-piece orchestra is dynamite. With his back to us from his perch upstage, I couldn’t help but take the time to watch his effortless control over the proceedings. It would be heaven if a recording was made of this cast with these musicians. The choral work is, at times, downright chilling. Reaching crescendos of cacophony, Waters and associate musical director Paul Masse, along with music coordinator Kimberlee Wertz and the director of music administration and score restoration (lot of words there), have done sterling work.

The excessiveness of Wild Party is built-in to its story and vibrant score. At Encores!, with its scenery stripped down to some furniture and a couple of doors, it shows that less is more in the hands of designer Arnel Sancianco. And unlike the previous Encores! presentation, a staged-reading of High Spirits with books in hand, this is full-throttle, go for the throat, balls to the wall, fully staged and choreographed with style and substance by Katie Spellman. To think this was put together in two weeks is nearly impossible to fathom. Final shout outs to Linda Cho’s costumes and Tom Watson’s wigs, Justin Townsend’s moody and at times threatening lighting, and excellent sound design from Alex Neumann. This is one of the best Encores! to materialize in some time and, if it gives new life to Mr. March’s nearly one hundred-year-old poem, more power to it.

The Wild Party is playing a limited run now through Sunday March 29th at City Center, 131 W 55th Street, NYC. For ticket information, click here.

Ron Fassler is the author of The Show Goes On: Broadway Hirings, Firings and Replacements. For news and “Theatre Yesterday and Today”columns when they break, please subscribe.