Victoria Shellady in “Andrew Lippa's Wild Party: In Concert" at the Coralville Center for the Performing Arts -- February 7 through 16.
Friday, February 7, through Sunday, February 9
Coralville Center for the Performing Arts, 1301 Fifth Street, Coralville IA
With the City Circle Theatre Company's latest presentation a winner of the 2000 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Music and the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Off-Broadway Musical, the concert version of Andrew Lippa's Wild Party enjoys a February 7 through 16 run at the Coralville Center for the Performing Arts, this delicious stage hit's 13 Drama Desk Award nominations including those for castmates Brian D'Arcy James and Idina Menzel.
Based on Joseph Moncure March’s 1928 poem of the same name, Andrew Lippa’s The Wild Party tells the story of a vaudeville dancer named Queenie and a vaudeville clown named Burrs, her passionate and violent lover. Queenie is fed up with the life she lives and the pain Burrs puts her through, so she decides to throw the party to end all parties to shake things up. Burrs agrees to attend, and the pair invite a whole slew of colorful characters to their home. Queenie, however, decides to make Burrs jealous, and when Kate (a high-class prostitute who has her eye on Burrs) shows up with a mysterious man named Mr. Black, Queenie goes a little too far and begins to fall in love. As a long night of decadence begins to reach it’s peak, Burrs’ jealousy becomes too much for him and he turns to violence, leaving Queenie to decide what is next for her in this violent and tragic world of the 1920s.
Making her directing debut for City Circle with Andrew Lippa's Wild Party: In Concert is Carrie Pozdol, a castmate from the Coralville Center for the Performing Arts' 2024 Sondheim on Sondheim who has served as intimacy director for more than a half-dozen recent productions in Coralville and Iowa City. Jessica Palmer serves as the production's music director, with additional members of Pozdol's creative team including: choreographer Sasha Tyler; assistant director Lauren Gaillart; stage manager Jeni Tucker; set designer Marianna Coffe; lighting designer Scott Olinger; costume designer Melonie Stoll; sound designer Tim Moffitt; and fight choreographer Carrie Houchins-Witt.
Victoria Shellady portrays Queenie while Alex Anderson plays the villainous Burrs, with 16 gifted area performers completing the Wild Party ensemble: Andrew Bryant; Bryant Duffy; Anna Gordon; Hannah Green; Kayla Lansing Green; Caleb Haselhuhn; Emma Kostiv; Zoe Murphy; Ben Nelson; Molly Owen; Kara Ramirez; Nick Rudzianski; Lily Schloss; Anna Slife; Jenub Wan; and Cassie Williams.
City Circle's production of Andrew Lippa's Wild Party: In Concert runs at the Coralville Center for the Performing Arts February 7 through 16, with performances Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. Admission is $18-32, and more information and tickets are available by calling (319)248-9370 and visiting CoralvilleArts.org.
