Playhouse on Park, West Hartford, CT
https://playhouseonpark.org
https://playhouseonpark.org
July 8 - August 16, 2026
By Suzanne Wells
Inspired by Joseph Moncure March’s poem, Andrew Lippa’s “The Wild Party” turns Jazz Age excess into a dark, volatile theatrical event.
Set in New York City in 1927, “The Wild Party” plunges into a single feverish night when restraint gives way, desire curdles into danger, and the glitter of excess darkens into brutality, leaving emotional wreckage by morning.
Scenic designer Kim Zhou creates a stage that shifts from an intimate apartment bedroom to a living room ready to burst with heat, noise, and recklessness. Costume designer Micah Ohno heightens the production’s decadence, dressing the women in silks, sequins, and furs, while the men move through the room in smoking jackets, tails, and suspenders.
Queenie, played by Mollie Downes, is a leggy blonde sex kitten caught in a volatile love-hate relationship with the manic-depressive Burrs, portrayed by Trevor Bunce. Restless and hungry for distraction, they throw a party and fill the room with a vivid assortment of guests, each arriving with appetites, secrets, and trouble in tow.
Downes is an athletic, graceful dancer, commanding the stage with restless movement even when the choreography leaves her circling or reclining. Her voice, however, raises the roof with “Out of the Blue” and “Maybe I Like It This Way,” and her ability to let distress seep through the melody of “How Did We Come to This?” is genuinely moving.
Bunce, also an athletic dancer with a strong voice, gives Burrs a jagged, combustible presence. His portrayal of the boorish, abusive lout who uses anyone and everyone to appease his physical hunger emphasizes the character’s cruelty feel immediate and makes it easy to question why anyone would love him.
Maddi Bowman brings bright, mischievous energy to Kate, the favorite party girl and sly instigator whose charm helps keep the night’s excesses evolving.
Directed by Sean Harris, with music direction by Colin Britt and choreography by Darlene Zoller, “The Wild Party” opens a window on a room where pleasure keeps edging toward punishment and glamour frays into consequence.
This production is not recommended for children.
