‘The Wild Party’ is worth attending
YOU MIGHT think Broadway sweetheart Sutton Foster would be out of place in a roomful of horny, hopped-up swillers and killers.
Nope. This Tony winner and “Younger” star fits right in as Queenie, a debauched vaudeville dancer. She looks for trouble and finds it in Andrew Lippa’s dark-toned jazz suite, “The Wild Party.”
As an Off-Broadway show, “Party” duked it out 15 years ago with a Broadway version of the same story. Now it runs through Saturday at Encores! Off-Center at City Center.
Foster keeps the eternal sunshine in her singing of a score filled with blues, vaudeville and Broadway belting. What makes her performance intriguing is about acting and attitude. She sets her jaw, narrows her eyes and conjures a jaded woman who’s had it with abusive lover Burrs (Steven Pasquale). In a new song that concludes the show, Queenie ironically asks, “Where’s my happy ending?”
Foster anchors this intermittently interesting but predictable musical. Her chemistry with Brandon Victor Dixon gives the show a racing pulse. He plays Black, a stranger who crashes Queenie and Burrs’ bash with the coke-snorting Kate (Joaquina Kalukango), who sings about wanting to be “The Life of the Party.”
Dixon is irresistible. His laid-back approach leaves you wanting more, just like Queenie does. Others in the cast could follow his lead. This staging by Leigh Silverman tends to drive so hard it pushes you away.
But some moments are just right. Miriam Shor adds tang as a predatory lesbian; too bad she all but vanishes into the background after her solo, “An Old-Fashioned Love Story.”
The best moments come as Queenie, Black, Burrs and Kate blend their voices for “The Juggernaut” and “Listen to Me.” They’re terrific songs, and the vocal arrangements by Chris Fenwick make these scenes the real life of this “Party.”