✕ ✕
Turning tips into memories
Login
Signup

You have reached the limit of free articles.


To enjoy unlimited access to Culture Whisper sign up for FREE.
Find out more about Culture Whisper

Please fix the following input errors:

  • dummy

Each week, we send newsletters and communication featuring articles, our latest tickets invitations, and exclusive offers.

Occasional information about discounts, special offers and promotions.


OR
LOG IN

OR
  • LOG IN WITH FACEBOOK

Thanks for signing up to Culture Whisper.
Please check your inbox for a confirmation email and click the link to verify your account.



EXPLORE CULTURE WHISPER
✕ ✕
Turning tips into memories
Login
Signup

Please fix the following input errors:

  • dummy
Forgot your username or password?
Don't have an account? Sign Up

OR
  • LOG IN WITH FACEBOOK

If you click «Log in with Facebook» and are not a Culture Whisper user, you agree to our Terms & Conditions and to our Privacy Policy, which includes our Cookie Use

Support Us Login
  • Home
  • Going Out
    • Things to do
    • Food & Drink
    • Theatre
    • Visual Arts
    • Cinema
    • Kids
    • Festival
    • Gigs
    • Dance
    • Classical Music
    • Opera
    • Immersive
    • Talks
  • Staying In
    • TV
    • Books
    • Cook
    • Podcast
    • Design
    • Netflix
  • Life & Style
    • Beauty
    • Fashion
    • Gifting
    • Wellbeing
    • Lifestyle
    • Shopping
    • Jewellery
  • Explore
  • Shopping
  • CW SHOPS
  • Support Us
  • Get Started
  • Tickets
  • CW SHOPS
Get the Best of London Life, Culture and Style
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).
Theatre

The Wild Party, The Other Palace theatre review ★★★★★

13 Feb 17 – 01 Apr 17, 7:30 PM – 10:00 PM

The party's in full swing at newly named The Other Palace theatre with Drew Maconie's raucous Vaudeville musical The Wild Party

By Lucy Brooks on 21/2/2017

2 CW readers are interested
Simon Thomas as Black and Frances Ruffelle as Queenie. The Wild Party photo by Scott Rylande
Simon Thomas as Black and Frances Ruffelle as Queenie. The Wild Party photo by Scott Rylande
The Wild Party, The Other Palace theatre review 3 The Wild Party, The Other Palace theatre review Lucy Brooks
Watching The Wild Party is like being thrust into a seedy bar in the small hours of a Saturday morning when you are diligently doing Dry January - except these drunks can belt out songs and dance the Black Bottom. It's a relentless riot of a show, revolving around the experience and consequences of excess in 1920s Manhattan.


Olivier-winner Drew Maconie directs a particularly high-octane production of the musical at Victoria's newly named The Other Palace theatre (formerly the St James Theatre). Now under the ownership of Andrew Lloyd Webber, the theatre 'will be a home and breeding ground for musicals'. And its inaugural show is certainly musical-saturated, with near-constant choreography and more than 30 songs packed into two hours. Often though, this intensity comes at the expense of entertainment.


Based on Joseph Moncure March's narrative poem, with songs by Michael John LaChiusa, The Wild Party is made up of a tapestry of Vaudeville sketches, telling the scandalous Jazz Age story of dancer Queenie (Frances Ruffelle) and her abusive partner Burrs (John Owen-Jones).


They distract from their troubled relationship by throwing the titular 'wild party' for a motley crew of showgirls, musos and hedonists. Standout performances come from Dex Lee and coke-addled lothario Jackie, Victoria Hamilton-Barritt as dancer-done-good Kate and Owen-Jones as a sinister clown version of Burrs.


The episodic nature of the verse narrative, the volume of songs and Theo Jamieson's superb jazz band all intensify the festive atmosphere; then, as inebriation falls to hangover, the barrage of energy and excitement collapses into a mournful finale.


Maconie never invites the audience into the the revelry, and there's nothing infectious about either the highs or the lows. As passive outsiders we remain all too aware of the brittle foundations and murky undercurrents of addiction, manipulation and hollow escapism.


The party might be wild, but you don't find yourself wanting to join in.

by Lucy Brooks

What The Wild Party, The Other Palace theatre review
Where The Other Palace Theatre, 12 Palace Street, London, SW1E 5JA | MAP
Nearest tube Victoria (underground)
When 13 Feb 17 – 01 Apr 17, 7:30 PM – 10:00 PM
Price £5 - £65
Website Click here to book via The Other Palace Theatre



Most popular

Things to do in London this weekend: 27–29 January
Things to do in London this weekend: 27–29 January
London Theatre Guide: best plays on now in London (Photograph: Peter Lewicki)
London Theatre Guide: best plays on now in London, 2023
Culture After Dark: The Best Museum Late Night Openings
Culture After Dark: the best museum late-night openings
Sign up to CW’s newsletter
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).
2

You might like

  • Grant Wood, American Gothic, 1930, Royal Academy

    America After the Fall; Painting in the 1930s, Royal Academy review ★★★★★

  • Nuclear War, Royal Court Theatre review

    Nuclear War, Royal Court review ★★★★★

  • B, Royal Court review

    B, Royal Court review ★★★★★

  • Tom Hollander: Travesties play, photo by Johan Persson

    Travesties, Apollo Theatre review ★★★★★

  • Kate O'Flynn in The Glass Menagerie. Photo by Johan Persson

    The Glass Menagerie, Duke of York's Theatre review ★★★★★

  • Twelfth Night: Tamsin Greig Malvolia. Photo by Marc Brenner

    Twelfth Night, National Theatre review ★★★★★



  • The Culture Whisper team
  • Support Us
  • Tickets
  • Contact us
  • Press
  • FAQ
  • Privacy
  • Terms and conditions
  • Cookies
  • Discover
  • Venues
  • Restaurants
  • Stations
  • Boroughs
Sign up to CW’s newsletter
By entering my email I agree to the CultureWhisper Privacy Policy (we won`t share data & you can unsubscribe anytime).
×