When Andrew Lippa’s “The Wild Party” opens at the Pagosa Springs Center for the Arts (PSCA) on Friday, June 13, at 7 p.m., it won’t be easing you into the summer theater season — it’ll be shaking the walls with jazz, gin and emotional fireworks. And, yes, the date is Friday the 13th. Consider it a warning — or an invitation.
Staged by Thingamajig’s 2025 Summer Repertory Company, the same ensemble that delighted audiences with “Something Rotten!,” this production trades Elizabethan slapstick for something far smokier and more dangerous. But, the commitment to sharp storytelling and stellar performance remains unchanged.
At the center of this roaring bacchanal is Samantha Luck as Queenie, a vaudeville performer with a taste for danger, and Trevor Brown as Burrs, her volatile partner whose love curdles into something darker.
Seeking distraction (or perhaps destruction), they host a party in their Manhattan apartment. As the night unfolds, so do betrayals, temptations and the arrival of a mysterious outsider, Black (played by Caleb Barton), who turns more than just Queenie’s head.
Adapted from Joseph Moncure March’s infamous 1928 poem, “The Wild Party” is equal parts glitter and grit. Lippa’s score doesn’t mimic the jazz age; it grabs it by the collar and makes it sweat. The music is bold and unrelenting, veering from smoky ballads to full-throttle ensemble numbers with the kind of energy that’s built to thrill.
This is not a show that plays it safe. But it is a show that plays it big. And for audiences who crave theater with teeth, drama that dances on the edge, “The Wild Party” delivers.
A note for patrons: This is an R-rated production featuring adult themes, stylized violence, sexual content and strong language. But its purpose isn’t to shock, only to illuminate. Behind the sequins and shadows is a story about people grasping for connection in a world that won’t slow down.
So, yes, come to the party. But don’t expect a tidy night of laughs and light jazz. This is a show that swings between seduction and consequence, beauty and danger, ecstasy and ache. It’s bold. It’s theatrical. And it just might leave you thinking long after the music stops. Come curious. Leave changed.
Andrew Lippa’s “The Wild Party,” directed and choreographed by Pia Wyatt, will be at the PSCA through August.
For tickets, please visit pagosacenter.org or call (970) 731-SHOW (7469).
