“This video is not about which one is better” Me to myself: but it is LaChiusa

i’ve been intrigued by the parallels of the Wild Party and Gatsby adaptations but i absolutely LOVE your framing and discussion of the topic. such a great video!!

This has happened forever; Puccini and Leoncavallo both set "La Bohème" at the same time. (Leoncavallo's is basically the story of Musetta having to deal with her sick friend.) I'm struggling to think of any two musical theater works that remained in the repertory at the same time with the same source material. Only one coming to mind is Massenet and Puccini doing "Manon Lescaut" - and those not only have different titles, but Puccini tried to make it as different as possible, highlighting different characters and changing the ending and jettisoning the entire original second act. (Rossini's "Barber of Seville" and Verdi's "Otello" were predicted to be bombs, since they already had famous operas.) So if Broadway has the same problem, I can't imagine...

Absolutely shocked this channel doesn’t have more subs!! What a fun video :)

Thanks for a thoughtful video. With the Wild Partys, I do agree with you that these are as different as you can get in adapting the same material, and that both exist in different realms of musical theater category, and both are valid, and both have fabulous scores (attempting very different things). That said... "at the expense of cogent narrative" ?? What was not cogent about the narrative of LaChiusa/Wolfe's Wild Party? It's a party, and is structured that way. And what was more cogent about it in Lippa's? Also I think it's important to note that among the 7 Tony noms LaChiusa/Wolfe's WP got were noms for Best Score and Best Book, which given the tone of the description of the show, would have been worth including, for a show that didn't run long and wasn't raved about by critics, the Tony committee sure seems to find a lot of value in the show, the writing, and the cast. In fact it got a Best Musical nomination when the much more popular hit musical Aida did not. And I don't think winning zero Tonys means anything. It was a tough year, and every award it lost it lost to a show or artist poised to win and in a most acclaimed or popular show, but there can only be 1 winner -- Heather Headley was amazing, and Toni ALSO deserved a Tony, both can be true of course. Brian Stokes Mitchell was incredible in a hit revival of KMK, and Mandy ALSO gave a Tony worthy performance (Mandy had already won one, but Brian lost his big chance before with Ragtime). At the time, it was thought that perhaps LaChiusa being nominated for Score AND Book for both Wild Party AND Maria Christine that year cancelled each other out, and that he had a legit shot at winning for Wild Party otherwise. I think Elton would probably have won either way, but my vote would be for The Wild Party. FWIW to those who didn't see it, aka most people, I saw LaChiusa/Wolfe's WP and it was a stunning triumph. It's a hill I'm happy to die on. One of the most fascinating, interesting, dynamic, original and *entertaining* musicals I've seen, with a knockout score, and an insane cast each giving brilliant performances. This musical is much more about ideas, themes, and feelings than it is about a plot. I was on the edge of my seat the whole show. I'd recently seen Marie Christine, which I also loved but is a much harder piece for an audience and had more problems, and watched Wild Party thinking "he can really write an accessible tune when he wants to!". The whole show was, as they say, fire. I also think the point is not that this "party" be a party for the audience, but a place for these personalities to gather and unravel; the party is a setting, the party a metaphor not a promise. And for the record, I had a ball! Even if Brantley didn't.

new favorite channel! great work on this video

I LOVE both Wild Party scores. Both different both brilliant.

Love it! Thank you for doing all the search and making this video!

Hi Zach... Thank you so much for this video. It is so well written and delivered. I am actually looking for your 2020 video where you zone in on the timelines of the two separate productions. Could you please provide a link?

Omg! Love your channel! Looking good friend! Congrats!

I love both versions. I love the music in the Lippa. But I do think the concept and characters actually use 1920s style music works better and is a lot more dramatically interesting in the Lachusia version. If it ever gets adapted into a film, it should be the Lachusia version. It would have to be NC-17 for sure but it could be brilliant.

didn't know that broadway gatsby was going to start in korea but in hindsight that makes so much sense

And in the time since this video came out, LaChiusa's Wild Party is announced to be happening at Encores!

Hello! I'm the founder for the company currently producing the official revival of the Raggedy Ann musical that played on Broadway (which was a MASSIVE failure.) Our story so far is a bit like Carrie's, although with far more hoops we've had to jump through because of both the writer and composers' deaths. After 40 years, though, the show is about to make it's way back to the stage, all because of a group of young queer nerds turned professional artists. Would you be interested in collaborating/producing a video on this topic?

Fascinating!!!!

does anyone know where to find the video of the sutton foster lips version? i cannot find the whole show

There is technically a third one being made while other than the 2024 and 2025 😂

Ive seen that one clip of Broadway gatsby, and as a historical costumer, im offended the costumer went with something resembling my little sisters prom dress and not 1920's anything.

PLEASE make the Little Women video!!!!

He looks like a cross between Jesus and the Mona Lisa.

I adore the Little Women score...STILL waiting on that Paradise Square CD

The great GYATTsby

I definitely want to watch the in-depth take on the development of Little Women, which is a better show than I think it has any right to be. What depresses me about the Gatsbys is the clear reliance on IP. Like, would Gatsby musicalize well? Yeah! But Gatsby has been adapted ENOUGH times by people who misunderstand the novel. I dunno. Better write my own.

I’m so happy to see this. Everything I’ve seen of this Gatsby musical seems like a let down. Visuals look stunning, but the songs don’t reflect what I imagine the show to sound like. Just like standard musical theatre songs where they’re showcasing how high the performers can belt. A typical structure for most shows Jeremy Jordan originates, if you ask me.

The Lippa musical has my favorite musical theater actress of all time. But the LaChiusa musical has Eartha Ktt.

There's no value in comparing the quality of these two Gatsby adaptations, when it's clear that "The Great Gritty" is better than both of them

Tired: LaChiusa vs Lippa Inspired: LaChiusa AND Lippa

When I first read about the whole "These two musicals with the same source material and exact same name ran at the SAME TIME on Broadway!" story I thought I was about to get into some Ryan Murphy's Feud kind of salacious drama 😂 Unfortunately (?) things were really not that steamy... I love both TWP and it's really cool to see a video exploring their shared history without trying "better" side. Like you said, apples and oranges. I like LaChiusa's score better as a whole, but I'm more attached to Lippa's songs individually. Wish Encores would choose to produce LaChiusa's version at some point, especially since next year is its 25th Anniversary! Excellet video! Rock on! ❤🎉