Topic: College of Fine Arts
September 20, 2007
The Wild Party
Welcome to the world of speakeasies, booze, sex and jazz. Ball State's
Department of Theatre and Dance invites you to "The Wild Party," a production portraying the revelry and scandal of the 1920s.
Performances for "The Wild Party" are at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 27-29 and Oct. 3-6, and at 2:30 p.m. Sept. 30 in University Theatre.
Based on a 1928 narrative poem by Joseph Moncure March, the story centers on a relationship of abuse and revenge and follows the lives of two vaudeville performers who lost "that spark," said Harold Mortimer, director and assistant professor of musical theater.
'The nature of the whole musical is very operatic in that it is almost entirely song and dance. There are very few spoken lines," Mortimer said. "It's intense. You have a big party centering on dances, sex and drugs, celebrities and athletes, and as the party gets out of control, so do their lives."
Mortimer describes the cast as young and enthusiastic.
"It is a very challenging musical, but it is something I think that all of our majors are ready for," Mortimer said. "I really thought that it was a great story, a gripping story, and our students have been in love with this show for as long as I can remember."
Tickets cost $15.50 for the general public, $13.50 for Ball State faculty and staff, $11.50 for senior citizens and $9.50 for students. Tickets are available at the University Theatre box office. Call 765-285-8749 for more information. This production is rated R and recommended for mature audiences only, as it contains violence, adult language and sexual content.
"It pretty much has everything for anybody - romance, comedy, violence, sex, a gunshot. You name it, it's there," Mortimer said. "I think that this will be a musical that challenges the audience's senses and ideals and will certainly have them walking away talking about the show."
For more information about "The Wild Party," contact Mortimer at 765-285-8740 or hrmortimer@bsu.edu.
By Jennifer Strempka