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To the Editor:

I’m surprised that the production of Andrew Lippa’s “The Wild Party” at Playhouse on Park is not getting bigger buzz. This is a terrific piece of New York-quality entertainment right here at lower cost. I missed the show first time around, when it debuted Off Broadway in 2000, but thanks to the Playhouse production now consider it one of the best musical plays I have ever seen.

From the opening lines, the story grabs you:

“Queenie was a blonde, and her age stood still,
And she danced twice a day in vaudeville.”

Once you learn the melody, it will stay in your head for – well, I don’t know how long. Two weeks after I first heard the tune, it is still there.

The play is set in an apartment in New York City in the 1920s. Queenie and her current squeeze, a fellow performer named Burrs, put on a party to perk up their faltering relationship. A night of debauchery ensues, a love triangle develops, and the story (told with some first-rate musical numbers) ends in tragedy.

Along the way, we are treated to musical explorations of the offbeat demimonde that the Queenie and Burrs characters inhabit. A 14-member cast provides a rich base for these excursions, backed up by live music piped in from some unseen part of the Playhouse property.

The play, in my opinion, has been correctly described as “darkly brilliant.” I found the show louche but luscious, the production tight and perfect. The choreography is notable for its lithe sexuality, the moves so unambiguous that an “intimacy director” is included in the credits.

Playhouse has issued these trigger warnings: Flashing lights, theatrical haze, strong language, gunshot, drug and alcohol use, sexual assault and sexual content. They forgot suicide; one of the characters sings of drinking himself to death.

I thought the play got a generally fair review from Christopher Arnott in the Hartford Courant, although I believe he erred in thinking that Queenie and Burrs invited friends over for the “evening.” The type of people in this story, according to my understanding, start to party at midnight after the “swells” have gone home.

Before writing this, I checked and found that tickets are still available. “The Wild Party,” Playhouse on Park, 244 Park Road, West Hartford, through Aug. 16. Personally, I plan to go back and see it again.

Sid Goldstein
West Hartford