Gave up and Googled -
Badjelly's Bad Christmas
Cats (musical)
Elegies for Angels, Punks and Raging Queens
The Golden Apple (musical)
Jabberwocky (musical)
The Wild Party (LaChiusa musical)
Xanadu: The Marco Polo Musical
Cats is clearly the only famous one, though I've heard of The Wild Party. Also, I know of Xanadu - but what's up with "The Marco Polo Musical" part?
The Golden Apple is by someone pretty famous, isn't it?
Both Wild Party musicals are based on the same poem by Joseph Moncure March.
shareAccording to WikiPedia, those aren't all Musicals. Some are song cycles and interpretative dance performances.
shareBoth Wild Party musicals are based on the same poem by Joseph Moncure March.
There are two??? How do people know which is which with them having the same exact title?
Even more confusing, they both premiered the same season 1999-2000.
The Lippa version, off-broadway. The LaChiusa version on broadway.
I have seen the Lippa version, and the LaChiusa version was produced at Columbia University in Chicago, but I chose not to make the 600 mile round trip to see it. But, it hasn't been done closer in the last 6 yrs.
EDIT: I saw the LaChiusa version in Toronto in 2015.
I'm only here for the cookies
I did the Lippa version in college. The music is a lot of fun, but I personally find the storytelling ava character development rather weak. The LaChiusa version has more grit and let's you get to know the characters better so they all act as parts of the story, not bodies at the party.
shareThe Fantasticks
I love Jesus Christ and am 100% proud!
Yes, the show is basically a stream of introductions to the various characters at the party. The novella/poem is not any more revealing.
LaChiusa expands on the story, adding characters and story lines that aren't in the original text. I saw a professional production in Toronto last winter. There was a talk back afterwards. An interesting additional story line that was originally in LaChiusa production, was that Queenie was to be played by Vanessa Williams as a black woman passing for white and living with a man who plays in black face on vaudeville. That tension was lost when Vanessa got pregnant and dropped out and was replaced by Toni Collette. The Toronto production had a mixed race Queenie and Burrs was played by a black actor, who performed in black face.
I like the Lippa version better in that is a direct roller coaster ride and you can see the end coming and can't look away. I like the songs better too. The LaChiusa version has music that is more authentic to the time and the characters are more complex, but just loses steam with so many twists and turns with so many intertwining subplots. I think it is too clever for its own good. I definitely felt like I needed a shower after watching the LaChiusa version. There are no "good guys" in this show.
I'm only here for the cookies