Weird, Wild Stuff

It’s tough to follow a legend. Take George Wolfe -- producer, director, Tony Award winner, New York Shakespeare Festival helmsman, and former democratically fascistic artistic director of the Joseph Papp Public Theater. Wolfe’s name reverberates with power and resonance through Broadway’s halls, having been linked to Tony Kushner’s Angels in America, 1986’s The Colored Museum, and 1991’s Jelly’s Last Jam. Wolfe also wrote the script for 2000’s The Wild Party, which starred Toni Collette, Mandy Patinkin, and Eartha Kitt. But musician and artist Andrew Lippa is undaunted. He has written the book, music, and lyrics to the vivacious musical version, which is based on a book-length poem about the roaring Twenties. The University of Miami’s Hillel Theatre will showcase Lippa’s stirring adaptation tonight at 8:00. The story follows flappers and lovers during one wild evening in a Manhattan apartment, and is punctuated by jazz, gospel, and other music of that bygone time.
March 30-April 8, 8 p.m.