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March 11, 2005
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| Wild Party revelers. Producer/director Andrew Rasmussen, 24, is staging the show at the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul. Some are worried Rasmussen is betting too much on the Fitz, which doesn't have a strong reputation as a theater venue. (Image courtesy of Cardinal Theatricals) |
St. Paul, Minn. — What's a young New York actor to do when his career reaches a disquieting lull? In the case of Rochester, Minnesota, native Andrew Rasmussen, the answer was, put on a show in St. Paul. A big, strapping, 20-member cast show.
To Rasmussen, whose claim to fame as an actor up to this point is that he has been killed on all three incarnations of "Law and Order," it made sense. All the waiting for work in New York was driving him crazy.
"This was sort of a process of like, a year of spinning my wheels, and I'm like, 'Well, why don't I just try to work on something that I have control over?'" he says.
That "something" is the "The Wild Party," the award- winning musical by Andrew Lippa that Rasmussen first saw in 2000 at the Manhattan Theater Club. "The Wild Party" is tale of 1920s-era decadence, rage and passion.
Queenie and Burrs are a vaudeville couple entwined in a tumultuous, abusive relationship. Queenie decides to throw the mother of all parties, in an attempt to either make a break from Burrs or seal their fate together.
The show was inspired by a free-flowing narrative poem Joseph March wrote in 1928, as an homage to the jazz age. Rasmussen says he was floored by its energy and music.
"You get this bird's eye view of this party, and the characters are so deep and rich and fun," Rasmussen says. "It's funny and it's riveting. By the end, I was on the edge of my seat when I saw it the first time."
At some point afterward, Rasmussen, who during his college days worked in Twin Cities community theater and at Chanhassen Dinner Theater, had a revelation.
"I knew that we could do it here," he says. "It's a great piece, and no one's doing it here. And so why not try something new? Why not try something fresh?"
Rasmussen raised nearly $500,000 to rent the space, hire the actors and mount the show. Most of the cast members are either based in the Twin Cities or have Minnesota ties. Many of the investors are family members and friends.
Rasmussen also has waged a very aggressive public relations and advertising campaign to implant "The Wild Party" in the minds of local theatergoers, a blitz that began last June. Still, many theater observers are scratching their heads, including Star Tribune theater critic Graydon Royce.
"It's one where you look at it and are kind of amazed at the audacity and the confidence from a young producer," he says.
Royce says there are several factors operating against the show. It's an unfamiliar production with no big name stars. It's not family entertainment. It's a gritty, occasionally erotic portrayal of the seedy underbelly of roaring '20s America.
There are questions as to whether a more traditional St. Paul audience will embrace it. Will Minneapolitans, who historically have gone to Hennepin Avenue to get their Broadway fix, cross the river to see it?
In addition, Rasmussen's theater company, which he calls Cardinal Theatricals, has no subscriber base. And says Royce, there's the issue of the Fitzgerald Theater itself, which ironically started out as a vaudeville theater.
"The Fitzgerald is kind of a place that people don't necessarily think of as a theater venue," Royce says. "It's kind of had a temperamental history with big-scale theater productions, and that's one of the things that I would be a little bit weary of."
Just ask Bill Collins, managing director of Actors Theater Company in St. Paul. He says he probably would have advised Rasmussen against bringing "The Wild Party" to the Fitz. Actors Theater Company staged several shows at the Fitzgerald, but moved to the Centennial Showboat on the St. Paul riverfront, because the 1,000 seat Fitz was too large and became too expensive.
Collins says he wouldn't want to be in Rasmussen's shoes right now. He says "The Wild Party" comes on the heels of another expensive, independently staged production, "The Last Minstrel Show," which tanked at the American History Theater last summer.
"That was another show with not a real well-known title, that a lot of money went into," Collins says. "And it just didn't catch. I think they closed in their second week, and they had a six-week run scheduled."
Even the actors feel the weight of Rasmussen's risk. Jen Burleigh Bentz has been working in the local theater scene for the last six years, and plays the lead character Queenie in the show. Burleigh Bentz encourages theatergoers who usually play it safe to take a chance on "The Wild Party."
"It's not 'Sound of Music.' It's not 'Anything Goes.' It's not 'Cabaret.' It's not 'Company.'" she says. "It's something new and exciting and different, and it's today."
Burleigh Bentz says the cast feels especially grateful to Rasmussen for giving them the opportunity in an ambitious Broadway-style production. She says it sends a signal to area producers that these kinds of shows can be homegrown.
"We have theaters in town here that always feel that they have to go outside of town to get their artists," Burleigh Bentz says. "We want to be recognized in town, and Andy took the chance on us and we want him to be rewarded for that."
If Rasmussen is tired of people telling him he's going to lose his shirt, he's showing no outward signs. He's confident he's done everything he can to get the word out about the show, and believes the cast is up to the challenge. As opening night nears, Rasmussen is at peace with himself.
"We've put up a show," he says. "We've got this show that is ... amazing. And if people hate it, they hate it, but at least we got the butts in the seats, and we did something."
Rasmussen actually hopes to serve as a bridge between New York and the Twin Cities, and do more local productions in the future. He says he'll consider "The Wild Party" a financial success if, after the run is through, he can go buy a $6 sandwich.
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