A tale of two parties.

Off-Broadway throws a sizzling bash, but the Great While Way delivers a theatrical hangover

New York theater has witnessed a most peculiar horse race this season between two different musical adaptations of The Wild Party, Joseph Moncure March's 1928 poem about sex, drugs, and violent passion among bohemian show folk. First out of the gate was Manhattan Theatre Club's version by Andrew Lippa, best-known for the tiny off-Broadway musical john and jen and writing additional material for last year's Broadway revival of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown.

Coming along right behind it was the Public Theater's version (staged at the Virginia Theatre), which was cooked up by composer Michael John LaChiusa (whose Marie Christine, starring Audra McDonald, was produced last fall at Lincoln Center Theater) and writer-director George C. Wolfe (who won Tony awards for staging Angels in America and Bring in 'Da Noise, Bring in 'Da Funk). Wolfe's version, which the Public Theater opened directly on Broadway with commercial producers, snared three major stars: Mandy Patinkin, Eartha Kitt, and Toni Collette (of Muriel's Wedding and The Sixth Sense).

Given their pedigrees, which one would you pick as a winner? Well, that's what makes horse racing exciting. LaChiusa and Wolfe's version turned out to be a numbing nightmare of wasted talent, while Lippa's unleashed an entire squadron of fresh new stars in the making.

"Queenie was a blonde, and her age stood still / And she danced twice a day in vaudeville." The opening lines of March's poem introduce its central character, a showgirl shacked up with a clown named Burrs, whose rough treatment seems to suit her. The two throw a party for their extended social circle, which includes a big lesbian named Madelaine True, a couple of gay songwriters, and a bisexual dancer named Jackie. Queenie's friend Kate shows up with a handsome gigolo named Black, who locks eyes with Queenie in a mutual attraction that turns deadly before the drunken, orgiastic night is through.

Both musicals capitalize on The Wild Party's rowdy milieu and cavalcade of juicy characters. Just introducing everybody takes up haft the show, and then the question becomes how to shape the evening for dramatic satisfaction.

LaChiusa and Wolfe make the fatal error of framing their intermissionless show as a series of vaudeville turns, which severely limits their palette. Two hours of full-frontal frenzy just gets tedious. It saps whatever pleasure might be found in the bountiful score and shackles the actors. As Queenie, Collette could be quite a bombshell, yet she never quite connects with either Yancey Arias's pallid Black or with Patinkin, who as Burrs does Al Jolson all night. And Eartha Kitt basically plays Eartha Kitt, growling, "Look around the room. You see imitations of imitations. I invented myself!" Yes, but we knew that already.

Meanwhile, at Manhattan Theatre Club, director Gabriel Barre worked closely with choreographer Mark Dendy to craft inventive sexy-funny minidramas for each number. The show-stopping moments were too numerous to list, but Julia Murney made a hauntingly vulnerable Queenie, Brian d'Arcy James was a riveting Burrs (shades of Stanley Kowalski), and Alix Korey as Madelaine True brought down the house with "An Old-Fashioned Love Story." The youthful cast, funky setting, and high energy added up to an excitement no musical has mustered since Rent. Alas, the show ran its scheduled run at Manhattan Theatre Club and closed April 9, just a few days before the other Wild Party officially opened on Broadway. Go figure.

Shewey is the editor of Out Front: Contemporary Gay and Lesbian Plays, published by Grove Press.