Four years after its debut in New York, Andrew Lippa's The Wild Party finally washes up across the Atlantic for a lacklustre London premiere at the Riverside.
Based on the poetic novella by Joseph Moncure March, David Dorrian's production evokes the dizzy hedonism of the Roaring Twenties in a musical heavy on gin but with little in the way of tonic.
The threadbare plot involves the failing relationship of two vaudeville performers and their fateful decision to host a 'wild' party that inevitably ends in disaster.
But even the wildest of parties takes a while to get going, and not until the guests arrive can a capable cast tackle Lippa's eclectic score, hurtling from the Latin-infused beats of standout number Raise The Roof to the poignant ballad Poor Child.
The music might not take its influences from the jazz-fuelled age the show seeks to recreate, but the dubious sexual politics of the piece clearly hark back to a bygone era.
Unreconstructed sexual stereotypes abound, with disturbing tendencies toward harassment and domestic violence. Not quite The Beautiful And The Damned then, more 'the beautiful and the bruised' as one song eloquently puts it.
The musical highlights are all during the climactic ending, so while this amateurish party might not be a roaring success, it is at least one worth sticking around until the end for.
Until Sat, Riverside Studios, Crisp Road W6, Tue to Sat 7.45pm, £15, £9 concs. Tel: 020 8237 1111. Tube: Hammersmith
The Wild Party
