From the dissonance of the orchestra’s opening peal of brass, LaChiusa’s version signals its allegiance to his source’s snarling tone and, in fact, incorporates many of March’s lines directly into the songs, as in the number introducing its antiheroine: “She liked her lovers violent, and vicious: / Queenie was sexually ambitious.” These are unhappy hedonists, boozing and fornicating for lack of fulfillment. A century on, the party crowd’s arsenal of intoxicants has expanded, and sex has never been more accessible. But fulfillment remains as elusive as ever.—Dan StahlAbout TownOff Broadway