Theater Review by Ron Fassler . . . .
Copyrights have expired for all published works produced prior to 1926. Now considered public domain, permissions are no longer necessary, nor royalties to be paid out so that anyone with a yen to adapt them can have a go. This explains why a staged musical version of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, published in 1925, has just opened on Broadway with an entirely different production hot on its heels. A separate creative team is readying one to be produced at the American Repertory Theater in Boston this summer, and it also has its eye on New York. This kind of free-for-all is rare but not unprecedented, as there were once two Broadway versions of Joseph Moncure March’s epic poem The Wild Party in the 1999-2000 season and two Phantom of the Operas back in the late 1980s, one by Andrew Lloyd Webber and one by Maury Yeston (and we know which one landed). Let the games begin.

Adapting The Great Gatsby is no easy trick. It’s slipped through the grasp of many a filmmaker (five versions have been produced since 1926), none of them able to command a “fresh” rating at Rotten Tomatoes. Fitzgerald’s slim novel tells a slim story, but it does so with exquisite prose immersing the reader into the Roaring Twenties in gritty depictions etched in poetic detail. In reading it this past month it’s easy to see why it captured the imaginations of book lovers the world over for so long. But translating its prose theatrically means finding a creative alternative, and director Mark Bruni and his team have come up with one: a visual splendor put forth on the stage of the Broadway Theatre that works perfectly as a substitute metaphor.
It also helps that Jason Howland (music) and Nathan Tysen (lyrics) have produced a sound that harkens back to the musicals of yesterday, and rightly so. There’s a tinge of pop, but the effort here is to recreate what The Great Gatsby might have sounded like if composed during Broadway’s Golden Age. If you’re writing something set in the jazz age you had better do your homework and make sure that it’s representative of that era. As soon as the opening number took hold, I breathed a sigh of relief and nodded my head in satisfaction. And let me say how much I appreciated the attention paid to making sure each character sings in a specific voice. Gatsby’s solos breathe life into the enigma that he is and Daisy Buchanan is both ethereal and grounded at the same time. With so many new musicals offering American Idol-style blandness that renders everyone with exactly the same sound, this is a considerable gift to audiences yearning for individualization in a musical score.
What Kait Kerrigan has accomplished with the book is significant. The entire novel is seen through the eyes of its narrator Nick Carraway, which is impossible to do when telling the story on stage. Kerrigan uses Nick in this mode only sparingly, demanding more creativity in order to illustrate the action. And besides, isn’t a narrator among the most tired and lazy concepts book writers often lean into? (The Outsiders, I’m looking at you.) There have been minimal changes to give the female characters more agency (it is a century later), which might have been disastrous, but instead employs subtlety to fine effect.

In case anyone doesn’t know its plot, here’s something of a Spark Notes version:
The year is 1921 and Jay Gatsby is a World War I hero and a self-made millionaire, though by nefarious means. His wealth means little to him, with his most vital interest being in reigniting the flame between him and Daisy Fay, whom he loved in his youth but who is now married to an old money abuser named Tom Buchanan. The former lovers come together only to be torn apart tragically as the turning back of the clock proves impossible, with Gatsby ultimately destroyed by powers beyond his control. Money can only go so far, especially considering that the Jazz Age came crashing down just a few years later, the flameout before the beginning of the fifteen-year span of the Great Depression.
Tough stuff to portray realistically, especially in the form of a musical with people singing their innermost thoughts and feelings. Happily, the performances from the quartet of its leads effectively lend substance and power to the proceedings. Jeremy Jordan has the most difficult task in bringing Gatsby to life (it eluded Leonardo di Caprio, Robert Redford, and Alan Ladd to name three progenitors). His put-upon accent might be grating to some, but he manages to make every “old sport” land. Gatsby’s a phony and though it might seem like gilding the lily, Jordan’s journey of returning to his true self through his love for Daisy, shines through. He cuts a dashing figure in the gorgeous costumes designed by Linda Cho (even the chorus looks like a million bucks) and her dresses for Daisy are superb. As the object of Gatsby’s affection, Eva Noblezeda strikes the delicate balance of Daisy’s self-involvement and the sweetness that would cause men to kill themselves for her love. Her voice soars and is steeped in character—again a welcome respite from a couple of actresses currently on Broadway killing themselves to reach high notes and “emote.”
As Nick Carraway, who almost always steals the show in prior adaptations, Noah J. Ricketts uses considerable charm and genuine talent to form the most relatable character in the piece. He is the audience as one; an observer who tries to make sense of the players he is surrounded by. I expect future roles for this young actor to deliver on the promise of this performance. And at the Saturday night press preview I attended, an understudy went on as Jordan Baker, the role usually played by Samantha Pauly. To say that Darian Mullen does a fine job is to undermine what she achieves. This is no understudy performance, but a fully formed, relatable woman who commands the stage. Her singing is excellent and she finds ways into the character that make for a palpable empathy. Bravo.

Less enthralling are a pair of over-the-top performances from Paul Whitty and Sara Chase as George and Myrtle Wilson. Problematic characters to begin with (they’re more props than people), the use of thick New York accents are distracting and otherwise mar a terrific ensemble. John Zdrojeski does what he can with a character as mean-spirited and unappealing as Tom Buchanan, who at least is left much as he is in the novel without unnecessarily adding psychological motivation to explain why he’s such a bastard. He just is. I especially enjoyed Eric Anderson’s growling Meyer Wolfsheim, whose Act Two opener “Shady” is a particular highlight.
There is joyful and proper period choreography by Dominique Kelley. 1921, the year Gatsby is set, is also the year Shuffle Along, the first musical with a creative team consisting of Black artists hit the scene. The tap dancing and period foot stomping Kelley has composed here feel authentic. Marc Bruni stages with precision on the enormous stage of the Broadway Theatre, utilizing a painterly eye, aided and abetted by the Tony-worthy scenery and projections by Paul Tate DePoo III. Lighting by Cory Pattak is essential to the look and score big time.
Throwback might be a pejorative term, but not in my book. Seeing a musical like The Great Gatsby come alive on stage in such a beautifully realized production is not only surprising but invigorating.
The Great Gatsby. Open run at the Broadway Theatre (1681 Broadway, between West 52nd and 53rd Streets). www.broawaygatsby.com
Photos: Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman