The Great Gatsby Musical Opens on Broadway: A Mixed Bag of Splendor and Melodrama

2024-04-26 05:00:00

The orgiastic pleasures of Jay Gatsby’s parties lie mostly between the lines of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s clipped prose. But there is nothing coy about the unusual stage musical that opened Thursday at the Broadway Theatre, where a cascade of splendors shows the eye like a fire hose. When the rain is pouring down on the first soiree, throw out the window for subtlety.

Directed by Marc Bruni with the expanse of a 10-lane highway, “The Great Gatsby” is a great and enjoyable show: Tourists, Jazz Age enthusiasts and fans of its vocal power stars Eva Noblezada and Jeremy Jordan are already present. outside the stage door. And there’s something to be said for a fun night out, even if it detracts from the author’s intended message.

To the likely horror of your high school English teacher, any critique of material excess, social disparities or the American Dream that made the book a classroom staple here will be removed for a love story that’s slow and never-ending. doubt him. This is not a high-society tragedy set against the dawn of the modern age but a rom-com that nose-dives into overwrought melodrama.

Midwestern fish out of water Nick Carraway is a clear audience representative: Amidst an assembly of light-hearted caricatures, Noah J. Ricketts gives an admirable and solid performance. The subjects of his stories, mostly prose taken from Fitzgerald, seem to know that they are part of a Big Big Story, even as they seem to be plucked from a trove of genres.

His cousin Daisy (Noblezada) is smiling and smiling but vaguely unhappy when we meet her in a tall drawing room with windows overlooking Long Island Sound (the Art Deco set is elaborate, projection-enhanced by Paul Tate dePoo III). “God, I did it,” sings Daisy, draped in a cross and diaphanous cotton dress, “I’m so sophisticated.” (The wonderful costumes are by Linda Cho.) Nathan Tysen’s lyrics usually convey backstories and circumstances, whether or not they are tinged with emotion.

Daisy’s husband, Tom (John Zdrojeski), is her ticket to this wonderful life, the brutal and murderous man she knows him to be. But the couple’s enduring if brittle bond, forged in the breeding of old money – so central to the structure of the narrative – is imperceptible from the outset. The audience is clearly meant to ask, “Why is she with him this man?” as a precursor to, “Now look at this dream boat!”

​​​​That would be the debonair Gatsby (Jordan), steeped in mystery and crooning in wistful high registers about the one who slipped through his fingers but is now within reach. Jason Howland’s music, serviceable Broadway pop with little distinct flavor (not even jazz, to low-hanging fruit), excels at soaring ballads, allowing both Jordan and Noblezada to display impressive vocal gymnastics.

Book writer Kait Kerrigan elevates the central romance as it brings together true love torn apart by wartime, like something out of “The Notebook.” Characters and their motivations are fleshed out for the purpose of discrediting their morals and making their tragic endings less random. Gatsby is so dazed that he can hardly stand upright; Daisy has a song about staying true until she’s pulled over the edge.

Tom’s mistress Myrtle (Sara Chase) and her abusive husband George (Paul Whitty) appear as working-class cartoon avatars with thick New Yawk accents whose fates are intertwined with the rich web of love and money. There’s even a romantic subplot between Nick and the steely Jordan Baker, played by Samantha Pauly (like Ricketts, another down-to-earth presence). The two skeptics, vaguely coded as in the novel, can’t help but fall for each other.

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This revised attempt to turn “The Great Gatsby” into a rollercoaster full of passionate action skids off the road when disaster strikes. The second-act twists play out with the frenzy of a nighttime soap starring Aaron Spelling, with none of the campy self-awareness. No gruesome account of the follies of hedonism, but a rapid succession of sudden ends.

Fitzgerald’s chic but sober cautionary tale has been booming on stage many times since it arrived on public land in 2021: There was an immersive play in a Manhattan hotel last year, and a pre-Broadway tryout of “Gatsby,” with music by Florence Welch, will begin performances in Boston next month. There’s never been a bad time for an author’s sideways glance at capitalism and single-minded pleasure-seeking — provided someone hasn’t already been blinded by them.

The Great Gatsby, continues at the Broadway Theater in New York. 2 hours, 30 minutes. broadwaygatsby.com.