Chavkin-directed GATSBY musical from Welch and Majok to premiere in 2024- Page 13

[Broadway Flash]

Posted: 7/22/24 at 8:22pm

Their marketing should seriously be studied.  They knew what their product was, who it’s for, and how to sell it.  It’s been brilliance the entire way through with them.  And even a Tony award on top of it all!

[DEHFanatic]

Posted: 7/28/24 at 8:44pm

Saw the matinee this afternoon and it was an amazing afternoon of theater!  Phenomenal performances all around.  Loved Ben Levi Ross as Evan in DEH, and he really shines as Nick.  The choreography, set, staging and lighting are superb.  We were handed a pamphlet/program with an insert containing the current musical numbers.  Really wish there was a soundtrack to listen to!

Act 1:

Welcome to the New World

Golden Girl

Valley of Ashes

Shakin off the Dust

New York Symphony

One Heart Beat

Deathless Song

Feels Like Hell

A Smile Like That is Rare

Month of Love

I've Changed My Mind

Pouring Down

Mr. Nobody From Nowhere

Act II

Just a Little Party

Welcome to the New World (reprise)

Driving My Way

What is This Worship

What Will We Do With Ourselves?

What of Love, What of God

The Dream Fought On

The Damage That You Do

Vigil

America, She Breaks

Pouring Down (reprise)

We Beat On

[AKarp2013]

Posted: 7/28/24 at 11:33pm

Really curious about the score and excited about this production. I don't know what their future plans are, but do we think there's a chance of a premiere cast recording as a sort of placeholder to capture the show in its current form with this cast? With the current Gatsby on Broadway, I'm sure they're exploring all other options and markets to take this show considering the strong reception it's been receiving.

I know there were discussions early on in this thread suggesting London. Whatever they decide to do, I hope Solea Pfieffer continues to be involved. She is an absolute force.

[nativenewyorker2]

Posted: 8/1/24 at 12:37am

In the program, it lists three girls playing the daughter, but I don’t remember ever seeing them. Just a baby wrapped in a blanket? Did I miss something.

 

i think one of Myrtle’s five songs should be cut. The show ran 2:50 today, I almost missed my train home!!

[ren598]

Posted: 8/1/24 at 1:44am

nativenewyorker2 said: "In the program, it lists three girls playing the daughter, but I don’t remember ever seeing them. Just a baby wrapped in a blanket? Did I miss something.


No, you didn’t miss anything.  I’ve seen the show 4 times.  At some performances, it was a baby wrapped in a blanket.  At others, they brought out a little girl.  Probably has to do with the availability of the girls for that performance.  Matinee vs. evening.  

[Owen22]

Posted: 8/4/24 at 8:12pm

I love Fitzgetald's The Great Gatsby.  And I could care less that the Broadway musical did not adhere to the themes the novel indulges. Themes that are still very relevant today.  But to put the show on stage as a popular musical, I completely think turning it into a musical comedy that turns tragic was a good idea, especially when the results turned out to be so good.  Mainly because the show was written by musical theatre writers who know how to write musical theatre songs.  Many younger people on these boards and theatre influencers don't seem to care.  But the influx of this spring's musicals being written by pop writers weakened an already struggling art form.  Musical theatre writers, especially musical theatre lyricists, are PLAYWRIGHTS!  That is a very specific talent, many people struggle for years to become a successful playwright.  You can't claim to be one just because a handful of your songs appeared on Grey's Anatomy.  

Florence Welch's score to the A.R.T Boston's competing Gatsby musical is better than most of the spring's pop star written musicals, but far from a successful score (when Wolfsheim has the best song in the score there is a problem).  Yet somehow I didn't mind terribly much, I did enjoy the show a lot, very sound book, some wonderful direction and an AMAZING cast made the trip to Boston worth it. Plus, ever since I saw the 70's film and fell in love with Karen Black's Myrtle (saw it before I read the book) she is my favorite character.  And Solea Pfeiffer and the show bring that character to vivid life.  I didn't mind the "debauched Adelaide from Guys & Dolls" Myrtle from Broadway, but this was as close to Fitzgerald's I may have ever seen. And Isaac Powell is a fantastic Gatsby, I don't know what people are complaining about. Well, maybe because his titular character doesn't appear until a full half hour after the show's begins. May be longer! And no "I want" song until 45 minutes in.  That is a mistake.  His "want" drives the story.

The other mistake the UBER-talented Rachel Chavkin makes is the chorus, where she indulges her worst Lempika tropes.  Apparently costumed as if stolen from that other 20's murder musical playing on Broadway, except for a couple of boys in dresses (ooooo, honey: look!  Boys in dresses!  How daring!) it is one of those intrusive choruses who all of a sudden appear to sing back up to a lead solo, oft-time dressed in the same way the soloist is. And if they were singing anything melodic or interesting I wouldn't mind as much. Plus I don't know why people are stressing how good the show's choreography is. It is nothing special, not anywhere near as specific (and viral inducing) as Dominique Kelly's Broadway dances. But besides that (and maybe a scenic design I didn't love) the direction is flawless!

I don't know if the show is going to change much. The audience was on it's feet cheering. But it's definitely good enough to have a second life, where ever that may be.

I just want good songs. Is that so much to ask?  Like Notebook, the book is strong, it's the songs that let the show down. Again, the Broadway Gatsby has great catchy numbers, some beautiful ballads--even comedy numbers!  It is a traditionally well-written Broadway musical (the NY Times yet again diminishes it because it does not adhere to the themes of the novel, but LOVES the Welch version because it does.  And because of this gives a positive nod to the mediocre score).  So who knows, maybe I'm the one old fashioned.  But it reminds me of what Albert Brooks says about the devil in Broadcast News (why not a musical of that classic?) The devil won't come to us as an ugly monster. He will be attractive.  He will just lower our standards bit by bit.

Updated On: 8/5/24 at 08:12 PM

[theatergoer3]

Posted: 8/5/24 at 5:32pm

Theaterboard has a rumor this is going to the West End later this year or early next year. 

[chrishuyen]

Posted: 8/5/24 at 10:46pm

Caught this over the weekend and I think this is probably a controversial opinion but I actually thought the Broadway Great Gatsby works better in terms of musical storytelling (if you disregard the source material), though this suits the themes of the novel better.

My main gripe is probably that the score doesn't really work as a musical score for me.  I'd love to listen to the songs again because I think there are some interesting things being done musically, but so many of the songs operate as a character standing alone on stage singing about their life and feelings, in a way that comes off as telling rather than showing.  The only song that I felt really took advantage of the musical theater artform was Wolfsheim's song, which gave Gatsby's history, though I think What Will We Do With Ourselves? and What of Love, What of God did come close.  Meanwhile, I thought Solea Pfeiffer's Driving My Way was the standout performance of the show--if they release a single from the score I think it should be that one.

The book seemed to juggle a lot of really complex themes, and it definitely brought out some themes and parallels that I hadn't considered from the original novel too, but many of them felt half-baked and that they just didn't quite have enough focus on what they were trying to convey.  I think part of that comes through also with the costuming and the much-talked-about rust stains at the bottom of everyone's clothing.  I thought that could've been a really interesting commentary, but not only did they not address it, but I don't think it was applied in a way that made sense (because it's never directly addressed, it's hard to tell exactly what it denotes, but there were some characters I felt should've been "clean" and they still weren't, so it ended up feeling a bit more perfunctory and just there to serve a purpose that the creators themselves didn't fully think through).

And along those lines, I think they were grappling with so many of the themes they wanted to tell that the characters never seemed fully formed to me.  I always felt like I had trouble getting a sense of who they were and how they viewed their relationship with the other respective characters and really just understanding why they acted the way they did.  And granted, it's difficult when you essentially have 4 leads (6 if you're generous, but I thought Jordan was so sidelined she might as well have not even been in the show).  Nick is portrayed as gay, but it felt a little bit like "to what end?" because you see him sort of embrace his sexuality for one moment and then it disappears for the rest of the show (along with his attraction to Gatsby), similar with a trait that's revealed about Gatsby near the very end--it just felt very random and kind of tossed in, though I could see a way where the show puts both of these things to more effective use.

Myrtle gets the biggest facelift in terms of her role in this story, and she was probably the most realized character (I also unabashedly love Solea Pfeiffer so that plays a part in it too), but there were still situations she was in where it seemed like she was too smart or too shrewd to be stuck there--in a way it felt like she was a character from a different show completely.  Though I did appreciate the increased parallels drawn between her and Gatsby, which I hadn't considered before.

As for Gatsby, I think the show tries to straddle the line where he introduces himself to Nick in a similar way as he does in the novel, by acting as just one of the crowd.  The problem is that as the audience we already clearly know who he is so there's no suspense or surprise in that, and I don't think they quite sell him as being either calculating or nervous about approaching Nick, so it seems strange that Nick would find him that fascinating off the bat rather than just an eccentric rich guy.  I loved Isaac Powell in West Side Story, but here he almost seemed to fade into the crowd too much, even whilst wearing a pink suit, so I really had trouble buying the love story between him and Daisy (though I thought his darker backstory worked quite well).

In general, I think the show lacked a certain sense of drama and forward thrust.  The Broadway Gatsby turns it into a melodrama, and while that deviates from Fitzgerald's text, it still makes for compelling entertainment.  But in this production, act 1 in particular felt more like a collection of scenes with little throughline, and I found myself pretty apathetic to most of the characters and the plot.  Act 2 fares better because it does build to a climax and feels more emotionally heightened, but overall the show still feels somewhat unmoored, which I think a stronger sense of character or thematic commentary (or ideally both) would really improve, so despite overall being somewhat disappointed, I'm still very interested to see where this goes in the future.