Fitzgerald and the Theatre

[Ado Annie D'Ysquith]

Posted: 9/7/15 at 9:40pm

I was just thinking about theatrical adaptations of classic literary works, and I'm wondering why there hasn't been a really successful stage adaptation of any of F. Scott Fitzgerald's work. Unless there's some incredible Gatsby musical I don't know about. It just seems like his stories could translate really well dramatically.

To keep this topic a little broader, what are your favorite theatrical adaptations of novels?

[JBroadway]

Posted: 9/7/15 at 10:03pm

I may have some details wrong here, but there was a play a few years ago called "Gatz," in which I believe the entire, unabridged text of the Great Gatsby was performed in its entirety, narration and all. I heard it was quite good, though it was over 6 hours long. 

 

There was also a musicalized version of The Great Gatsby that was performed in concert a few years ago. Here is some of the info on it:

http://www.ovrtur.com/show/126044

 

It was also a straight-play on Broadway in the 20s

http://www.ibdb.com/production.php?id=9991

 

I also found this musical version that was done at Yale

http://castalbums.org/recordings/Great-Gatsby-The-1956-Original-Cast/19567/

 

And a musical version in Tulsa 

http://www.theatretulsa.org/the-great-gatsby/

 

Google is very useful :) 

 

 

[Roscoe]

Posted: 9/8/15 at 1:37pm

GATZ was a production of The Elevator Repair Company.  It involved the entire text of the novel being read out loud by one actor, playing a man sitting at his desk one morning, waiting for his computer to boot up.  As he waits, he starts reading the book, and the people in the office around him assumed the characters in the novel.  

A good deal of the impact depends on your tolerance for GATSBY in general.  I liked some of the innovations, particularly the casting of Gatsby, who wasn't played by a young dashing romantic lead: he's the only Gatsby I've seen who I believed was capable of having killed someone.  And the terrible car accident and the final holocaust were handled with real skill and had real impact.  As good as the production was, though, it didn't change my view of Fitzgerald's whiny little tome: Fitzgerald's shocked, shocked he tells us, to find corruption and decadence among the very rich.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 9/8/15 at 5:21pm

And there have been two musicals about the life of Zelda and Fitz (one by Wildhorn and one by...I can't remember which ran in London and despite closing early was filmed--it's all on youtube.)

IBDB also lists an original play by him that ran under a month in 1929 called The Vegetable and a 1955 two month run of a play called The Young and Beautiful which was apparently "based on stories" by him.

[Ado Annie D'Ysquith]

Posted: 9/10/15 at 2:54pm

JBroadway, thank you for your helpful links. The concept of GATZ is pretty cool and I will be following the progress of that Tulsa musical. It says it's the only one endorsed by Fitzgerald's estate.

Roscoe, as much as I love his work, how you described your dislike for it brought a smile to my face...you have a way with words! Seriously though, I can understand how his prose can come off as "whiny," but I tended to focus more on the emotions of the stories. Less so on the disillusionment. Maybe that's just me.

[Fantod]

Posted: 9/10/15 at 3:53pm

The Great Gatsby just doesn't adapt well at all because the story isn't what makes the novel great. I wish someone would look at adapting This Side of Paradise into a movie or a stage play.

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 9/10/15 at 4:12pm

We'll never know what could have been without Season 3 of Smash.

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 9/10/15 at 5:26pm

Fantod said: "The Great Gatsby just doesn't adapt well at all because the story isn't what makes the novel great. I wish someone would look at adapting This Side of Paradise into a movie or a stage play.

 

"

Fantod is right about GATSBY and Fitzgerald in general. If one thinks of FSF's most famous passages, they nearly all come from a narrative voice. One can see the problem with Fitzgerald's dialogue--brilliant on the page but stilted when spoken aloud--in the 1972 film of GATSBY, which wasn't that bad except they took the dialogue from the book too literally.

 

THIS SIDE OF PARADISE is more famous for its depiction of the Jazz Age than for its plot, but Fantod is also right that it may prove a better candidate for dramatization. (Eric, I tried to read THE VEGETABLE years ago and couldn't get through it.) I'd like to see PARADISE get the full HBO treatment; God knows its plot is more interesting than the tedious MILDRED PIERCE.

 

As an aside, Roscoe needs to stop moving his lips when he reads. (j/k) THE GREAT GATSBY is the closest we have to The Great American Novel. It's a story about how we are betrayal by the American dream and our pretense of a "classless" society. No wonder some of the characters are resentful!

 

John Harbison adapted GATSBY as an opera, but I don't know if it was ever fully staged. Pieces of a Tanglewood concert version may be found on You Tube. There's also an hour-long discussion with the composer/iibrettist on the challenges he encountered in the adapting.

Updated On: 9/10/15 at 05:26 PM

[Fantod]

Posted: 9/10/15 at 5:28pm

Wow, I'm surprised at your reaction to Mildred Pierce. I think it's the best dramatic series I've ever seen on television.

 

And I did like the 2013 movie version of Gatsby. As Mark Kermode said, it wasn't really The Great Gatsby, but it was A Grat Gatsby. It managed to be an entertaining film on its own, without feeling too much dedication to the novel, which would have slowed it down majorly.

Updated On: 9/10/15 at 05:28 PM

[GavestonPS]

Posted: 9/10/15 at 5:45pm

I prefer the 1973 film, its faults notwithstanding. But then I saw it when I was your age, Fantod, so maybe each generation prefers its own version. (I don't mean this to be condescending. As I said, I too was a teen when I first saw the version I prefer. I'm just allowing for changing fashions.) I also had the advantage of seeing the film before I read the novel, so unlike with most people, it wasn't competing with a film of GATSBY I had created in my head.

 

Yeah, sorry, but I thought MILDRED PIERCE on TV was like watching paint dry, despite the lovely attention to period detail. I could only think how smart the makers of the Joan Crawford movie were to wrap the sparse plot details in the cloak of 1940s' film noir. See Aristotle on "necessity". There's no reason for that story to be told in more than 2 hours. And, I must admit, the same might prove true of THIS SIDE OF PARADISE, but I'd like to see somebody try the long-form approach.

 

I hope it's clear this is a mere difference of opinion and in no way detracts from my respect for your views.