Fitzgerald and the Theatre

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 :) 

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.

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 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

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.