Florence Welch’s GATSBY Coming To Broadway

This website seems to say the (superior) Gatsby is coming to Broadway.

 

Looks like they’ve put up links to all their new social accounts, too. 

Updated On: 8/27/25 at 07:24 PM

Last I heard they were going to London first

I’m gonna be so sad if this happens and Solea can’t do it. 

There was a reading in London with Cromer directing.  

Rachel Chavkin got the boot.  It's now Cromer's show.  It's likely to play London first then head to the US.  They are realigning the whole thing now.

Updated On: 8/27/25 at 08:03 PM

“Likely to play London first then head to the US after it closes both in London and likely at some point on Broadway.”

Is there an alternate phrasing for this sentence?

I know it’s different and will be even more different with Cromer replacing Chavkin and whatever other changes are being made, but this still seems like a commercial challenge.

I know Americans are accustomed to constant reboots now, but generating excitement about another adaptation of Fitzgerald’s novel even if the one playing on Broadway and in London closes relatively soon seems like a hard sell.

Has anything like this been tried? Did it work?

bear88 said: "Has anything like this been tried? Did it work?"

Perhaps the closest would the two competing Wild Parties back in 2000. They were both very short runs though. 

 

I’m so much more intrigued by this one than the current Broadway Gatsby, but I just don’t see how they get people to come to another Gatsby.

If the current Gatsby is closed by the time this one opens most tourists may not even realize they’re two different shows. Any positive word of mouth they’ve heard about the current production may apply to this one in their minds.

Jordan Catalano said: "This website seems to say the (superior) Gatsby is coming to Broadway."

It's hardly superior to the present Broadway version. But it's good! At least it was in Boston . The Broadway score is much better but the book leans into some of the subtext of what Fitzgerald was insinuating in ways the Broadway version completely ignores. David Cromer is a wonderful director so I'm sure what we will see next will be an improvement even though I'd liked a lot of the stuff Chavkin did.

The problem is both the West End and Broadway have musical versions of this book that are still running. Probably not for that much longer, but there will obviously be Gatsby fatigue. And the reason that they have run so long is because they treat the material as a musical comedy. In structure at least. Big dance numbers, comedy songs, big ballads. That's what makes a hit show. The Florence version is not that. And I can't imagine it changing much in form. So there are a lot of things getting in the way of this show coming in on either side of the Atlantic.

I'll be curious what Cromer brings to this.  My main takeaway in Boston was that they needed to really hone in on the writing process (Florence Welch seemed like she was writing songs for a concept album about Gatsby rather than songs that were built to work within scenes) and find more clarity in the characters and the story they were trying to tell (it's a lot of characters to balance in a show, especially with bumping up Myrtle's role).  Perhaps that's something Cromer can help with and I'll certainly be curious to see the next iteration of this.

Jordan Catalano said: "Oh I absolutely disagree that the show running now has a better score. I’ve seen it a couple times and saw it in London and all I can remember is “Daisy! Daisy!” whereas I can still hum portions of what I saw in Boston. But that’s theater for people, everyone takes something different away."

I second your observation.  I only saw the show once on Broadway, and I did leave the show ‘singing the sets and costumes.’  It may have just been the cast I saw, but I got tired of all the power ballads; were they better songs, I would have been fine (what is Ragtime, if not a succession of power ballads?).  The thing I was particularly surprised about was during the performance I attended: the lead characters went off key so many times that I wondered if there was something about the writing that made the songs such a challenge.

The one thing I do not understand is why they got rid of Chavkin.  I thought her direction — including the look of the show — was outstanding.  I can only guess the powers that be thought it was too dark.  

Jordan Catalano said: "I’m gonna be so sad if this happens and Solea can’t do it."

I think I might literally cry, I’ve been raving about her performance for over a year now. It sent shockwaves thru my body.