Posted: 4/24/24 at 9:07am
Releases June 21 on digital platforms, and August 2 physically! Music by Jason Howland, lyrics by Nathan Tysen
Updated On: 4/24/24 at 09:07 AM
Posted: 4/24/24 at 9:09am
Know the show isn’t necessarily a favorite here, but I actually really enjoyed quite a bit of the music and am excited to listen when it comes out!
Posted: 4/24/24 at 9:18am
I've made it clear that this is not my favorite show, but there are some great musical numbers in this, like Roaring On, For Her, My Green Light, and Beautiful Little Fool. I've heard they've made some changes to New Money since the first preview, which I hope is true because I thought it was ok but not perfect. I mainly enjoyed that Sam Pauly finally has a big belting number for her character, which she didn't have when this was at Paper Mill. Overall, even if this show flops on Broadway, I am glad it will be preserved on a cast album.
Posted: 4/24/24 at 1:17pm
Roaring On is such an earworm and has gotten stuck in my head countless times since I saw this at the Paper Mill. Glad I’ll finally get to rock out to that one without having to look up the rehearsal footage they released on YouTube, as I’ve been doing!
Posted: 4/24/24 at 3:33pm
count me in as one that really enjoyed this too --- the music is very catchy, including the new & much improved "New Money", and am looking forward to this recording.
I'm actually suprised that no has really mentioned the choregraphy. VERY "Fosse", and some of the best moves on Broadway this season
Updated On: 4/24/24 at 03:33 PM
Posted: 4/24/24 at 3:47pm
It's funny how personal taste works, because despite being well performed, the songs in this show had no staying power with me (some of the lyrics made me especially cringe) and I found the choreography awkward and not terribly impactful. I would actually tend to use the same description for the show as a whole.
Posted: 6/7/24 at 8:51am
Digital release has been pushed back to June 28.
Noah J. Ricketts (Nick Carraway) and the company performing “Roaring On”:
Jeremy Jordan (Jay Gatsby) and Eva Noblezada (Daisy Buchanan) performing “My Green Light”:
Jordan and the company performing “Past is Catching Up to Me”:
Posted: 6/7/24 at 8:55am
Track listing:
Posted: 6/7/24 at 9:25am
Did someone at the cast recording factory fall asleep on the job? What's with all these delays?
Posted: 6/21/24 at 12:06am
Jordan performing "For Her":
Samantha Pauly (Jordan Baker), Ricketts, Eric Anderson (Wolfsheim), and the company performing "New Money":
Noblezada performing "Beautiful Little Fool":
Posted: 6/21/24 at 12:54am
Thanks for posting these!
The lyrics are definitely a touch flat in this show, almost cheesy, but the performances are great. It's a talented cast.
I'm disappointed to hear Jordan really overdoing his tics in "Past". It's a huge song and he sings it brilliantly live, but the recording is very...OTT with the breathing and acting, etc. Am I the only one a little disappointed?
Posted: 6/22/24 at 3:26am
The music is definitely better than the lyrics. I’m loving the cast recording, it all sounds very lush, I feel they were snubbed a nomination for orchestrations and sound. And many other categories too. I would have nominated them over elephants, Illinoise, and Hell’s Kitchen
Posted: 6/22/24 at 6:16am
I don't know what happened to Beautiful Little Fool, but I preferred how it was done when the show was at Paper Mill.
Posted: 6/22/24 at 9:25am
I will say that the orchestrations sound beautiful - very lush and full.
Posted: 6/22/24 at 9:34am
Broadway Flash said: "The music is definitely better than the lyrics. I’m loving the cast recording, it all sounds very lush, I feel they were snubbed a nomination for orchestrations and sound.And many other categories too. I would have nominated them over elephants, Illinoise, and Hell’s Kitchen"
I think they deserved a score nomination
Posted: 6/27/24 at 11:18am
Digital release is tomorrow, old sport.
Posted: 6/28/24 at 12:00am
The full album is finally out! Let’s hear those thoughts, everyone.
Posted: 6/28/24 at 12:42am
Posted: 6/28/24 at 7:27am
Listening to the cast album. Nick and Jordan's numbers are working. Daisy's ballads are dull. The Wilsons are in a different show, which seems appropriate.
The first real clunker is "Only Tea." Jeremy's Gatsby is having a hissy fit more appropriate for Manfred the tailor in Sunset Boulevard.
Updated On: 6/28/24 at 07:27 AM
Posted: 6/28/24 at 8:26am
The second half is so plot heavy that most of the songs are exposition or quick reprises. They're eager to give all 8 principals a song, which slows things down.
Posted: 6/28/24 at 9:03am
I feel like this is such a thing for most shows. We don't need solos from every principle.
Updated On: 6/28/24 at 09:03 AM
Posted: 6/28/24 at 10:02am
Jeez So Sophisticated is a way better song than Absolute Rose IMO (I saw it at Papermill not broadway)
Posted: 6/28/24 at 11:33am
To be honest, I don't think this is the trainwreck some of us are saying it is, but it isn't necessarily a great score, either.
Listen... I've said what I've said about Howland as a composer before, but listening to The Great Gatsby, some of these songs are up there with his best. It's a big week for him, as he is also music directing the score accompanying this year's Macy's Fourth of July fireworks. The highs on this album are euphoric (namely most of Jeremy Jordan and Eva Noblezada's material), but the lows are dispiriting.
As I recall, some changes have been made since the Paper Mill run, including — gasp! — some serviceable lyric alterations from Nathan Tysen. Gone are the Spanish Flu and Rock of Gibraltar lines that were the subjects of theatre nerd mockery just last fall.
The show's in great shape with the vocal pyrotechnics of this cast. "You fight and return / Only to learn that you have lost her," laments Jordan's Jay Gatsby as he wails Daisy's name in the haunting ballad "For Her." The two leads get several soaring, standout songs like that throughout, which bring to mind Howland's mentor and perhaps feel a bit out of place for a show like Gatsby. Noblezada's shiny timbre comes through in "Beautiful Little Fool" and the gorgeous "For Better or Worse."
The other figures get different musical sounds. Noah J. Ricketts (fantastic in a reading of the recent Encores Pal Joey) leads the funky "The Met," which starts off promising before stalling a bit. Samantha Pauly brings dry humor to Jordan Baker and gets her chance to shine early with "New Money." Sara Chase seemingly gets straddled with an underwritten Myrtle and I hope she breaks out if she continues with the stage adaptation of Schmigadoon!. Most of the ensemble numbers are closer in style to how I pictured this musical, including the earwormy "Roaring On," second-act opener "Shady" (led by a slimy Eric Anderson, as Meyer Wolfsheim), and especially the fantastic new addition "La Dee Dah With You," which I definitely hope puts Dariana Mullen's star on the rise.
Long story short, this album just seems good enough. It's just odd, though, that it's the power ballads — and not the brassier, jazzier numbers — that make this Gatsby great.
Florence... your response.
Posted: 6/28/24 at 11:58am
It's one of my favorite scores of the season, mainly because I like the Wildhorn style power ballads. I agree those songs outshine the more jazzy period numbers. My only complaint is just that they didn't include that brief overture and "Beautiful Little Fool" is barely a song. It's just one phrase repeated over and over. I wish they'd fleshed it out into a full number.
Posted: 6/28/24 at 12:25pm
This may be just a first listen reaction but I think I dislike many of the Papermill changes to the power ballads I already liked. It’s the ensemble numbers I already didn’t like that I still don’t like.
