THE GREAT GATSBY @ Paper Mill Playhouse Thread

For some reason, I either couldn't find (or open) our previous thread on this production — maybe it was deleted by the mods? — so creating this one now. Anyway, rehearsals begin on Tuesday for Jason Howland and Nathan Tysen's The Great Gatsby, directed by Marc Bruni; it will run from October 12 — November 12 at Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, NJ.

With that, the full company should be announced in a press release real soon — I hear that Samantha Pauly is involved in this project. I have no clue who else is going to be in it, but if we know anything about Howland, it's that he loves recruiting several cast members from his previous projects for whatever he's working on at the moment. I'd expect a sizable amount of Beautiful, Paradise Square, and Shucked alums joining Jordan, Noblezada, and Pauly in this cast.

Updated On: 9/2/23 at 07:39 PM

Whitty and Ricketts also did the private reading for this show in May 2022.

Gotta think the ensemble will include at least a few more people from previous Howland shows (Ricketts was in Beautiful).

Curious how the two Gatsbys will differ in plot.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CxvW8urur07/

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CxvXN9xu6Qd/

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CxvWW1PuLbt/

willep said: "RippedMan said: "Curious how the two Gatsbys will differ in plot."

What? It’s a book, how different can the plot be for the two?"

I mean, look at the two Wild Parties. Same source material and very different takes.

Holy mother of God! I am in tears just from watching that clip! I cannot imagine what this will sound like with a full orchestra! My excitement for this just shot up!

Obviously, we haven’t heard Welch’s music from the A.R.T. Gatsby yet, but this is already giving me Lippa’s Wild Party. Whether that’s a good or bad thing, time will tell. That said, I’m firmly in the LaChiusa camp on that versus battle, and these clips are doing absolutely zero for me.

That opening number is not great, even if Jordan and the ensemble sound and look great.

I liked the choreo in the opening number...but did make me think of Fosse/Pippin (which isn't a bad thing)



But the music itself? Sounded so generic....what a time to live in the time period that (seemingly) has been missed.



Still looking forward to seeing this, but hoping the ART version finds its time period better.

I truly hope Jordan’s bit with the mask was just a rehearsal room thing and not something that will be in the production.

Mixed feelings based on these clips. On the one hand, these clips, admittedly not much to go on, don't seem to evoke the tone of the original novel. (I was half-expecting Nick to walk on as a Che-like narrator and say "That's how she tells this story to herself, but..." On the other hand, I never really liked the original novel or understood what was so incredible about it, so maybe an adaptation that goes in another direction isn't such a bad idea. If that direction actually turns out to be interesting.

TaffyDavenport said: "Eva singing "Beautiful Little Fool" in its entirety:

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT8Md7E2v/

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cxvbmw8ObRI/

"My Green Light" in its entirety:

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cxvbmw8ObRI/

"

I'm kind of getting a bad feeling that the songs might have the same amount of depth as the music in Paradise Square and also be a waste of its super talented cast if you pay any attention to the lyrics.

Also, I WISH this was Lippa's Wild Party. That would be more fun. That mask thing was not cute to me so it ruined the one upbeat number they've shown off.