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THE GREAT GATSBY at Paper Mill Playhouse - Critics’ Reviews — Page 2

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#26

THE GREAT GATSBY at Paper Mill Playhouse - Critics’ Reviews

Posted: 10/24/23 at 11:10pm

TaffyDavenport said: "Dylan Smith4 said:

"However, there is one set piece that could use some reworking. I’m talking about the flat-out creepy eye-glasses billboard we see in the gas station scene."

I've seen a pic of that scene, and the billboard looks exactly like every representation I've seen of it over the past 50 years. In the context of the novel and as symbolism, aren't the eyes supposed to be "creepy" and eerie?

"

Right, the Doc billboard is some of the most iconic Gatsby imagery. And yep, I do believe its creepiness is indeed the point.

#28

THE GREAT GATSBY at Paper Mill Playhouse - Critics’ Reviews

Posted: 10/25/23 at 10:11pm

nj.com is an absolute rave. “The Great Gatsby” at the Paper Mill Playhouse is a triumph. Smartly written, sharply directed, expertly performed, and teeming with excitement and drama, the musical adaptation explodes off the Millburn stage.

https://www.nj.com/entertainment/2023/10/glamour-booze-and-high-society-riddled-with-cracks-gatsby-like-youve-never-seen-it-review.html

#29

THE GREAT GATSBY at Paper Mill Playhouse - Critics’ Reviews

Posted: 10/26/23 at 10:51am

https://www.theatermania.com/news/review-the-great-gatsby-reflects-the-excesses-of-the-roaring-twenties-in-all-the-wrong-ways_1719309

"Well Old Sports, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the finished product ultimately lays an East Egg."

"Paper Mill Playhouse has expended considerable resources on this production, but as it stands, any hope of a direct transfer to the Main Stem seems about as faint as a green light across Long Island Sound. Now that The Great Gatsby is fair game for all comers, others will continue trying to get it right, and surely someone will succeed. (The next big attempt, written by pop star Florence Welch and Pulitzer Prize winner Martyna Majok, will debut at A.R.T. in May 2024.) Whatever ends up happening, this Gatsby, like the man himself, will likely be remembered as a cautionary tale."

Updated On: 10/26/23 at 10:51 AM

#34

THE GREAT GATSBY at Paper Mill Playhouse - Critics’ Reviews

Posted: 10/26/23 at 1:44pm

The Times review is pretty general and not especially well written. I assume Jesse Green passed on reviewing it so it fell to one of their stringers. I'm sure she was working within a word limit but it feels like the kind of review that could have been written without even seeing the show.

"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe." -John Guare, Landscape of the Body
#35

THE GREAT GATSBY at Paper Mill Playhouse - Critics’ Reviews

Posted: 10/26/23 at 9:13pm

Brittani Samuel’s review in The NYT is a bit odd, like she thought it was “meh” but didn’t want to trash it. She compliments the actors and design elements but does not give it the kind of “advice” pre-Broadway tryouts usually get. I agree that it was clearly given a low word count limit, and seems poorly edited. It reads like something from an amateur theater blog. Weird.

#38

THE GREAT GATSBY at Paper Mill Playhouse - Critics’ Reviews

Posted: 10/28/23 at 12:35am

I'm sure Greene passed so he could review it with fresh eyes should it come to NY.



AND YES! To the reaction on the BWW review. 'Embarrassing' is exactly the right word, read like a high school student fangirl wrote it.

If we're not having fun, then why are we doing it? These are DISCUSSION boards, not mutual admiration boards. Discussion only occurs when we are willing to hear what others are thinking, regardless of whether it is alignment to our own thoughts.
#39

THE GREAT GATSBY at Paper Mill Playhouse - Critics’ Reviews

Posted: 10/28/23 at 4:42pm

Saw the show this afternoon and I didn’t think it was an unsalvageable disaster. There’s a lot that needs to be done for it to truly work (in act two, especially) but I think the bones are there for that to be able to happen. I hope it’s able to get worked on and put back up when everything gets ironed out because it’s got a hell of a lot of potential.

#40

THE GREAT GATSBY at Paper Mill Playhouse - Critics’ Reviews

Posted: 10/28/23 at 5:05pm

Jordan Catalano said: "Saw the show this afternoon and I didn’t think it was an unsalvageable disaster. There’s a lot that needs to be done for it to truly work (in act two, especially) but I think the bones are there for that to be able to happen. I hope it’s able to get worked on and put back up when everything gets ironed out because it’s got a hell of a lot of potential."

I’m going tonight! (Actually I just got to Millburn for dinner) I have to laugh because I think we had this same scenario earlier in the year when HERCULES was running when you were at the matinee and I went at night

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#41

THE GREAT GATSBY at Paper Mill Playhouse - Critics’ Reviews

Posted: 10/28/23 at 11:27pm

TL;DR - Maybe there’s potential, but they basically sent Gatsby down the “Paradise Square” route and laid a big ol’ (East) Egg.

There are some bones there that showed glimmers of potential, but it’s buried beneath a trunk of loudly generic (and sometimes bizarre) songs (no surprise since the same people also scored “Paradise Square&rdquoTHE GREAT GATSBY at Paper Mill Playhouse - Critics’ Reviews and an overstuffed book that has clear contempt for the source material - trying to be musical comedy and a dramatic epic. The lack of any sort of central anchor (since it’s usually Nick Carraway telling the story) makes everything so fast, loose and disjointed that at the end, I don’t care about anyone. The set is Baz Lurhmann opulence on a regional budget and the choreography was fantastic when it was actually necessary.

The cast is, as expected, good. Jeremy and Eva sang the house down, but the real MVPs for me were John Drozjeski as Tom and Samantha Pauly as Jordan, since they seemed like the only ones who were able to create grounded and fully believable characters.

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#43

THE GREAT GATSBY at Paper Mill Playhouse - Critics’ Reviews

Posted: 10/29/23 at 11:23am

I think this is definitely a divisive production. From where I was last night, there was a mixture of rapturous applause, polite clapping, and dumbfounded confusion.

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#44

THE GREAT GATSBY at Paper Mill Playhouse - Critics’ Reviews

Posted: 10/29/23 at 11:36am

At the matinee yesterday, there were certainly a lot of overly enthusiastic fans screaming at Jeremy and Eva (just clap and stop your f’ng screaming, already!) but other than that I’d say it got a polite response. It could also be that it was a Saturday matinee and there were a LOT of older people in the audience.


I still think with a good amount of work, this show could be successful but now I’m setting my sights towards Chavkin’s version next year. Her name alone gets me in the door to any show so I can’t wait to see what she does with the story.

#46

THE GREAT GATSBY at Paper Mill Playhouse - Critics’ Reviews

Posted: 10/29/23 at 11:53am

Broadway Flash said: "chavkin is beyond overrated. hadestown was a snooze, heres hoping lempicka is more exciting"


Oh man, I’m glad you educated me on that. Thank you so much. My opinion on what an artist creates has changed now and all because of you’re amazing contribution to the discussion.

#48

THE GREAT GATSBY at Paper Mill Playhouse - Critics’ Reviews

Posted: 10/29/23 at 1:03pm

Broadway Flash said: "You gave your opinion, I gave mine. Damn."

And your opinion was intended to dismiss and diminish Jordan’s and he had every right to snark back.


I don’t know why this whole “every opinion is equal and how it works is you offer an opinion and then I offer my opinion and there is absolutely no debate whatsoever and if you challenge my opinion no matter how ill-informed or dismissive it is, you are doing wrong” mindset has set into newer posters but Christ is it stupid.

"...everyone finally shut up, and the audience could enjoy the beginning of the Anatevka Pogram in peace."
#49

THE GREAT GATSBY at Paper Mill Playhouse - Critics’ Reviews

Posted: 10/29/23 at 1:10pm

Except for the fact that I’ve been on this board for nearly a decade in one name or another. And this entire thread is talking about the ART gatsby, and how great it’s gonna be. My comment was definitely not in respond to the previous comment, but giving a general opinion.

#50

THE GREAT GATSBY at Paper Mill Playhouse - Critics’ Reviews

Posted: 10/29/23 at 1:13pm

I never said how GREAT the A.R.T. Gatsby was going to be. All I said is that I’m looking forward to it because I enjoy Chavkin’s work. Literally the only thing I said about that production.

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