Florence Welch’s GATSBY Coming To Broadway

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 8/27/25 at 7:24pm

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

[spicemonkey]

Posted: 8/27/25 at 7:43pm

David Cromer keeps getting high-profile Bway and (arguably more artistic) off Broadway jobs. Good for him! 

[lastmidnights]

Posted: 8/27/25 at 7:45pm

Last I heard they were going to London first

[uncageg]

Posted: 8/27/25 at 7:46pm

This is the one I want to see. 

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 8/27/25 at 7:47pm

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

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 8/27/25 at 7:51pm

Their social profiles were always @gatsbybway, and a website was active before, but they’ve cleared all the posts from when Chavkin was the director. 

I’d save my enthusiasm for if/when we get exact dates and a theatre. 

[CoffeeBreak]

Posted: 8/27/25 at 8:03pm

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

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 8/27/25 at 8:05pm

Their social profiles were always @gatsbybway, and a website was active before, but they’ve cleared all the posts from when Chavkin was the director. 

Correct. 

[BorisTomashevsky]

Posted: 8/27/25 at 8:30pm

“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?

[lastmidnights]

Posted: 8/27/25 at 8:50pm

BorisTomashevsky said: "“Is there an alternate phrasing for this sentence?"

I'm assuming they meant that they'll do a limited run in London before it comes to Broadway. Unless they meant that the creatives want to do a tryout in London, and then another tryout in the US before Broadway? I have only heard plans of the former, myself.

[bear88]

Posted: 8/27/25 at 8:56pm

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?

[abcd12]

Posted: 8/27/25 at 9:06pm

Sutton Ross said: "Their social profiles were always @gatsbybway, and a website was active before, but they’ve cleared all the posts from when Chavkin was the director.

Correct."

Right, but their only social post was just a few hours ago. Seems like a formal announcement of some kind is imminent. 

Unless they’re going the (bizarre, borderline embarrassing, and ineffective) CATS: THE JELLICLE BALL route and announcing things on social media without having anything signed or on the books. 

Updated On: 8/27/25 at 09:06 PM

[CJRochester]

Posted: 8/27/25 at 10:24pm

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. 

 

[RippedMan]

Posted: 8/27/25 at 11:06pm

I know the end goal is always profit, but this seems the more artsy route that might appeal to a different crowd. I’d imagine it would play a much smaller theater than the Broadway or the Palladium. So, similar to the Wild Party situation. But I tend to love Cromer’s work so I’m excited to see what he does.

 

[willep]

Posted: 8/27/25 at 11:10pm

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.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 8/28/25 at 12:44am

I still think it would be unwise to open this in New York within 2-3 years of Other Gatsby's closing. Yes, they're very different shows, but Other Gatsby has been incredibly resilient and the audience is less smart than you think!

There may be a level of hubris - among producers and fans - that the Florence Gatsby is so artistically solid that it can stand above the Other Gatsby, but unfortunately I don't think we can bank on art that much these days!!!!

This could also be a tough raise. The Road can offer hope of recoupment, but the current Gatsby could do four years between Equity and non-Eq companies. (see above: the audience is less smart than you think.) Yes, they have Len Blavatnik and Carmen Pavlovic producing, but people like that don't usually bankroll entire shows.

Updated On: 8/28/25 at 12:44 AM

[CATSNYrevival]

Posted: 8/28/25 at 2:48am

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.

[KrupYou]

Posted: 8/28/25 at 4:37am

This IP is huge.......the power of a brilliant book.....exciting. 

[Owen22]

Posted: 8/28/25 at 10:50am

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.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 8/28/25 at 10:56am

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. 

[chrishuyen]

Posted: 8/28/25 at 11:15am

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.

[Owen22]

Posted: 8/28/25 at 11:52am

chrishuyen said: "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."

I think one of the reasons I liked the Boston production is because of the emphasis they give on Myrtle (mainly because I loved Karen Black so much in the 70s film)! Although I must admit, the Broadway version skews closer to Fitzgerald's version of her, and they use the musical comedy language I spoke of above to make her kind of a degraded Miss Adelaide. She is way more self aware and grounded in the Florence Welch version. And I think she was portrayed by a much more intelligent actress there as well.

[Jarethan]

Posted: 8/28/25 at 1:01pm

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.  

[bear88]

Posted: 8/28/25 at 8:04pm

CATSNYrevival said: "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."

Fair point. It would be a reasonable mistake to make. Not for people who follow theater closely but for many normal people who just want to catch a musical with a familiar name.

[raddersons]

Posted: 8/29/25 at 3:21am

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.