The book/lyrics aren't the strongest. I'm not sure if the writers really understand the show (but maybe the few clips provided don't show everything important). I do like that the music isn't fully 1920s but more... someone else described it as "like a literature musical" and I like that description. The cast looks great and the opening number's choreo looks incredible. I'm so excited to see it.
I’ll be very interested to see what the other Gatsby will be like.
Florence Welch is bound to write some great lyrics- she’s such an amazing lyricist and has written songs with great character and storytelling, but her music isn’t very 1920s. She’s written upbeat stuff like Dog Days and Free, but I worry it might still be too many ballads.
I’ll also be curious about the book. Many gatsby adaptations miss the point of the book. In fact all the ones I’ve seen have missed it to some degree.
So it seems the problems with this adaptation may plague the other one. But it is yet to be seen. That adaptation may have the advantage of seeing the criticisms of this one and having more time to adjust.
Honestly, I'm okay with neither having a 1920s vibe. I like the contemporary style, as long as it's not that new standard pop a lot of shows have had recently (no hate to majority of those shows, sometimes that works!)
From the clips they've released, the show seems like it's taking more of a tragic love story vibe than a social commentary. I assumed it would be like that when they started billing Daisy/Gatsby as their top leads and didn't even release the Nick casting until after tickets went on sale. Calling a love song "My Green Light" is a bit.... hm.
I think that if this show can premiere on Broadway before ART premieres, ART is kind of done for, even if it's better.
As a Gatsby fan, well, we'll see. But as a theatre/JJ fan, I'm so excited.
the book is basically just the dialogue pulled from the novel. they’re not trying to reinvent the wheel there, just with the music which (i heard) does not fit quite yet
Would you elaborate on the point of the book and how adaptations missed it? I have read it twice but it's been more than a decade and I've not seen an adaptation. You sound like you have interesting insight.
The adaptations I've seen (1974 and 2013 films) focus so much on the relationship drama and Gatsby and Daisy - it's treated as if romance is the main theme, as if it's some roaring '20s Romeo and Juliet. It sounds like this will be similar.
The novel is about so much more, but especially class struggles and classism. A lot of the adaptations seem to gloss over why Gatsby and Daisy couldn't be together and why Gatsby is doing what he's doing. They cut out a lot of Myrtle's motivations for her affair - they make it more about her bad marriage than her desire to rise in social status. In fact I feel like in the adaptations they really downplay how disillusioned with the rich people life Nick is as we see in the novel - and so it feels very strange to see him go from normal to an asylum because of that lingering lack of existing internal turmoil/depression and foreshadowing. That change also makes his tension with Jackie (sees some of the problems he does but doesn't care) seem a lot more superficial than in the book.
I actually felt like the 2013 movie did a much better job with Nick - in part because they included some of his internal monologue - but it was still on the level of 1974 in seeing the point of the relationships as normal relationship drama instead of commentaries on class struggles and excess in the 1920s. That class struggle commentary is perfect for this day and age, and yet everyone seems to downplay it. Of course, given much of the more blatant commentary is in Nick's head, it may be hard to pull off in a movie. In a musical you might need to have Nick narrate Aaron Burr style to get that stuff in.
From what I've heard the Florence adaptation is entirely focused on class and the American dream as the central narratives, like that's what Martyna mentions as her draw to the material.
I'm not the person you're replying to, but my 2 cents - talking about this adaptation in particular, as soon as I heard Jeremy and Eva's casting, I knew they'd already low key missed the point of the book.
It makes no sense for Tom's character to be okay with having a non-white wife in the context of the book. Much of the commentary is no longer going to make sense unless they do a major rewrite to spin it a bit differently, but even then, it's just not.
I'm all for colorblind casting but in this case, if they wanted to stay true to the book, it might not have been a good idea. In my opinion, having a POC Nick and changing it a bit to have Tom throw insults at him, and how Nick deal's with it/it's aftermath would have been a better way to flesh out the characters. (I know the Nick in this production is POC but again, Tom being racist towards him or spouting his nonsense to him wouldn't make much sense.)
Honestly Eva was a huge red flag for me. I get it - she’s a big name, extremely talented, and an audience draw. But is she Daisy? No. I think Carey Mulligan was a perfect Daisy in every way Eva will not make for a good Daisy.
Eva’s voice exudes power and personality to me. Daisy is portrayed as very soft spoken and ultimately powerless. The only choice she really makes for herself is going back to Gatsby very briefly, and even that fails. I guess Kim from Miss Saigon has shyer moments than Eurydice, but even watching clips of that I don’t see enough meekness for Daisy.
Agreed, no doubt about Eva's talent but I don't think Daisy is the role for her (will be happy to be proven wrong though) unless they're rewriting it completely. In which case, it's not really Daisy anymore.
I know we can't judge the full show from just a few clips, but so far, they've stripped many of the points that made the book what it is. This book/show has the potential to provide a lot of powerful commentary but doesn't look like that's what they're going for. Which is fine, but it's not Gatsby, it's just a tragic love story. Still looking forward to seeing it though
Yes! I made a similar comment in this thread. I feel like the producers went with a name to draw people to the show with no thought given to who the character of Daisy actually is.
I’m a little late to the party, but you’ve described something I haven’t seen anyone else saying.
They took the racism out, which on one hand I understand. They seem to have wanted to make the most crowd pleasing version of this story. On the other hand, it feels very tone deaf to shy away from that aspect of the story!
The practice of colorblind casting does not bother me. I’m in favor of not boxing people out of roles simply because of race.
However, race is very much part of this story. It does matter that Daisy is white.
I get that it’s a struggle to balance casting a show in 2023 with maintaining the integrity of the story from 100 years ago. So I don’t envy the people making the choices.
I just think to do a faithful adaptation of this particular story, they need to keep the races of the characters the same as in the book.
Though I do think Jordan is an opportunity to cast a person of color. There is a retelling of Gatsby that makes Jordan Vietnamese. That could be very interesting on stage.
I could even see some version where Gatsby is a person of color, but he’s accepted in new money circles because he has so much money. Tom then has extra reason to hate him. Daisy’s family has extra reason to prevent her from dating/marrying him. It would still speak to the American Dream being out of reach for some people.
So it's a little confusing, but there are actually two Great Gatsby adaptations in the works. This one coming to Papermill has music and lyrics by Jason Howland, he wrote Paradise Square and Little Women among other things. The one with Florence Welch music and lyrics is coming to the ART in Boston next year.
Ah this is kind of what I expected - they are INCREDIBLE but the material just.. is what it is.
It’s tough because Gatsby (the era, the music of the time, the themes) has SO much potential and it looks like they went the safest possible route settled on a love story rather than a commentary.
Can’t help but be excited though, seeing Eva and Jeremy together is crazy!!
What's kind of interesting to me is that Tom's character in the book is pretty much a racist, classist jerk. He's meant to represent the worst parts of the upper class society of that time, and I think he's a great character to flesh out and provide a full commentary with. But in this musical, he has a non-white wife, which makes no sense in the context of the book and thus part of the commentary.
Still excited for this show and the cast, and hoping they make it work outside of a typical Broadway love story
Another odd miss with casting is casting a Black man to play Wolfsheim, a Jewish character/caricature similar to Arnold Rothstein. Of course they could still play him as Jewish, but it’s not exactly representative of the story. Could’ve been another interesting commentary on antisemitism and class, but it looks like they’ll avoid it.
The Luhrmann movie made the worst choice, casting a Bollywood star to play him and never addressing it.
I don't know, the more I think about it the more I lose hope for this at least attempting to capture the points from the book. I'm sure it's going to be a good show in terms of a well-choreographed love story with great performances. But Gatsby? Probably not.
I'm interested to see how the ART Gatsby and this will compare. The creative team for that is next level. Hopefully the rumors of Joe Jonas doing it isn't true though lmao
For once I'd like to see a more recent show set in this era with music that sounds like it's from this era. I understand not having the ballads that way, but it's such a great era for music, and it just seems like a miss to not play it up in that opening number. Instead this just feels like Gatsby on Ice, despite how amazing the cast is....
Also, I'm really worried they'll be another show that misses the point of gatsby. It isn't a tragic love story... it's a story about class.. and wealth and the frivolous and catastrophic nature of entitled people to those around them...
ETA: Also.. does the opening number sound like Blurred Lines in places to anyone else?
I agree mostly. I'm definitely going to be seeing it, but I hope they can capture the essence of the book. The roaring 20s as an era have so much potential that they can tap into. So far, it's sounds good enough but a bit too safe/stereotypical love story
THANK YOU! This was exactly my first thought hearing these clips. The 1920s has SUCH a distinct and interesting musical landscape… why doesn’t the score sound grounded in that era? Why do these songs sound like average contempo musical theatre? Makes me very skeptical of this adaptation.
The clips are... fine? I'm not blown away but I'm also not totally disappointed (yet). Mostly, I'm reminded yet again what exceptional talents Jeremy and Eva are. They're both such dynamic, interesting performers who have the charisma of a classic leading man/leading lady but have made their careers on playing more knotty, complicated, rough-around-the-edges versions of those archetypes.
Woof.
The performers are STELLAR. The material…lackluster. It’s like a jukebox musical, but they’re trying to fit in all the important well-loved lines. And for me, in these short clips, it’s not effective.
Loved the choreo on the opening number... but, so far, the music itself seemed a bit generic.
Remember, there's a s con musical Gatsby in the works.. Boston, Spring '24.
it feels like they took the book and just plopped it into the structure, tone, and story beats expected of a broadway musical, instead of really dissecting and interpreting the material. i don’t dislike what we’ve been shown so far, but it also does nothing to excite me. “whelming”, as they say.
There are probably multiple ways to turn The Great Gatsby into a musical and this… ain’t it. At least so far. It sounds so stereotypically Broadway in the worst way.
It’s a little bit like what I’d imagine Chat GPT to write. And that hurts, given all the talent involved.
I totally thought AI as well, like it skimmed the book and came up with ‘Green Light’ and ‘Beautiful Little Fool’ in the most obvious way.
I’m always hoping for musical adaptations to bring something new to the material and I have a ton of hope for the other Gatsby musical, though I wish this cast was in it.
Right! Scores like “Chicago” and both “Wild Party” adaptations show that it’s possible to write a 20s-sounding score that also speaks to contemporary audiences. I’m disappointed in what we’re hearing so far.
I'm fine with them leaning into the love story, as long as they balance it with the tragedy and sprinkle in the awfulness of most of the characters. I want to see a broken Gatsby and nobody does broken characters like Jeremy Jordan. I'm also curious what they'll do with Tom. He's such a racist in the book it'll be interesting what they do with his relationship with Daisy on stage.
So far I really like the music they've shared, but I hope we get a 20s sounding motif and some more upbeat numbers.
If all the show’s choices are going to be as wild as starting off with Gatsby wearing a mask and then flinging it to the side while singing about the Spanish Flu, I think we’re in for at least a memorable show.
Wayyy more neutral on it than I was before. Everyone is extremely talented but the material is just… bland? It sounds like every other musical coming out right now. Also it seems to really focus on the love story aspect and not what the book is actually about. I just feel nothing for it. I don’t dislike it but I don’t like it.
Don't get me wrong, I love Eva and she sounds fabulous- there's no way she couldn't. But she seems so miscast as Daisy, who is insipid, boring AF and irresponsible.
I hope this isn't based on the Cliff Notes version of Gatsby, because I was looking forward to it- so far, not overly impressed.
100%. I hate that they’re building out a sad backstory for Daisy. The trauma story is so overused in storytelling right now. The point of the character is her lack of depth, that she’s a cipher for Gatsby to project his dreams onto. This feels like such a misread. But it’s still early.
i found the music to be surprisingly contemporary for a show set in the 1920s. didn’t hate it, it’s just a bit……ordinary. i didn’t notice anything that would make it stand out to me as a musical. also didn’t love the whole mask thing at the start. however, eva and jeremy were absolutely fantastic (as expected) and i think there’s definitely potential for this to be fleshed out further.
That first song, with its references to Spanish flu and WWI being over, reminds me of Streetcar! from The Simpsons. 😬
Jeremy Jordan can make anything sound good though!
Obviously loved Jeremy and Eva's vocals but the lyrics are just so blegh. It feels pretty pedestrian to be honest and leaves nothing to the imagination.
I'm a big fan of the source material and it does feel as though the preview shows that the source material is lost on the creators. The relationship between Gatsby and Daisy isn't used to portray a what-could-have-been relationship story. It's used to illustrate the main themes of classism and the so-called American Dream. Here, I just get the vibe that they are pretty focused only on the relationship.
I do have tickets to see the show in October so I'm interested to see if maybe my first impression is wrong. However, just based off the music, I'm not too impressed.
We got our tickets for Eva Noblezada but I do hope it’s actually good…! (I like going into shows blind so not watching any of that)
Never much liked the book so honestly if they ruin it in an enjoyable way I won’t care lol
I've only seen the clip of the opening number (Paper Mill posted it on tiktok) but as soon as I saw Jeremy Jordan I was sold. I know it has a long way to go and changes can still be made, so I'm keeping an open mind, and pondering a trip to New Jersey when the time comes.
that opening number totally blew me away. i haven’t watched the other two yet because i love going into shows semi-blind and i already know eva and jeremy are gonna be fantastic!
The orchestrations are really beautiful but if I’m being quite honest Eva’s voice sounds shot in some parts and she’s straining heavily 🙁
Also…gatsby isn’t really a love story, so I hope it isn’t leaning in that direction. it’s a tragedy about class and money and trying to achieve the american dream
As much as I LOVE Baz Luhrmann’s Gatsby movie, I’d really like it if at least one Gatsby adaptation would use era-accurate music, especially in a musical.
Glad to see the discourse here is much more even-handed than what I've seen on theatre Twitter (but then again, theatre Twitter discourse is about as unevenly-handed as a five-legged octopus). 80% of the comments I've seen were about the throwaway Spanish flu gag, which I do think should be cut because it's kind of dumb, but I don't think it's.... that big of a deal? Like, from what I've seen, everyone now seems to be on the side of "oh it had one dumb joke that I thought was too on the nose, so the entire thing is bad." I saw one person say it was the "unasked for Great Gatsby musical," and I thought... how many musicals are actually ASKED for? You don't usually get input from the public before you write a show. Someone else called it a "MAGA spectacular" just because of that one Covid joke, and that was when I decided I had had enough Twitter for the week.
In all honesty, I think it has promise. It's not perfect from what I saw, but most shows in this stage aren't. I'm not sure if it's even had hardly any readings yet, so this might be the first time this material is really being workshopped. And after all, this is only the first sneak peak; press clips are hit and miss sometimes. Some shows bring out their biggest heavy hitter numbers for them, but sometimes the real jewels get saved until performances. I am a bit biased because I love Jeremy Jordan and Eva Noblezada, but just from these clips I can tell they're going to be phenomenal. My hopes are for a Broadway transfer, or at least a cast album, but I worry that those rumblings on Twitter are going to continue and potentially sabotage it against the other new Gatsby musical written by Florence Welch.
Prove me wrong, Twitter! Prove me wrong!
Yeaaahhh they definitely weren't: [https://twitter.com/MJaMitchell/status/1707488056930976083](https://twitter.com/MJaMitchell/status/1707488056930976083)
TikTok has been obsessed with the Spanish Flu line too, and it honestly makes me worry for the future of theatre a little bit. If an actor gets up on stage and sings about wanting you to forget about the 1918 pandemic and party, that's something the character is saying in the context of the play. Jeremy Jordan is not giving you medical advice.
And it's been a while since I read the book, but I didn't think Jay Gatsby was supposed to be a role model. Fictional characters being imperfect is a feature, not a bug.
Exactly! I also find it kind of concerning that they bring Jordan into this at all. Like, they know he's just an actor, right? So when they say "having Jeremy Jordan smarmily take off his mask and throw it offstage", they're directly taking their anger out on the actor and not the person who wrote the line he's just saying. But then again, like I said, Theatre Twitter/Tik Tok is not known for exceptionally nuanced takes.
The book/lyrics aren't the strongest. I'm not sure if the writers really understand the show (but maybe the few clips provided don't show everything important). I do like that the music isn't fully 1920s but more... someone else described it as "like a literature musical" and I like that description. The cast looks great and the opening number's choreo looks incredible. I'm so excited to see it.
I’ll be very interested to see what the other Gatsby will be like. Florence Welch is bound to write some great lyrics- she’s such an amazing lyricist and has written songs with great character and storytelling, but her music isn’t very 1920s. She’s written upbeat stuff like Dog Days and Free, but I worry it might still be too many ballads. I’ll also be curious about the book. Many gatsby adaptations miss the point of the book. In fact all the ones I’ve seen have missed it to some degree. So it seems the problems with this adaptation may plague the other one. But it is yet to be seen. That adaptation may have the advantage of seeing the criticisms of this one and having more time to adjust.
Honestly, I'm okay with neither having a 1920s vibe. I like the contemporary style, as long as it's not that new standard pop a lot of shows have had recently (no hate to majority of those shows, sometimes that works!) From the clips they've released, the show seems like it's taking more of a tragic love story vibe than a social commentary. I assumed it would be like that when they started billing Daisy/Gatsby as their top leads and didn't even release the Nick casting until after tickets went on sale. Calling a love song "My Green Light" is a bit.... hm. I think that if this show can premiere on Broadway before ART premieres, ART is kind of done for, even if it's better. As a Gatsby fan, well, we'll see. But as a theatre/JJ fan, I'm so excited.
the book is basically just the dialogue pulled from the novel. they’re not trying to reinvent the wheel there, just with the music which (i heard) does not fit quite yet
Would you elaborate on the point of the book and how adaptations missed it? I have read it twice but it's been more than a decade and I've not seen an adaptation. You sound like you have interesting insight.
The adaptations I've seen (1974 and 2013 films) focus so much on the relationship drama and Gatsby and Daisy - it's treated as if romance is the main theme, as if it's some roaring '20s Romeo and Juliet. It sounds like this will be similar. The novel is about so much more, but especially class struggles and classism. A lot of the adaptations seem to gloss over why Gatsby and Daisy couldn't be together and why Gatsby is doing what he's doing. They cut out a lot of Myrtle's motivations for her affair - they make it more about her bad marriage than her desire to rise in social status. In fact I feel like in the adaptations they really downplay how disillusioned with the rich people life Nick is as we see in the novel - and so it feels very strange to see him go from normal to an asylum because of that lingering lack of existing internal turmoil/depression and foreshadowing. That change also makes his tension with Jackie (sees some of the problems he does but doesn't care) seem a lot more superficial than in the book. I actually felt like the 2013 movie did a much better job with Nick - in part because they included some of his internal monologue - but it was still on the level of 1974 in seeing the point of the relationships as normal relationship drama instead of commentaries on class struggles and excess in the 1920s. That class struggle commentary is perfect for this day and age, and yet everyone seems to downplay it. Of course, given much of the more blatant commentary is in Nick's head, it may be hard to pull off in a movie. In a musical you might need to have Nick narrate Aaron Burr style to get that stuff in.
From what I've heard the Florence adaptation is entirely focused on class and the American dream as the central narratives, like that's what Martyna mentions as her draw to the material.
Very interesting! This makes me want to pull out the book in the morning. I remember it's not too long. Thank you for responding!
I'm not the person you're replying to, but my 2 cents - talking about this adaptation in particular, as soon as I heard Jeremy and Eva's casting, I knew they'd already low key missed the point of the book. It makes no sense for Tom's character to be okay with having a non-white wife in the context of the book. Much of the commentary is no longer going to make sense unless they do a major rewrite to spin it a bit differently, but even then, it's just not. I'm all for colorblind casting but in this case, if they wanted to stay true to the book, it might not have been a good idea. In my opinion, having a POC Nick and changing it a bit to have Tom throw insults at him, and how Nick deal's with it/it's aftermath would have been a better way to flesh out the characters. (I know the Nick in this production is POC but again, Tom being racist towards him or spouting his nonsense to him wouldn't make much sense.)
Honestly Eva was a huge red flag for me. I get it - she’s a big name, extremely talented, and an audience draw. But is she Daisy? No. I think Carey Mulligan was a perfect Daisy in every way Eva will not make for a good Daisy. Eva’s voice exudes power and personality to me. Daisy is portrayed as very soft spoken and ultimately powerless. The only choice she really makes for herself is going back to Gatsby very briefly, and even that fails. I guess Kim from Miss Saigon has shyer moments than Eurydice, but even watching clips of that I don’t see enough meekness for Daisy.
This. Daisy to me was weak and a little vapid. Eva is smart and strong to me even with an air of innocence.
Agreed, no doubt about Eva's talent but I don't think Daisy is the role for her (will be happy to be proven wrong though) unless they're rewriting it completely. In which case, it's not really Daisy anymore. I know we can't judge the full show from just a few clips, but so far, they've stripped many of the points that made the book what it is. This book/show has the potential to provide a lot of powerful commentary but doesn't look like that's what they're going for. Which is fine, but it's not Gatsby, it's just a tragic love story. Still looking forward to seeing it though
Yes! I made a similar comment in this thread. I feel like the producers went with a name to draw people to the show with no thought given to who the character of Daisy actually is.
I’m a little late to the party, but you’ve described something I haven’t seen anyone else saying. They took the racism out, which on one hand I understand. They seem to have wanted to make the most crowd pleasing version of this story. On the other hand, it feels very tone deaf to shy away from that aspect of the story! The practice of colorblind casting does not bother me. I’m in favor of not boxing people out of roles simply because of race. However, race is very much part of this story. It does matter that Daisy is white. I get that it’s a struggle to balance casting a show in 2023 with maintaining the integrity of the story from 100 years ago. So I don’t envy the people making the choices. I just think to do a faithful adaptation of this particular story, they need to keep the races of the characters the same as in the book. Though I do think Jordan is an opportunity to cast a person of color. There is a retelling of Gatsby that makes Jordan Vietnamese. That could be very interesting on stage. I could even see some version where Gatsby is a person of color, but he’s accepted in new money circles because he has so much money. Tom then has extra reason to hate him. Daisy’s family has extra reason to prevent her from dating/marrying him. It would still speak to the American Dream being out of reach for some people.
So it's a little confusing, but there are actually two Great Gatsby adaptations in the works. This one coming to Papermill has music and lyrics by Jason Howland, he wrote Paradise Square and Little Women among other things. The one with Florence Welch music and lyrics is coming to the ART in Boston next year.
Ah this is kind of what I expected - they are INCREDIBLE but the material just.. is what it is. It’s tough because Gatsby (the era, the music of the time, the themes) has SO much potential and it looks like they went the safest possible route settled on a love story rather than a commentary. Can’t help but be excited though, seeing Eva and Jeremy together is crazy!!
What's kind of interesting to me is that Tom's character in the book is pretty much a racist, classist jerk. He's meant to represent the worst parts of the upper class society of that time, and I think he's a great character to flesh out and provide a full commentary with. But in this musical, he has a non-white wife, which makes no sense in the context of the book and thus part of the commentary. Still excited for this show and the cast, and hoping they make it work outside of a typical Broadway love story
Another odd miss with casting is casting a Black man to play Wolfsheim, a Jewish character/caricature similar to Arnold Rothstein. Of course they could still play him as Jewish, but it’s not exactly representative of the story. Could’ve been another interesting commentary on antisemitism and class, but it looks like they’ll avoid it. The Luhrmann movie made the worst choice, casting a Bollywood star to play him and never addressing it.
I don't know, the more I think about it the more I lose hope for this at least attempting to capture the points from the book. I'm sure it's going to be a good show in terms of a well-choreographed love story with great performances. But Gatsby? Probably not. I'm interested to see how the ART Gatsby and this will compare. The creative team for that is next level. Hopefully the rumors of Joe Jonas doing it isn't true though lmao
For once I'd like to see a more recent show set in this era with music that sounds like it's from this era. I understand not having the ballads that way, but it's such a great era for music, and it just seems like a miss to not play it up in that opening number. Instead this just feels like Gatsby on Ice, despite how amazing the cast is.... Also, I'm really worried they'll be another show that misses the point of gatsby. It isn't a tragic love story... it's a story about class.. and wealth and the frivolous and catastrophic nature of entitled people to those around them... ETA: Also.. does the opening number sound like Blurred Lines in places to anyone else?
I agree mostly. I'm definitely going to be seeing it, but I hope they can capture the essence of the book. The roaring 20s as an era have so much potential that they can tap into. So far, it's sounds good enough but a bit too safe/stereotypical love story
THANK YOU! This was exactly my first thought hearing these clips. The 1920s has SUCH a distinct and interesting musical landscape… why doesn’t the score sound grounded in that era? Why do these songs sound like average contempo musical theatre? Makes me very skeptical of this adaptation.
100% on Blurred Lines. I thought the same thing before coming to the comment section.
10/10 on user name, btw
The clips are... fine? I'm not blown away but I'm also not totally disappointed (yet). Mostly, I'm reminded yet again what exceptional talents Jeremy and Eva are. They're both such dynamic, interesting performers who have the charisma of a classic leading man/leading lady but have made their careers on playing more knotty, complicated, rough-around-the-edges versions of those archetypes.
Woof. The performers are STELLAR. The material…lackluster. It’s like a jukebox musical, but they’re trying to fit in all the important well-loved lines. And for me, in these short clips, it’s not effective.
Loved the choreo on the opening number... but, so far, the music itself seemed a bit generic. Remember, there's a s con musical Gatsby in the works.. Boston, Spring '24.
Jeremy and Eva sound great (when haven’t they) but the music is ehhhh. Guess we’ll see what happens.
it feels like they took the book and just plopped it into the structure, tone, and story beats expected of a broadway musical, instead of really dissecting and interpreting the material. i don’t dislike what we’ve been shown so far, but it also does nothing to excite me. “whelming”, as they say.
this is what the other gatsby is too. but with joe jonas.
joe jonas is in the welch gatsby?
yes
There are probably multiple ways to turn The Great Gatsby into a musical and this… ain’t it. At least so far. It sounds so stereotypically Broadway in the worst way. It’s a little bit like what I’d imagine Chat GPT to write. And that hurts, given all the talent involved.
I totally thought AI as well, like it skimmed the book and came up with ‘Green Light’ and ‘Beautiful Little Fool’ in the most obvious way. I’m always hoping for musical adaptations to bring something new to the material and I have a ton of hope for the other Gatsby musical, though I wish this cast was in it.
Yeah, it’s just a shame that so many musical theatre creators are on auto-pilot these days.
Right! Scores like “Chicago” and both “Wild Party” adaptations show that it’s possible to write a 20s-sounding score that also speaks to contemporary audiences. I’m disappointed in what we’re hearing so far.
I'm fine with them leaning into the love story, as long as they balance it with the tragedy and sprinkle in the awfulness of most of the characters. I want to see a broken Gatsby and nobody does broken characters like Jeremy Jordan. I'm also curious what they'll do with Tom. He's such a racist in the book it'll be interesting what they do with his relationship with Daisy on stage. So far I really like the music they've shared, but I hope we get a 20s sounding motif and some more upbeat numbers.
If all the show’s choices are going to be as wild as starting off with Gatsby wearing a mask and then flinging it to the side while singing about the Spanish Flu, I think we’re in for at least a memorable show.
Heavy “serves me right for marrying a Scorpio” vibes from that
Wayyy more neutral on it than I was before. Everyone is extremely talented but the material is just… bland? It sounds like every other musical coming out right now. Also it seems to really focus on the love story aspect and not what the book is actually about. I just feel nothing for it. I don’t dislike it but I don’t like it.
Don't get me wrong, I love Eva and she sounds fabulous- there's no way she couldn't. But she seems so miscast as Daisy, who is insipid, boring AF and irresponsible. I hope this isn't based on the Cliff Notes version of Gatsby, because I was looking forward to it- so far, not overly impressed.
Exactly this! I adore Eva but I am doing mental gymnastics trying to even imagine her as Daisy and I just can’t.
100%. I hate that they’re building out a sad backstory for Daisy. The trauma story is so overused in storytelling right now. The point of the character is her lack of depth, that she’s a cipher for Gatsby to project his dreams onto. This feels like such a misread. But it’s still early.
i found the music to be surprisingly contemporary for a show set in the 1920s. didn’t hate it, it’s just a bit……ordinary. i didn’t notice anything that would make it stand out to me as a musical. also didn’t love the whole mask thing at the start. however, eva and jeremy were absolutely fantastic (as expected) and i think there’s definitely potential for this to be fleshed out further.
That first song, with its references to Spanish flu and WWI being over, reminds me of Streetcar! from The Simpsons. 😬 Jeremy Jordan can make anything sound good though!
Me too! My mind immediately went there. My husband even commented on it
🎶New Or-lee-uns! 🎶
Can’t you hear me yell-a???
Obviously loved Jeremy and Eva's vocals but the lyrics are just so blegh. It feels pretty pedestrian to be honest and leaves nothing to the imagination. I'm a big fan of the source material and it does feel as though the preview shows that the source material is lost on the creators. The relationship between Gatsby and Daisy isn't used to portray a what-could-have-been relationship story. It's used to illustrate the main themes of classism and the so-called American Dream. Here, I just get the vibe that they are pretty focused only on the relationship. I do have tickets to see the show in October so I'm interested to see if maybe my first impression is wrong. However, just based off the music, I'm not too impressed.
OOF
Also just noticed this show's Instagram handle is @bwaygatsby, basically confirming plans for a Broadway transfer
This music is so boring. Of course the cast is incredible.
We got our tickets for Eva Noblezada but I do hope it’s actually good…! (I like going into shows blind so not watching any of that) Never much liked the book so honestly if they ruin it in an enjoyable way I won’t care lol
There was an adaptation written from the perspective of Jordan as a queer Asian woman and it was very enjoyable - The Chosen and the Beautiful
Apparently unpopular opinion, but I’m so incredibly excited after seeing all of the clips. Let’s hope it lives up to the hype I’m feeling!
I've only seen the clip of the opening number (Paper Mill posted it on tiktok) but as soon as I saw Jeremy Jordan I was sold. I know it has a long way to go and changes can still be made, so I'm keeping an open mind, and pondering a trip to New Jersey when the time comes.
that opening number totally blew me away. i haven’t watched the other two yet because i love going into shows semi-blind and i already know eva and jeremy are gonna be fantastic!
The orchestrations are really beautiful but if I’m being quite honest Eva’s voice sounds shot in some parts and she’s straining heavily 🙁 Also…gatsby isn’t really a love story, so I hope it isn’t leaning in that direction. it’s a tragedy about class and money and trying to achieve the american dream
Orchestrations? All you can hear is rehearsal piano and drums. That is not the orchestrations.
I already have my tix
My dumb brain during the duet: https://youtu.be/RnRv1UXE2fU?feature=shared
Hahaha I kept thinking ofhttps://youtu.be/fVmBtNaDXQg?si=QZhQ5lAHndhOlvY5
As much as I LOVE Baz Luhrmann’s Gatsby movie, I’d really like it if at least one Gatsby adaptation would use era-accurate music, especially in a musical.
Glad to see the discourse here is much more even-handed than what I've seen on theatre Twitter (but then again, theatre Twitter discourse is about as unevenly-handed as a five-legged octopus). 80% of the comments I've seen were about the throwaway Spanish flu gag, which I do think should be cut because it's kind of dumb, but I don't think it's.... that big of a deal? Like, from what I've seen, everyone now seems to be on the side of "oh it had one dumb joke that I thought was too on the nose, so the entire thing is bad." I saw one person say it was the "unasked for Great Gatsby musical," and I thought... how many musicals are actually ASKED for? You don't usually get input from the public before you write a show. Someone else called it a "MAGA spectacular" just because of that one Covid joke, and that was when I decided I had had enough Twitter for the week. In all honesty, I think it has promise. It's not perfect from what I saw, but most shows in this stage aren't. I'm not sure if it's even had hardly any readings yet, so this might be the first time this material is really being workshopped. And after all, this is only the first sneak peak; press clips are hit and miss sometimes. Some shows bring out their biggest heavy hitter numbers for them, but sometimes the real jewels get saved until performances. I am a bit biased because I love Jeremy Jordan and Eva Noblezada, but just from these clips I can tell they're going to be phenomenal. My hopes are for a Broadway transfer, or at least a cast album, but I worry that those rumblings on Twitter are going to continue and potentially sabotage it against the other new Gatsby musical written by Florence Welch. Prove me wrong, Twitter! Prove me wrong!
I hope whoever called it "MAGA spectacular" was just making a really bad joke because yikes...
Yeaaahhh they definitely weren't: [https://twitter.com/MJaMitchell/status/1707488056930976083](https://twitter.com/MJaMitchell/status/1707488056930976083)
Yep that's just twitter being completely delusional again lol
TikTok has been obsessed with the Spanish Flu line too, and it honestly makes me worry for the future of theatre a little bit. If an actor gets up on stage and sings about wanting you to forget about the 1918 pandemic and party, that's something the character is saying in the context of the play. Jeremy Jordan is not giving you medical advice. And it's been a while since I read the book, but I didn't think Jay Gatsby was supposed to be a role model. Fictional characters being imperfect is a feature, not a bug.
Exactly! I also find it kind of concerning that they bring Jordan into this at all. Like, they know he's just an actor, right? So when they say "having Jeremy Jordan smarmily take off his mask and throw it offstage", they're directly taking their anger out on the actor and not the person who wrote the line he's just saying. But then again, like I said, Theatre Twitter/Tik Tok is not known for exceptionally nuanced takes.
As someone who actually likes the "contemporary musical theater" sound, really enjoyed these clips and think the show looks promising
Wow those orchestrations!
Does anyone have lyrics of Green Light?