‘The Great Gatsby’ — Book by Kait Kerrigan. Based on the novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Lyrics by Nathan Tysen. Music by Jason Howland. Directed by Marc Bruni. Music Supervision and Arrangements by Jason Howland; Choreography by Dominique Kelley; Scenic and Projection Design by Paul Tate dePoo III; Costume Design by Linda Cho; Lighting Design by Cory Pattak; Sound Design by Brian Ronan. Presented by Broadway in Boston at Citizens Opera House, Boston through July 19.
By Shelley A. Sackett
It’s not surprising that the current climate of skyrocketing economic disparity and criminal impunity has spawned renewed interest in The Great Gatsby, the story of Jay Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s fictional mega-nouveau-riche man with a mysterious back story and lavish lifestyle. Set in the post-WWI, giddy, glitzy Jazz Age, the 1925 novel depicts first-person narrator Nick Carraway’s interactions with Gatsby, a man haunted by his past and obsessed with reuniting with his former lover, Carraway’s cousin, Daisy Buchanan.
As has been the case with many Broadway in Boston productions, the best quality of ‘The Great Gatsby’ lies in its production value. The giant period musical spares no expense when it comes to extravagant sets (Paul Tate dePoo III), costumes (Linda Cho) and orchestration (Jason Howland). Alas, no amount of moving screens, fancy projections and on-stage gimmickry (including several vintage cars) can mask the fact that beneath the eye and ear candy, this emperor of a production wears no clothes.
There is quite a bit of meat on the bones of Fitzgerald’s tragic tale. It’s spring 1922, and Yale alumnus and World War I veteran Carraway (an appealing Joshua Grosso) has moved from the Midwest to New York City, where he hopes to get a job selling bonds. He rents a cottage on Long Island in East Egg, next to Gatsby (Jake David Smith) and across the sound from his cousin Daisy (a sadly miscast Senzel Ahmady), who lives in the “old money” town of West Egg with her husband, Tom Buchanan (Will Branner).
Glimpses of a plot emerge. Daisy and Gatsby became sweethearts when he was stationed near her before overseas deployment. He was unable to reconnect; she thought he was dead. She reluctantly married the wealthy, brutish and philandering Buchanan because, well, what else was a young single socialite to do?
Now she has a baby, money and a ball and chain named Tom Buchanan.
Staying with the Buchanans is Jordan Baker (Leanne Robinson, a welcome relief), an outspoken flapper, golf champion and childhood friend of Daisy’s. She fills Carraway in on the unspoken details of the goings on in this sad, unhumble abode.
Buchanan (a fellow Yalie who remembers Carraway), for his part, is carrying on an affair with Myrtle (Lila Coogan), who lives in semi-squalor with her clueless, sad-sack mechanic husband, George (Justin Scott Brown). Buchanan pampers her with gifts, a suite at the Plaza, and the occasional broken nose. She all but rubs it in George’s impossibly naive face.
Meanwhile, Gatsby explains to Carraway that he built the mansion directly across from Daisy’s house so he could see her. His only mission in life is to win her back. He enlists Carraway’s help in setting up a meeting, which eventually leads to a rekindled affair.
Along the way to its grim and fateful conclusion, ‘Gatsby’ picks up steam with bootleggers, mistaken identities, trysts, deaths and the reveal that the main difference between the rich and the unrich is the latter’s ability to shield themselves from the consequences of their reckless, selfish acts and the former’s fate to clean up the mess and try to keep on keeping on.
If all this sounds like juicy fodder for a gritty drama, it is. What it is not is grist for the kind of run-of-the-mill musical currently in Boston.
In fairness, ’The Great Gatsby’ does a good job of exposing the dark, violent underbelly of the glittering 1920s. But its misguided (though entertaining) insistence on peppering the production with goofy, comic musical numbers feels like a red herring intended to distract the audience from the fact that this is a gossamer version of Fitzgerald’s classic tale.
While most of the cast is in fine vocal form (especially Smith as Gatsby and Robinson as Baker), they are hamstrung by a script that provides little emotional exploration and connection. Branner does what he can with two-dimensional Buchanan and Grosso tries to elevate Carraway above his role as flaky narrator and moralist, but, in Ahmady’s hands, the central role of Daisy is unfortunately (and distractingly) demoted to the trivial.
Nonetheless, if a summer night of razzle-dazzle is what you’re in the mood for, by all means attend (and revel in) this musical version of ‘The Great Gatsby.’ Just don’t expect F. Scott’s ghost to be lurking in the wings, nodding in approval.
For more information, visit https://boston.broadway.com/shows/the-great-gatsby/
