Creatives Revealed For GATSBY, With Music by Florence Welch

The design and music teams have been announced for the world premiere of Gatsby, featuring music by Florence Welch and directed by Rachel Chavkin, at American Repertory Theatre. 

The previously announced adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s legendary novel will premiere on May 23.

The Gatsby design team includes MacArthur Fellow and Tony Award-winning scenic designer Mimi Lien, who returns to A.R.T. having previously designed Moby-Dick andNatasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812. Academy Award-winning costume designer Sandy Powell (The Young Victoria, The Aviator, Shakespeare in Love) makes her A.R.T. debut. Lucille Lortel Award-winning lighting designer Alan Edwards (Henry Clark) returns to the A.R.T. having previously designed Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 in the 2022/23 Season. Olivier Award-winning sound designer Tony Gayle (My Neighbour Totoro) makes his A.R.T. debut. 

Gatsby music supervision is by Kimberly Grigsby (music direction of Days of Wine and Roses: The Musical), and Wiley Deweese (The Lightning Thief) is the music director.  

As previously announced, Gatsby is directed by Tony Award-winning director Rachel Chavkin (Hadestown; Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812; Moby-Dick) with choreography by Tony Award winner Sonya Tayeh (Moulin Rouge!). The production features an original score by international rock star Florence Welch (Florence + The Machine) and Oscar and Grammy Award nominee Thomas Bartlett (Doveman), and a book by Pulitzer Prize winner Martyna Majok (Cost of Living). Keenan Tyler Oliphant is associate director and Camden Gonzales is associate choreographer. Casting will be announced at a later date. 

Production support of Gatsby is provided by The Linda Hammett Ory & Andrew Ory Charitable Trust and Katie and Paul Buttenwieser. Additional production support of Gatsby is provided by Janet and Irv Plotkin.  

Biographies

Mimi Lien (Scenic Design, she/her) A.R.T.: Moby-Dick; Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812; Communist Dracula Pageant. Broadway: Uncle Vanya; Sweeney Todd; True West; Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812 (Tony Award). Off-Broadway: Fairview, An Octoroon, Soho Rep/TFANA; A 24-Decade History of Popular Music, St. Ann’s Warehouse. Opera: Grounded, Washington National Opera; Intelligence, Houston Grand Opera; Antony and Cleopatra, San Francisco Opera; Parsifal, Bayreuth Festival; Die Zauberflöte, Staatsoper Berlin. Awards: Drama Desk, Lortel, Bessie, Hewes Design Award, Obie Award, MacArthur Fellowship. 

Sandy Powell (Costume Design) A.R.T.: Debut. Film: Caravaggio, The Young Victoria, The Aviator, Shakespeare in Love (Academy Awards); Carol, Cinderella, Hugo, Mrs Henderson Presents, Gangs of New York, The Wings of the Dove, Orlando, The Irishman (Academy Award nominations); The Young Victoria, Velvet Goldmine (BAFTA Awards); The Favourite, Mary Poppins Returns (Academy Award nominations, Costume Designers Guild Award and nomination, Critics’ Choice nominations, BIFA); The Glorias, Living, Disney’s Snow White. Other Awards: Costume Designers Guild Career Achievement Award, London Film Critics’ Circle Dilys Powell Award for Excellence in Film, Officer of the Order of the British Empire, first Costume Designer to be awarded the BAFTA Fellowship. Education: London’s Central School of Art. 

Alan Edwards (Lighting Design, he/him) A.R.T.: Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992. Broadway: The Testament of Mary (Assoc. to Jennifer Tipton). West End: Harry Clarke. Off-Broadway: Sally & Tom, The Public; The Hot Wing King, Fires in the Mirror (Lortel nomination), Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992, Signature; Harry Clarke (Lortel Award), Vineyard; Kill Move Paradise (world prem., Drama Desk nomination), National Black Theatre. Regional: Sally & Tom (world prem.), Guthrie; Lights Out: Nat King Cole, Paradise Blue, Geffen Playhouse. Education: MFA, Yale School of Drama. 

Tony Gayle (Sound Design) A.R.T.: Debut. West End: My Neighbour Totoro (Olivier Award, Best Sound Design), Next to Normal, Get Up Stand Up! The Bob Marley Musical. Off West End: Two Strangers (Carry A Cake Across New York), Newsies, Spring Awakening, Lazarus. UK Tour: Greatest Days, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical. International: Disney’s Aida. Awards: WhatsOnStage Award for Best Sound Design (My Neighbour Totoro), 2019 & 2021 Black British Theatre Awards (BBTA) Light & Sound Recognition Award. 

KIMBERLY GRISGBY (Music Supervision) A.R.T.: Debut. Broadway: Amélie; Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark; Spring Awakening; The Light in the Piazza; Caroline, or Change; The Full Monty; You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown; Twelfth Night. Off-Broadway: The Fortress of Solitude, Here Lies Love, Coraline, Mother Courage and Her Children, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Songs from an Unmade Bed, The Immigrant, Radiant Baby, Twelfth Night. Regional: My Life Is a Fairy Tale, Orphan of Zhao, Lincoln Center Festival; Telaio: Desdemona, Jeanine Tesori’s The Lion, The Unicorn, and Me (world premiere), Washington National Opera.  

Wiley Deweese (Music Director) A.R.T.: Debut. Broadway: The Lightning Thief, Girl from the North Country, Amélie. Off-Broadway: The Lightning Thief, Girl from the North Country, Whisper House, The Lucky Ones, The Wildness, Preludes, First Daughter Suite, The Fortress of Solitude. Regional: Amélie, Center Theatre Group and Berkeley Repertory Theater; The Abominables, Children’s Theater Company.  

Camden Gonzales (Associate Choreographer) A.R.T.: Debut. Broadway/International: Moulin Rouge! The Musical (Associate Choreographer). Off-Broadway: Sherlock Carol (Assistant Director). Regional: Sing Street (Associate Choreographer), The Huntington; Peter and The Starcatcher (Choreographer), White Heron Theatre. Educational:Forget Me Not (Choreographer), Manhattan School of Music. Select performing credits include: Broadway: Groundhog Day (Dance Captain/Swing); National Tour: Hamilton(Dance Captain/Swing), Matilda (Dance Captain/Swing). 

KEENAN TYLER OLIPHANT (Associate Director) A.R.T.: Moby-Dick (Second Assistant). Broadway: Hadestown (Associate Director); Off-Broadway: TERCE: a practical breviary, Here Arts; Will You Come with Me?, PlayCo; Oratorio for Living Things, Ars Nova (Associate Director). Off-Off-Broadway: To the Ends of the Earth, JACK; Self-Combustion of a 30-Something-Year-Old..., New Ohio; Kyk Hoe Skyn die Son, Clubbed Thumb Winterworks; queen, Dixon Place. Regional: Drama League Fellow 2021/2022; Clubbed Thumb Directing Fellow 2020/2021.