Review Roundup: THE GREAT GATSBY Opens On Broadway

Welcome to the Jazz Age! The new musical adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby opens on Broadway tonight, starring Jeremy Jordan  and Eva Noblezada! Read the reviews!

The new musical features music and lyrics by Tony Award nominees Jason Howland and Nathan Tysen. The Broadway musical features a book by Jonathan Larson Grant winner Kait Kerrigan (The Mad Ones) and is staged by award-winning director Marc Bruni (Beautiful: The Carole King Musical) and choreographer Dominique Kelley (“Mariah’s Magical Christmas Special”, “Dancing with the Stars”). 

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s timeless, seminal novel comes to the Broadway musical stage for the first time ever,  The Great Gatsby. Transporting audiences to the lavish Roaring Twenties, the story follows eccentric and mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby, who will stop at nothing in the pursuit of the lost love of his youth, Daisy Buchanan. Through its fascinatingly nuanced characters – driven by complex inner lives, erupting with extravagance and longing – this epic tale has always been destined to sing. Now, it finally comes to life on the greatest American stage, through an electrifying jazz and pop-infused score, and a grand production befitting the 21st century. 

Laura Collins-Hughes, The New York Times: The darker elements of “The Great Gatsby” prove more elusive, which blunts the impact overall. So does the show’s anodyne Broadway sound, which is poppy and pleasant without being memorable. It summons neither the Jazz Age, like the soundtrack to Jack Clayton’s 1974 movie adaptation did, nor a spirit of wild abandon, like the soundtrack to Baz Luhrmann’s 2013 take. The score to this “Great Gatsby” is missing a vital urgency.

Dan Rubins, Slant Magazine: And while any adaptation of The Great Gatsby has to thread the needle between wowing audiences with opulence and inviting critique of the ostentatious hollow center (those pyrotechnics are surely ironic, right?), the show’s final images seem to find that balance successfully. “I don’t want to live here, but I never want to leave,” the bombastically independent Jordan Baker (Samantha Pauly) sings as she enters one of Gatsby’s extravagant parties. That’s about right: If The Great Gatsby doesn’t have the makings of a long-term Broadway resident, it’s become, in its newly minted tension and decadence, a welcome visitor.

Christian Lewis, Variety: For any fan of “The Great Gatsby,” though, it’s likely you’ll have moments of wanting more, of missing out on all the subtext, grit, and suffering beneath the sequins. Right as you have that pang, you’ll probably get distracted by another sweeping set change or production number, and as the opening and closing song playfully depict, the party will just keep rolling on and on and on, so you might as well join in and enjoy the ride.

Kobi Kassal, Theatrely: Marc Bruni directs this entertaining, if uneven at parts, production with ease and style reminiscent of his stunning work on Beautiful: The Carole King Musical. With fierce, high octane choreography by Dominique Kelley on top of Paul Tate DePoo III’s stunning scenic and projection design (ay my performance the back LED wall did fade to black quite a few times accidentally), pleasant costume design by Linda Cho, and on the money lighting design by Cory Pattak, the world of Gatsby comes alive.

Sara Holdren, Vulture: Under Marc Bruni’s jazz-hands-happy direction, this Gatsby feels like it belongs on a cruise or in a theme park. It would make a good fit if Epcot’s pavilions expanded to include time periods as well as countries. Poor James Gatz, victim of his own disguise. A century on, retellers of his story, like his hordes of party guests, remain distracted by the spectacle. Here, Bruni and his designers lean into the roaring garishness almost to the point of cartoon.

Adam Feldman, Time Out New York: The Great Gatsby looks great. If you want production values, this adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel, directed by Marc Bruni, delivers more than any other new musical of the overstuffed Broadway season. It’s the Roaring Twenties, after all—now as well as then—so why not be loud? Let other shows make do with skeletal, functional multipurpose scenic design; these sets and projections, by Paul Tate de Poo III, offer grandly scaled Art Deco instead. Linda Cho’s costumes are Vegas shiny for the party people and elegant for the monied types. The production wears excess on its sleeveless flapper dresses.

Naveen Kumar, The Washington Post: This revisionary attempt to turn “The Great Gatsby” into a clown car of passionate entanglements skids off the road when calamity is meant to strike. The second-act twists play out with the frenzy of a nighttime soap by Aaron Spelling, without any of the campy self-awareness. There is no ghastly reckoning with the follies of hedonism, just a rapid succession of abrupt ends.

Chris Jones, The New York Daily News: That said, this new musical, as penned by Kait Kerrigan with music composed by Jason Howland and lyrics by Nathan Dylan, makes you feel very little, except when Howland’s lush melodies are reaching their climax. Even then, the feelings that flow are more admiration for Howland’s craft than the kind of emotion that flows back into an embrace of story.

Emlyn Travis, Entertainment Weekly: Those attending Great Gatsby expecting nothing more than a glitzy, glamorous romp through the Roaring Twenties will find themselves satisfied, but others hoping to find a deeper take on the novel's exploration of the American dream, old money versus new money, and love will find themselves feeling adrift. The Great Gatsby is a great big Broadway extravaganza that may dazzle viewers at first but, much like the green light, perfection remains close, yet just out of reach. C+

Sandy MacDonald, New York Stage Review: That message comes through clearly here, despite the production team’s penchant for bells and whistles. If all you’re seeking is a spectacle, you will get one. For some real resonance and depth, though, you may just have to wait a while—or reread the book.

David Finkle, New York Stage Review: This musical take on The Great Gatsby presents Jay Gatsby and Daisy Fay Buchanan as a sympathetic couple caught in unfortunate Jazz Age circumstances. In other words, the transfiguration of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby is, sorry to report, a travesty.

Caroline Cao, New York Theatre Guide: All in all, this Great Gatsby shies away from making us think hard of the blood spilled due to Gatsby’s dealings, which are relegated to lines of dialogue and the campy song “Shady.” Something about the production feels too spic and span by the time it ends: Missing is a mess left behind by the Roaring Twenties excess. I felt the warmth in The Great Gatsby, but it was begging to bring on the heat.

Gloria Oladipo, The Guardian: The production splashes in excess, but of the Las Vegas residency kind. Golden-lacquered set pieces and a dizzying projection screen recreate the Gatsby mansion (and a bevy of other locations). The “nouveau riche” mansion isn’t as opulent or lush as one might imagine, feeling closer in spirit to a mega-church.

Brian Scott Lipton, Cititour: These errors in judgment are also indicative of who “Gatsby” will work for – and who they won’t. Simply put, if you treasure the novel, don’t come to the theatre. If you’ve never read it (or don’t remember it), you’ll probably be fine. Ultimately, the essence of the story– especially its messages on class differences and moral failings -- are mostly absent from Kait Kerrigan’s book, which mistakes Fitzgerald’s story for a standard romance novel. And when she keeps in a few lines of Fitzgerald’s actual prose (spoken by Nick), you become even more aware of Kerrigan’s modern sensibility.

Johnny Oleksinski, New York Post: The musical, a patchwork quilt of discordant styles that belongs in a box, becomes the latest in a long line of adaptions of this beloved novel to mess up a story that’s far more satisfying to read and imagine. It completely misses its intoxicating atmosphere, meaning and layered characters. One of the rare smart decisions of the night is the casting of Noah J. Ricketts as our man Nick Carraway, a modest Midwesterner who moves to a Long Island cottage in “new money” West Egg.

Robert Hofler, The Wrap: It’s debatable whether one of American literature’s most mysterious characters should ever sing. What Gatsby should definitely not ever do is lead a chorus of tap dancers. That not-since-“Carrie” spectacle sums up what goes wrong with the new musical “The Great Gatsby,” with book by Kati Kerrigan and score by composer Jason Howland and lyricist Nathan Tysen.

David Cote, Observer: Don’t misunderstand me: The Great Gatsby is not a smart, tasteful musical that can’t compete with tackier ones. It simply fails to be tacky enough. The jazz-based score by composer Jason Howland and lyricist Nathan Tysen (Paradise Square) ventures into funk, Disney princess ballad, and a touch of Britpop. Despite the eclecticism of the musical palette, none of the songs stick in the ear, despite strenuous vocalizing by Jeremy Jordan (Newsies) and Eva Noblezada (Hadestown).

Average Rating: 47.6%

To post a comment, you must register and login.