Montana Repertory Theatre's THE GREAT GATSBY Opens Tonight

Montana Repertory Theatre, the professional theatre-in-residence in the School of Theatre & Dance at The University of Montana, is pleased to announce the opening of its forty-seventh consecutive national touring season with the production of The Great Gatsby by Simon Levy. The Great Gatsby will play in Missoula for a limited run prior to the national tour, which begins in February and travels the country through April.

The Great Gatsby is one of the great novels of world literature: a brilliant, poetic and masterful snapshot of the Roaring Twenties. Simon Levy's faithful adaptation brings to life that dynamic decade in all its sinister splendor, while telling a tale known to us all in a new light through the magic of live theatre. Montana Rep is pleased to reintroduce and reinvigorate this classic, bringing the beauty and poetry of this masterpiece-living and breathing on stage-to a new generation of theatergoers.

The Great Gatsby will be directed by Greg Johnson, who is celebrating his twenty-fifth year as artistic director of Montana Rep. Members of this production include Equity actors Mark Kuntz as the singular Jay Gatsby, Kelly Campbell as his beloved Daisy Buchannan, and Amber Rose Mason as enigmatic Jordan Baker. UM student Mason Wagner plays Nick Carraway; recent UM graduates and current students round out the cast. Designing for this production are multiple-Emmy-Award winner John Shaffner (scenery), Mark Dean (lighting), Karen Hummel Kinsley (costumes), Zach Hamersley (sound), and Hugh Bickley (projections). Headwaters Dance Co. Artistic Director Amy Ragsdale is The Great Gatsby's choreographer.

The Great Gatsby opens tonight, January 23, with the Rep's annual Gala Benefit Dinner, one of the premiere parties on the Missoula social calendar. Beginning with a no-host cocktail hour and followed by a performance of The Great Gatsby, the audience is then invited backstage for an elegant dinner and dancing to the tunes of The Gatsby Orchestra, formed especially for this occasion and comprised of some of the great musicians in town.

If you would like to make a reservation for the Gala, call Salina Chatlain at 406-243-6809. Tickets for The Great Gatsby's local run can be purchased online at griztix.com; the UMArts Box Office in the PARTV Center also opens January 19: 406-243-4581. For more information, visit www.montanarep.org.