| Gatsby, ambitious, sumptuous (spoilers) | |
| Last Edit: lordofspeech 04:11 pm EDT 04/23/24 | |
| Posted by: lordofspeech 03:57 pm EDT 04/23/24 | |
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| I'm reluctant to criticize this show. Truth to tell, my companion and I were kwelling at the end of the first act. There is scintillating beauty here, and the backdrop of the Long Island sound is divine. But it's not all of a piece, and the bumps in the second act (including a completely extraneous number in Gatsby's home, plot compllcations in the Wilson storyline, and a strange reversal in Myrtle's through line) don't support what was achieved the first half. There has clearly been a lot of painstaking attention to the source material, and the actors are giving their all. The first act is rather close to the original, and the design and lighting are often breathtaking. As has been reported, the "party" scenes are designed along the lines of the Baz Luhrmann film, silver and gold metallic shimmer, very deco. It's in the second act that the story takes some very seriously different turns, and the melodrama takes centerstage without being as affecting as it should be. Jeremy Jordan's Gatsby is passionate in his singing, which is beautiful, but his physical characterization lacks the leading man charisma we expect of the role, so when he comically undercuts his romantic profile, we're left with a clown with the voice of an angel. That said, it's Jordan's arias that are the reason to see this. A sensual delight. And when he and Noblezzada come together in song, it does make up for what's missing in that ungraspable romance. Their voices are so well served by the songs they have, that I had chills up and down my spine. Noblezzada finds exquisite sensuality and childlike grace in the almost unplayable role of Daisy, but the writers have worked hard to give her more fire and it helps. She is indeed elegant and attempts a childlike innocence that seems very right. They bring her bitterness about her marriage centerstage. We end up seeing things Nick doesn't, which is both good and bad. Nick's distancing is what lends the novel its "romance." And no southern accent, which I guess is okay. Samantha Pauly is exceptional, as in a star is born, and her Jordan Baker is given a lot more to do than in the novel. Theoretically, that's fine; Fitzgerald doesn't give her a lot. But putting her and Nick and their romance quite near the center is a feat that doesn't quite come off. Though he too is a very worthy performer (Noah J Ricketts), and a lot of his narration is onstage as it is, sometimes he's not always a detached gentleman but a kind of repressed wise-ass. Not always, but sometimes. And Nick is the key to the story. Delicacy and irony are needed. (big spoiler...he should not turn to the audience and call Tom Buchanan an asshole. It cheapens Nick, the story, and an appreciation of the world of the play.) The Tom Buchanan is not well-served. Though Daisy sees him as a brute, in this version, so does the book writer, so the extenuating circumstances of the marriage, and what it means to him, are diminished. He's a very capable actor-singer (John Zdrojeski), but he's set up as the villain, which undoes the delicacy of the novel's perspective. In all, some of the things in the novel, especially the moral tone and the characters in extremis, are exaggerated so they haven't the grace and wit they should. Nick's famous line about reserving judgement has not been followed in this version. So the soap-opera aspect is too heavy. But there's something lovely in the effort. Where the writers decided to go with Wolfsheim and Myrtle's husband and the razzle-dazzle choreography is just off. And that which is out of reach is made a bit too common. But when Jordan Baker boldly sings about "new money," and especially when Daisy and Gatsby combine in song, it suggests what a glorious show this could have been. Go for the first act. |
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