Girl at the Rock Shows

Photo by Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade

I remember the color green. That was all I had in mind as I shuffled into the gorgeous Orpheum Theatre in downtown Minneapolis on Tuesday night for the opening night of The Great Gatsby: A New Musical. It’s a book that many people had to read in school and write a paper on. The paper my teacher assigned us to write was about the symbolism and recurring themes throughout the book. I don’t remember particularly loving or hating the book, but I remember hating having to sift through it to find those recurring themes and symbols. Green. That’s all I remember. Needless to say, I didn’t feel attached to this story when I walked in, but within the first few musical numbers, I was ready to give this book a second chance.

I’m not going to spend this entire blog giving you the backstory of the original story written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Truthfully, you probably already know it, but just a quick refresher: The Great Gatsby is a tragedy set during the Jazz Age on Long Island in New York. It’s about a young man meeting a mysterious millionaire (Jay Gatsby) and figuring out that money isn’t everything. From love and love lost to the power of friendship and the importance of surrounding yourself with good-hearted people, all the way to women’s rights and the false narrative that is “the American Dream”, this book (and performance) touches on a million different lessons that are still wildly relevant today, even though the book was written back in 1925. It’s really quite overwhelming to catch onto all of the things that this storyline touches on, but the musical performance made it digestible and added a bit of flair to a book that I seem to recall as slightly unremarkable.

First, let’s talk about the outfits. From the bright colors that graced the stage when the cast transported us to one of Jay Gatsby’s lavish parties to the humdrum and more washed-out clothing that appeared when the scene shifted to the small gas station manned by George Wilson (performed by Tally Sessions), I loved the way that the outfits seemed to set the mood for different scenes. You knew something incredible was going to happen, whether it was a dance number or a stunning vocal solo; if the colors were bright and new, you would be getting something much more emotional and deep if the colors felt more muted. Regardless of the scene or color scheme, all the outfits took the audience back in time. A time when fashion wasn’t as fast as it is today, and when the saying “the clothes make the man” seemed to really ring true.

The backdrop and set throughout the performance mimicked this whole thing. If the lights were bright, you knew something fabulous was about to take place; if they were darkened, you knew it was about to be one of the heavier moments of the performance. The way this production seems to expand the stage with layer upon layer of set design and screens was stunning. There was one moment in particular where you see Daisy Buchanan (played by the absolutely stunning Senzel Ahmady) and her friend Jordan Baker (performed by Leanne Robinson) having a little chit-chat and swinging a golf club. The scene was simple enough. A small bench where Daisy sat while Jordan stood a bit further up the stage with a golf club in hand, but it was the backdrop that made this such a lasting moment in my mind. It was just a screen showing a lavish house far in the distance, with bushes and shrubbery lining its sides, giving everything a sense of depth. I know that doesn’t sound spectacular, but there was a lot of sorcery going on here, and if you really let yourself get lost in the moment, it was easy to see this as a full setting, and it made it feel as if they really were in the massive yard behind a truly spectacular house.

Where do I even begin with the cast’s talent in this production? Whether the music was your thing or not, it was all flawlessly executed. From heart-stopping solos to bombastic full-company anthems, you really have to see the talent of everyone in this company throughout the performance. Being a fan of music that uplifts and wakes the soul, I loved the more bombastic numbers, including “New Money” and “Only Tea.” The music’s energy wasn’t the only thing that had me in love with these tracks; the cast’s energy was, too. The performers weren’t just performing the moments and the songs; they were living them, and that made it so easy to get lost in the roaring ’20s in a way I didn’t know was ever possible. I wish I could say that there were just a few standout performers in this performance that I could really point out and expand on, but, truthfully, everyone brought something here and did it with a sense of heart. From Jay Gatsby (performed by Jake David Smith) all the way down to the people who were consistently in the background, nobody was ignored on stage, and nobody felt unnecessary. Whether it was a particular dance move or just a dazzling smile, everyone on stage had a place, and that place was integral to this performance.

Truly, this was a spectacular production, but I have to ask, did The Great Gatsby need to be turned into a musical? Again, super well done, and the music was top-notch, but why? Maybe it’s because I didn’t fall in love with the book the first time I read it. Maybe I’m saying this because this story does not have a happy ending and is actually quite heavy when you really think about it. I feel like this was an odd choice for a musical, but I applaud the creativity and talent that it surely took to turn such a classic book into such a modern musical. I really don’t have anything else to say on this question, but it’s one that I ask a lot when it comes to some of these new musicals.

As mentioned, the story of The Great Gatsby is not a happy-ending kind of story, and this production was no different, but I walked out of The Orpheum Theatre on Tuesday night with a giant smile on my face and a resounding “BRAVO!” repeating in my head.