THE GREAT GATSBY Broadway Previews

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 3/26/24 at 9:54am

THE PARTY’S ROARING ON BROADWAY!

Transport yourself to the opulent world of the 1920s as one of the greatest American novels hits the greatest American stage. Starring Jeremy Jordan (Newsies) as the eccentric and mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby and Eva Noblezada (Hadestown) as the enigmatic Daisy Buchanan, THE GREAT GATSBY arrives on Broadway after a record-shattering, sold-out run at Paper Mill Playhouse. Directed by Marc Bruni (Beautiful: The Carole King Musical), this story of extravagance and longing features choreography by Dominique Kelley (So You Think You Can Dance), a book by Kait Kerrigan (The Mad Ones) and a jazz- and pop-influenced original score by Jason Howland (Little Women) and Nathan Tysen (Paradise Square). Don’t miss the party — get tickets today to the musical that The New York Times calls “lush, bewitching, and dazzling!”

THE GREAT GATSBY is produced by Chunsoo Shin, acclaimed Korean musical producer, 5-time winner of Korea’s most prestigious theatrical award and OD Company president.

Previews begin on Friday, March 29, 2024 at the Broadway Theatre, prior to an opening night scheduled for April 25, 2024, the final day of eligibility for the 77th Annual Tony Awards.

[Dylan Smith4]

Posted: 3/26/24 at 11:58am

I'll be at the first preview! Looking forward to seeing the changes they've made since Paper Mill. It's definitely gonna be a hard-core rock concert on Friday night. The Newsies and Hadestown fans are gonna be wild for Jeremy and Eva. I'll be sure to report back on the details. 

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 3/28/24 at 12:00am

Can you see the green light, just across the bay?

That familiar sight graces the exterior of the Broadway Theatre, where The Great Gatsby begins previews tomorrow night (March 29). In addition to Jordan and Noblezada, the principal cast of Broadway’s latest novel-turned-movie-turned-musical also features Noah J. Ricketts, Samantha Pauly, Sara Chase, Paul Whitty, John Zdrojeski, and Eric Anderson. 

Who else is going, Old Sports?

[Broadway Flash]

Posted: 3/28/24 at 12:06am

Very excited for this one. They’ve made a LOT of good changes from the paper mill run, and I thought it was already strong at paper mill.  It’s one of the best musicals this season. 

[quizking101]

Posted: 3/28/24 at 5:37am

Broadway Flash said: "Very excited for this one. They’ve made a LOT of good changes from the paper mill run, and I thought it was already strong at paper mill. It’s one of the best musicals this season."

How do you know what changes they’ve made, if any, aside from rumor or conjecture?

[Broadway Flash]

Posted: 3/28/24 at 6:41am

From their social media account.  And the rehearsal footage. New songs, cut bad songs, new exciting choreo, 19 piece orchestra, and the whole design is better.  It was great at paper mill and now I think it’s going to be quite wonderful.  

[Dylan Smith4]

Posted: 3/28/24 at 9:30am

Broadway Flash said: "From their social media account. And the rehearsal footage. New songs, cut bad songs, new exciting choreo, 19 piece orchestra, and the whole design is better. It was great at paper mill and now I think it’s going to be quite wonderful. "

That still doesn’t mean that it will be better. You need to see it before making a judgement like that! I’ll be at the first preview tomorrow and will report back. Just hope they made the necessary changes because I still feel this was rushed from Paper Mill. I personally did not like it overall at Paper Mill but I’m willing to give it a second chance. The main reason I’m going tomorrow is because I’ve never been to a first preview on Broadway and just wanna get that experience of a wild crowd. 

[quizking101]

Posted: 3/28/24 at 10:42pm

I was at the invited dress tonight (by complete last-minute surprise) and, I’m sorry to say, BroadwayFlash, your optimism is very much misplaced.

Speaking in very general terms, while they did trim the fat, including some of the more bizarre parts (Ol’ Owl Eyes is gone), and multiple songs from Act I, it’s just a goosed up version of what they had at Papermill. 

The book was not at all fixed and still had the same fundamental problem - that without a lens to view the entire cast of characters through, it becomes a messy and aimless set of vignettes of rich people behaving badly and characters that you can’t really get invested in to any depth beyond a superficial level. Because of this, it also creates the problem of ‘Everyone Needs A Big Number’. The Wilson’s do not need songs, but they remained. Meyer Wolfshiem does not need a song, but not only it remained, THEY ADDED A REPRISE. (Most of the “new” songs I heard were reprises, save for the song that follows the opening “Roaring On”). There is a more expeditious way to tell this story - but they are trying to keep it as bloated as the Baz Luhrmann film to justify all the songs, sets (pretty and gilded), and choreo.

The only positive takeaways are that Jeremy Jordan is in BEAUTIFUL voice and seems a little less stiff than he was at Papermill, and Samantha Pauly was the true comic relief of the evening and hit her stride when she took the lead on “New Money”.

If you saw it at Papermill, it’s a skip - you’re not getting anything new. If you didn’t, go ahead. It’s the theatrical equivalent of “Ooooh, shiny!”

[Dylan Smith4]

Posted: 3/29/24 at 7:21am

UGH! I really had some sort of hope that Kerrigan would’ve fixed the book as that was my number 1 problem with the show along with other things. Well, at least I’ll try to enjoy it tonight. 

[Owen22]

Posted: 3/29/24 at 7:33am

My biggest problem of a musical version of The Great Gatsby (and there seem to be a whole lot of them) is that the female lead has no inner life, which I would think would be a detriment to trying to musicalize her... As much as I enjoyed the Baz take, Carey Mulligan was a failure in the role because she can't help but exude intelligence. The ironic POINT is that Daisy is vacuous, and what Gatsby so longs for is really hollow at the center. 

[bwayobsessed]

Posted: 3/29/24 at 8:16am

@quizking101 Can you elaborate on songs that were cut/added?

[quizking101]

Posted: 3/29/24 at 12:40pm

Cut from Act I

• Sophisticated (new song in its place - no title I can recall)
• My Share Of The Heavens
• Louisville
• The Great Gatsby 

Act II added reprises for “For Better or Worse” and “Shady”

[jacobsnchz14]

Posted: 3/29/24 at 1:25pm

https://aracaeventmerch.com/collections/ggb-homepage

[bwayobsessed]

Posted: 3/29/24 at 1:30pm

quizking101 said: "Cut from Act I

• Sophisticated (new song in its place - no title I can recall)
• My Share Of The Heavens
• Louisville
• The Great Gatsby

Act II added reprises for “For Better or Worse” and “Shady”"

-I sorta liked Sophisticated. I thought it was a good intro to the characters and considering you can't recall the name of the new song doesn't seem like a good sign...

-Cutting Share of the Heavens and the Great Gatsby make sense. 

-I have no memory of a song call Louisville (and it's not on the youtube bootleg playlist). But I guess makes sense that it was cut if it's that forgettable. 

At Papermill I thought the biggest problem was that I didn't find the parties exciting. Did they evolve at all? 

[Dylan Smith4]

Posted: 3/29/24 at 1:43pm

Hope they will have more merch soon. I NEED THAT TOTE!

[Miss10036]

Posted: 3/29/24 at 2:29pm

From what I remember of Louisville at Paper Mill, the partygoers sang it together as they danced and watched the fireworks near the end of the party, and Jordan explained to Nick that they do that during the fireworks at all of Gatsby's parties.  Something like that, anyway.  It was a pretty short song.

[BorisTomashevsky]

Posted: 3/29/24 at 4:03pm

BWW just shared a YouTube clip of “New Money”. The cast can obviously do anything, but the excerpt looks and sounds like it’s from a 4-shows-a-day production at Universal Studios, with the lyrics being especially simple and prosaic. 
 

https://youtu.be/Hx23BGhrdMw

Updated On: 3/29/24 at 04:03 PM

[FANtomFollies]

Posted: 3/29/24 at 4:42pm

BorisTomashevsky said: "BWW just shared a YouTube clip of “New Money”. The cast can obviously do anything, but the excerpt looks and sounds like it’s from a 4-shows-a-day production at Universal Studios, with the lyrics being especially simple and prosaic.


https://youtu.be/Hx23BGhrdMw"

I haven't seen the show, but nothing about the music or choreography from these clips feels remotely 1920's-ish. Obviously it's a modern-day musical, so maybe that's besides the point, but it's what struck me first.

Updated On: 3/29/24 at 04:42 PM

[chrishuyen]

Posted: 3/29/24 at 5:02pm

FANtomFollies said: "I haven't seen the show, but nothing about the music or choreography from these clipsfeels remotely 1920's-ish. Obviously it's a modern-day musical, so maybe that's besides the point, but it's what struck me first."

There was a program note at Papermill that mentioned that was their intention (though IMO it was to its detriment)

[quizking101]

Posted: 3/29/24 at 8:43pm

bwayobsessed said: "quizking101 said: "Cut from Act I

• Sophisticated (new song in its place - no title I can recall)
• My Share Of The Heavens
• Louisville
• The Great Gatsby

Act II added reprises for “For Better or Worse” and “Shady”"

-I sorta liked Sophisticated. I thought it was a good intro to the characters and considering you can't recall the name of the new song doesn't seem like a good sign...

We didn’t get Playbills, so I had to go from the screenshot of the Papermill song list on my phone to cross check.

At Papermill I thought the biggest problem was that I didn't find the parties exciting. Did they evolve at all?"

Not really. There isn’t much time for partying when you have five different romantic entanglements to knit up into a messy yarn.

 

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 3/29/24 at 11:18pm

2:30 runtime per Telecharge 

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 3/29/24 at 11:19pm

Was there any first preview swag?

[EDSOSLO858]

Posted: 3/29/24 at 11:25pm

Jordan Catalano said: "Was there any first preview swag?"

Each seat tonight had a paperback version of the novel, and just a few of them were signed by the principal cast - per the show’s Instagram story. 

[Dylan Smith4]

Posted: 3/29/24 at 11:42pm

Just got back. Can I just say something to the security team at the Broadway Theatre, please better prepare yourself for a massive crowd at stage door because you failed miserably tonight! 

 

[Bill Snibson]

Posted: 3/29/24 at 11:49pm

First preview audiences are a special breed. They’ll figure it out but you can’t fault them for not knowing exactly what type of craziness they were gonna be dealing with.