The musical adaptation of The Great Gatsby showcases a stunning Art Deco set and vibrant costumes, but it ultimately loses the subtlety and complexity of Fitzgerald's novella. The romance between Gatsby and Daisy is simplified to a straightforward love story constrained by class and gender issues. While the show features impressive performances and strong direction revealing themes of opportunism in consumerist America, significant elements from the original text, such as Gatsby's backstory and self-invention, are omitted, leading to a missed emotional depth.
While Paul Tate DePoo III's gorgeous Art Deco set, Linda Choo's sequinned costumes, and Dominique Kelley's snappy choreography provide a bone fide Jazz Age spectacle, the show perhaps inevitably sacrifices the subtleties of F. Scott Fitzgerald's feted novella in the transition to full blown musical.
That and the ditching of much of Gatsby's back story mutes the tragedy and robs it of one of the novel's themes of self-invention.
Marc Bruni's capable direction does deliver a depiction of heartless opportunism in an America booming into a consumerist powerhouse.
But the show has a kind of bludgeoning forward momentum and classy moments as when Mayli McCann nails the bittersweet Beautiful Little Fool.
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