The Great Gatsby - Paper Mill Playhouse (Broadway bound)

Not surprised. Terrible creative team behind this.

Yes, that is opening in May next year at A.R.T. titled "Gatsby" (the Papermill Playhouse musical is technically called "The Great Gatsby").

Has there ever been a successful stage adaptation?

Many have tried

For anyone interested there is a feature story and photographs n this week's Time Out New York

www.timeout.com/newyork/theater/broadways-the-great-gatsby-shines-a-musical-spotlight-on-americas-favorite-toxic-couple

Apparently the script of the hit 1926 Broadway production has recently been rediscovered and is getting published next month. The adaptation,which got a much better reception than the actual novel did at first, took great liberties with the plot, added gangster characters, didn't have Caraway as narrator, and made Gatsby's dodgy background explicit from the start. This was long before it was regarded as a classic and Fitzgerald was in France so had no involvement with the production apart from some much needed royalty cheques. Maybe all the more recent attempts have been too faithful?

This feels like it has all the elements I should like (period music, big dance numbers, spectacular sets and costumes), but it’s just lacking. I never really liked Gatsby when I studied the book at school. This version should really be billed as “inspired by” due to all the changed situations and relationships, which are just odd, but it holds together if you don’t think too deeply.

Almost all the lead roles had covers on when I saw this, but thankfully both Jeremy and Eva were on. They’d managed to find Jeremy more to do than I expected, as Gatsby could have limited scenes if following the book. Both very good. The supporting cast were good, but some didn’t seem like they were best suited for their roles - the perils of shuffling multiple covers, including one only verbally announced.

I was sat about half way back in the mezzanine. Central, so a decent view. I was surprised to be at a back row, as about half the mezzanine was curtained off. I was even more surprised to hear laughing from behind the curtains (but they didn’t set the rest of the quiet audience off) and to have the back of my seat kicked. Mine was a Drops ticket, one of the cheapest broadway seats I’ve ever had. If you want to see this, I’d book sooner rather than later.