Gatsby - Southwark Playhouse

Ooh, excellent. It was one of the few things I really enjoyed. Shall book.

I saw the showcase at Zedel a couple of years ago - Jodie and Ross were great as always but I didn't see much in the show itself or the music. It was basically a concert version though which always makes it hard to gauge. I'm sure it'll be worth a look.

Going ahead tonight but with an email just out from Southwark.

Did anyone see this over the weekend?

We went on Friday night and Evie Rose Lane was on as mentioned above. With the exception of about two songs, she was reading/referring to the script throughout. There was a show stop about 3 minutes in and it had to be restarted (a missed entrance cue I think..?). A lady clearly involved in the production ran out from the stalls, she apologised and asked for five minutes when she came back and then again spoke at the interval saying that Evie Rose Lane had only that day to rehearse.

So a bit of an odd evening and performance. I have to assume the entire cast were thrown by sudden changes and then having to figure out how small prop changes and some dancing could work with someone holding a large bound script! There were also terrible sound issues with, as best I could tell, some mics not working at all and others cutting in and out. I was surprised this wasn't addressed at the interval to the honest. It did however lead to some moments where the cast were all but standing on our toes and the power and skill of some of them with dodgy mics was obvious. On the flip side when there were duets or conflicting verses, it was impossible to make out all the words.

On that basis and without wishing to diminish any other performances, I will say I thought there was particularly strong work from Freddie Love, Julie Yammanee and Bradley Clarkson.

I would suggest that without a knowledge of the basic story of The Great Gatsby, it will take a little watch to catchup. While the musical revisits and tells many of the story notes, it takes a while to get there and references events at the start that it doesn't show until towards the end. A brief skim of the wikipedia summary would do it if it has been a while since you read the book (I for example had forgotten bits of Jordan Baker's character in the book and a quick interval refresh helped).

How can she be so unrehearsed for Friday if she was always supposed to be going on on the Monday??

Really didn’t enjoy this tonight. It feels like they didn’t think about the space at all. They’re trying to do too much on too small a stage and it’s all very cramped. The staging is minimal, understandably, but so ineffectively done that you get no sense whatsoever of location. This is a problem they seem to be aware of, since they list all the locations of the scenes in the programme - but that’s hardly a fix. And I’m never one to complain about or even pick up on the sound issues that people report of at shows, but this is just dreadful. The band are so close to the audience in the small space that they completely drown out the vocals. I think I heard maybe 50% of what was sung.

It was incredibly disappointing to have Evie Rose Lane reading from a script. I understand that last week she was on for unscheduled performances, but this was always one she was supposed to have done. I don’t see any reason she shouldn’t be rehearsed enough not to be script in hand, especially with presumably extra rehearsals to cover Jodie's absence last week.

The show itself feels confused and fractured, jumping between 1922 and 1927. Nothing is explored in any depth and if you don’t already know the plot of Great Gatsby, you’ll probably be confused and bored. I was bored despite knowing the plot. The dialogue is weak and repetitive and the songs are well played by the band but ultimately forgettable (although that might be because it’s so hard to hear the lyrics).
I was very tempted to leave in the interval (as at least three of the 27 people in the audience did) and I’m annoyed I didn’t. This starts late anyway (8pm, to stagger the start time with the show in the other theatre), but started late tonight. We didn’t get out until quarter to eleven. Definitely felt every minute of it. Disappointing, but I still think there’s potential in a Gatsby musical - just not this one. Immersive Gatsby is a lot more enjoyable (although not a musical).

Edit: Oh, and I forgot: they need to cut the '''topical''' jokes that land poorly. Don't pointedly mention pandemics on Christmas being cancelled. No one is there for that and the resulting audience silence is just awkward.

What an unfortunate run. I also tried twice and failed.

Cancelled again today so that's it for the run sadly.