Samantha Pauly (center) and cast in the Broadway production of “The Great Gatsby.” Photo by © Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman.
Once again Baltimore is the first stop in the national tour of a major Broadway musical, this one based on a novel by a former Baltimore resident! Kait Kerrigan adapted F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 tragic novel “The Great Gatsby” into a stage script. It features a jazz and pop-infused score with music by Jason Howland and lyrics by Nathan Tylen. The show had its 2023 world premiere at the Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey and moved to Broadway in 2024, where it is still running. A production opened at the London Coliseum last year. The show won the Tony Award for costume design and two Outer Critics Circle Awards for costume and scenic design.
Director Marc Bruni has adeptly guided the young, ensemble cast in developing the complicated plotline with strong emotional characterization.
In the last century since the novel appeared, it has had a huge impact on the entertainment industry. It has inspired many adaptations for radio, stage, musicals, film, and television productions. The book has engendered several ballets, an opera, a hip-hop show, graphic novels, comic books, and video games.
After the novel’s release to the public domain in 2021, several novels have been published featuring character back-stories, retellings, and expansions on the original. There is even an animated film planned for release in 2028.
“The Great Gatsby” is essentially a romantic tragedy set in the fictional towns of East Egg and West Egg, separated by the Long Island Sound in New York, during the summer of 1922. The musical touches in vary degrees upon the novel’s themes of social class, wealth, love, illusion vs. reality, the impossibility of repeating the past, and the American dream. Director Marc Bruni has adeptly guided the young, ensemble cast in developing the complicated plotline with strong emotional characterization.
Music director Charlie Alterman—with his staff of coordinator, programmer, electronic music designers, and copyists—has enhanced Howland’s arrangements to great effect, adding to the strong vocals of the cast in solos, duets, and chorus numbers. His orchestra of three traveling and eight local musicians provided exciting accompaniment to the vocals and dances and continued the sometimes-ignored tradition of an overture and entr’acte.
Dominique Kelley’s choreography is thrilling, intricate, and incorporates steps of popular Jazz Age dances in different variations to match the razzle-dazzle of the lively, energetic music. Especially enjoyable were the scenes where the chorus sang and moved across the stage as a group. What would a 1920s musical be without tap dancing? Look no further than The Sugars (Anna Gassett, Josiah Hicks, Macy McKown, and Tyler Johnson-Campion); their expert footwork brought bursts of audience applause.
Paul Tate dePoo III’s scenic and production design is simply breathtaking in beauty. The various scenes inside and outside of the Gatsby mansion and its neighboring cottage are colorful and detailed with lavish attention to props, foliage, painting of drops and scenery, architectural embellishments, and video projections (rain, bridge spans, and fireworks). A blue, coupe roadster convertible and a yellow Rolls-Royce, both with passengers, drive across the stage. Brian Ronan provides sound effects for rain, thunder, fireworks, and gunshots. Cory Pattak utilizes spotlights, backlighting, and sconces. Both designers enhance the realism of the production.
Linda Cho won a well-deserved Tony Award for her costume design. The 1920 chorus flappers, with short, fringed skirts and long necklaces, in silver, gold, and bronze, replete with jewels and sequins, contrasted with the wealthy elite socialites wearing beautifully-crafted, muted pastel gowns. Similar attention to how dress reflects social class determined the pink-jacketed summer attire of Gatsby; the daily business vested suit of his neighbor; the mob boss’s striped suit; and the gas station attendant’s work clothes. There were chorus members dressed as maids and butlers in black and white, dancers in print party dresses, and mobsters dancing with black trench coats and wide-brimmed hats. Designers Charles LaPointe, Rachael Geier, and Ashley Ryan fashioned bobbed hair among other styles and the excessive make-up of the Jazz Age flapper.
“Spectacle over substance” is a frequent cry of theatre critics as technology increases. Audiences, however, will always enjoy the spectacle of musical theatre as a break from the problems of their daily lives and the world. “The Great Gatsby” provides romantic comedy, melodrama, and a good story along with stunning visual effects of sound, light, and scenery. While it may not emphasize all the themes of the novel, it is a very enjoyable presentation of an important era of our American social history.
Running Time: Two hours and 30 minutes with one intermission.
Advisory: Recommended for ages 10 and up. Children 5 years of age are permitted but must have their own ticket. Infants are not allowed in the theatre.
“The Great Gatsby – A New Musical” runs through February 7, 2026, at the Hippodrome Theatre, 12 North Eutaw Street, Baltimore MD 21201. For more information and to purchase tickets, please visit the Box Office Monday through Friday, 11 am – 3 pm, or on performance days from 11 am to curtain or go online.
