Music Review: The Great Gatsby – A New Musical

Picture: Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman

The Great Gatsby – A New Musical – Original Broadway Cast Recording (Masterworks Broadway).

Star rating: three stars ★ ★ ★ ✩ ✩

The soundtrack to The Great Gatsby, a musical adaptation of F Scott Fitzgerald’s infamous book, was released following the musical’s opening on Broadway in April 2024. As next year marks the centenary of the publication of the book, the show with music and lyrics by Jason Howland and Nathan Tysen is well-timed. Given that Baz Luhrmann’s 2013 film adaptation and its soundtrack were met with such acclaim, the production has large shoes to fill.

Noah J Ricketts stars as Nick Carraway, a young man from the Midwest who moves to New York City after returning from the First World War. He moves into a small cottage on Long Island on the grounds of a mansion where he witnesses huge parties taking place. He is soon invited to one of them by the host, the enigmatic Jay Gatsby who is anxious to befriend Nick. It is later revealed that this is because Gatsby has for many years been in love with Nick’s cousin, Daisy. What follows is a beguiling portrait of the raucous 1920s.

The musical opens with a jazz solo which is expected as 1920s America is synonymous with jazz music. The genre shows itself sporadically throughout the soundtrack and similarly, the 1920s as an era is not overly-emphasised. However, a seediness runs throughout the musical which manages to convey some of the darkness of the story.

Some of the highlights come in the surprising form of numbers from supporting characters. ‘Second-Hand Suit’, performed by Sara Chase, who plays Myrtle Wilson, is upbeat and catchy; while Eric Anderson takes on the role of the villainous Meyer Wolfsheim with great aplomb, capturing his sleaziness.

Jeremy Jordan steps into the role of the debonair Gatsby with ease, demonstrating his continued talent for romantic roles. Gatsby’s big number about his love for Daisy, ‘For Her’, is nicely reprised in Act II, mimicking his ongoing devotion to her. His reunion with Daisy is captured in their duet ‘My Green Light’.

Importantly, the powerful words of F Scott Fitzgerald, which have now become iconic, are not omitted from the musical; for example, in the penultimate number, ‘Beautiful Little Fool’, where Daisy recounts the day her daughter was born and laments about what it means to be a woman. Unfortunately, based on her numbers, the character of Daisy, played by Eva Noblezada, seems to have been reduced to a sad wife, while in the novel she is far more complex than that.

Nevertheless, musical adaptations of novels often give a better view into the psyche of the characters which this does well. Though there are a couple of numbers that do not offer much to the plot or character development, The Great Gatsby proves a good experiment in adapting a classic novel into a musical that will undoubtedly be enjoyable for many an audience.

Rebecca Sinclair