I must admit I didn’t have high hopes for this one. Having read the reviews and listened to the reviews of the reviews, not of which were overly positive. But VK wanted to go and tickets were a tempting £20 each for a Friday night, so we went for it. We even roped in CousinZ and my bro for the jaunt.
You should know by now that VK will, wherever possible, always dress for the occasion:
We were up on the balcony, as you’d expect for such cheap seats. There was nothing to say that kids had to sit next to an adult – which I’ve seen a lot in recent age guidance – so the kids had one set of seats and my bro and I took the others. The kids were in the centre and towards the front of the balcony so had a decent view. We were off to the side but had a pretty good view as well. I will say that the seats were a bit uncomfortable – they were very straight and shallow so I found myself perching on the edge quite a lot. When they say that a show has you on the edge of your seat, that’s got to be a good thing, right?
One thing all the critics agree on is that the sets are gorgeous and I would agree with that. It’s obviously an Art Deco aesthetic and the pieces move smoothly on and off stage to create entirely different scenes – from the old-money luxury of the Buchanan’s mansion to the nouveau-riche opulence of Jay Gatsby’s shirt dispenser to the grime of George Wilson’s garage. There is so much detail and the costumes match the mood perfectly. So I think all of that is universally agreed on but many critics have seen the glitz as a negative, calling the show shallow and accusing it of being nothing but surface-level razzle-dazzle.
Maybe I’m not just a deep thinker but sometimes a bit of razzle-dazzle is all you need after a long week’s work. I think I have read the book but it would have been years ago and I don’t remember it that well, so I’m not wedded to the detail. But I do understand how people react to adaptations of books they love that mess around with the detail – I mean, just read my “Ballet Shoes” review if you don’t believe me.
But I know the basic plot and all the main elements are here – Carraway nervy and unsure, Tom arrogant, Gatsby elusive and mysterious, Daisy flighty…. the criticism that they give too much of their souls away by singing is just something you have to get over if you’re watching a musical, in my opinion. And the singing is amazing – Jamie Muscato as Gatsby holds some incredibly long notes in a high tenor that would put Valjean to shame. And talking of Valjean, they have an actual one of those in the cast, albeit in a side character role (John Owen-Jones as Meyer Wolfschirm). Plus an ex-Elphaba (Rachel Tucker as Myrtle Wilson) who we’ve previously seen as Persephone in “Hadestown”. It is a seriously stacked cast by musical theatre standards even before you consider the Hollywood talent of Corbin Bleu as Nick Carraway. The cast is so rich in talent that it feels almost wasteful to give Rachel Tucker just one solo before her character’s death. But then the female leads – Frances Mayli McCann as Daisy and Amber Davies as Jordan – are also incredible so there is almost too much vocal power for one show. Joel Montague as George and Jon Robyns as Tom also get far too little solo time as they are also fabulous singers.
So the casting is immaculate and any one of them could have been the show-stealing lead…why then the negatives? Well, one of the potential weaknesses could have been in the songs themselves which weren’t overly memorable. I normally pick tunes up quite quickly but I couldn’t hum any of them this morning, however beautifully they were sung. But I would say that it’s unfair to compare this show to the other musicals we’ve seen recently where the soundtracks have been played and sung constantly around the house before our visit. It’s easier to come out of Les Mis singing a revolutionary song when that same song has been in your head for months. There was nothing wrong with the songs but they could have been more distinctive and I didn’t really get a 1920s feel from them. To counter that, there were some very 20s dance moves, with all the Fosse poses that you could ever want.
The other negative that many other people have picked out is the Carraway-Jordan romance and I would agree that. I don’t think it was in the book and, as VK pointed out, they are both kinda queer-coded. Its strongly suggested that Nick is attracted to Gatsby and as for Jordan….well, she’s a golf-playing bachelorette. I’m feeling like Carraway is not quite her type. So to add a romance between them seemed to come from nowhere and only served to highlight the moral of story, which can be summed up by Grunkle Stan from “Gravity Falls” – “it’s funny because marriage is terrible”. It would have been far better for them to be friends and conspirators without any hint of romance.
These points aside, the show is perfectly enjoyable. The ensemble moves flawlessly in the set pieces, the dialogue is crisp and sparky and the chemistry between Daisy and Jay is both sweet and intense. The show rushes along at a pace and at the interval I was struggling to think how much plot there would be left for the second half. But although all the main plot points hit in the first half, the consequences of those plot points play out in the second, especially in the tangibly-tense Plaza hotel scene. It feels like there’s a tiny bit of stretching out right at the end, with the glitzy party people brought back a couple of times for reasons that didn’t entirely make sense. Other than that though, it is a decently meaty show given that it’s based on a very thin novel. The seats did not magically get more comfortable but, even with that in mind, the 2.5 hour runtime whizzed by.
Oh, and for the obsessive LWAT theatre followers, it was Mango Sorbet for both of us last night. I know you like to know these things.
The audience also seemed to find the show perfectly enjoyable. Each song was met with thunderous applause and there was a standing ovation at the end – I know these are commonplace nowadays but it certainly didn’t give the impression of a show that had failed to hit the spot. Neither did the line of fans at the stage door, who were all keen to tell the stars how much they’d enjoyed it. We too lined up in the usual dank West End backstreet and met Jon Robyns, Joel Montague, Amber Davies, Frances Mayli McCann and Jamie Muscato. They all signed our programme – and for once, I’d remembered to pack a Sharpie – and we got a photo with Gatsby himself:
All the actors were total sweethearts, especially Amber Davies who was signing even tho she was meant to be rushing for a train. Hopefully the early negative reviews haven’t impacted them too much and they’re finding the packed houses and rapturous applause are making up for some of that. It might be entirely my lack of depth but for us, it was a Great night out indeed.
No disclaimer needed for this one as I paid for tickets. All opinions remain honest and my own.
“The Great Gatsby” runs until 7th Sept. Click here for more info and tickets.
