By Asia Ewart
All photos were taken by Asia Ewart.
Broadway's "The Great Gatsby," starring modern-day theater veterans Jeremy Jordan and Eva Noblezada, is currently running seven to nine shows a week at the Broadway Theatre and has been since it transferred to the space in 2024. Before bringing the golden-laden roaring twenties fete, oft-sung about and celebrated throughout the musical, to the Great White Way, this iteration of the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel-turned-stage adaptation called the smaller stages of the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, New Jersey home.
Last fall, Jordan and Noblezada, as the yearning Jay Gatsby and aloof, but haunted Daisy Buchanan reunited post-WWI, brought the decades-old American Classic to life. With music and lyrics by Jason Howland and Nathan Tysen and a book by Kait Kerrigan, the musical came alive in a way unseen in arguably the title's most famous modern interaction—director Baz Luhrmann's 2013 big-screen adaptation starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Carey Mulligan as the storied couple. Noblezada brought fervor and a deepened self-awareness to the famous flapper. Jordan matched her passion, turning Gatsby into a sadder, more delusional version of the millionaire than previously seen.
Theatergoers loved it, selling out the show's entire New Jersey run. A Broadway transfer, especially with two big names in the theater world, was imminent.
However, much like any piece of art once it's been pulled and polished, stretched out and cut down, "The Great Gatsby" at the Broadway Theatre hasn't lived up to its potential.
The glitz and the glam of the 1920s felt parred down on the bigger stage; there's never enough gold or silver or dancing. Noblezada's fire has seemingly dulled, making Daisy's disdain for her husband Tom and the sexist status quo of the day a whisper of what it was. The score remains largely forgettable—as seen in the sleepy opening song "Roaring On" and the melodically-challenged Jordan-Noblezada duet "My Green Light"—though it does have standouts in Myrtle Wilson's solo "Secondhand Suit" and Gatsby's ode to Daisy "For Her," and its reprise.
The chemistry between Jordan and Noblezada has admittedly improved since their Millburn days; the tender moment the two share tossing expensive shirts around his bedroom is sweet, in a word. Noah J. Ricketts as narrator Nick Carraway and Samantha Pauly as Jordan Baker are a force together and apart, their in-real-life friendship bringing a unique humor to their onstage relationship.
The show's major standout, in my opinion, was the addition of Tom Buchanan's (John Zdrojeski) explanation to Gatsby about why he and Daisy could never be together: because of their old and new money social background. Even in the source material, Gatsby was so sure that after becoming a millionaire, he would be accepted by society and Daisy's family. Tom's blunt explanation to Gatsby that he would never be accepted in their world was eye-opening; it was what the character needed to hear, and because of Jordan's impeccable acting, the audience saw the truth visibly dawn on his face.
"The Great Gatsby" feels like the little show that could, something that can be said for many shows in this overcrowded season. In addition to lukewarm attendee reactions and ticket sales, the musical only received one Tony nomination, for costume design. That possibility of winning, as many theatergoers know, could either spell long life or the end for the show. Until then, the party rages on.
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