Ridgefield Playhouse to Host GREAT GATSBY Film Event, 11/23

By: Sep. 09, 2014
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"In his blue gardens men and girls came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars." So wrote the great American novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald in one of the finest works of fiction by any of this country's great writers. The story of the fabulously wealthy Jay Gatsby and his love for the beautiful Daisy Buchanan, of lavish parties on Long Island at a time when The New York Times noted "gin was the national drink and sex the national obsession", is an exquisitely crafted tale of America in the 1920s and a true classic of twentieth-century American literature. The Great Gatsby, which depicts the dark side of the American dream, a world of gangsters, wild parties and reckless people who had a way of destroying people's lives, was the perfect story for the silver screen. The 1974 film starred Robert Redford and Mia Farrow (directed by Jack Clayton); the 2013 version featured the fresh-faced Leonardo DiCaprio and Carey Mulligan (directed by Baz Luhrman). Both versions will be screened at The Ridgefield Playhouse to celebrate the town-wide Big Read initiative on Sunday, November 23, with the Redford film being shown at 4 p.m. and the DiCaprio version at 7:30 p.m. These showings are free to the public thanks to a grant awarded to The Ridgefield Playhouse, in partnership with Ridgefield Library, by the National Endowment (NEA) for the Arts, Arts Midwest and Connecticut Humanities (CTH) to host The Big Read initiative in Ridgefield. An impressive roster of The Great Gatsby era events includes book discussions, exhibits, musical events and the kick-off show with The Cab Calloway Orchestra on Friday, October 10, at 7:30 p.m. at The Ridgefield Playhouse. The film screenings will mark the final event of this town-wide project. The Big Read makes it possible for Ridgefielders and residents of surrounding towns to experience great American literature via a wide variety of media. For a complete listing of The Big Read events in Ridgefield, Connecticut, visit ridgefieldlibrary.org. Brochures will be available at The Ridgefield Playhouse, numerous retail shops and businesses, at Ridgefield Library as well as through participating organizations.

Since its publication in 1925, Fitzgerald's masterpiece The Great Gatsby has become a touchstone for generations of readers and writers, many of whom reread it every few years as a ritual of imaginative renewal. The story of Jay Gatsby's desperate quest to win back his first love reverberates with themes at once characteristically American and universally human, among them the importance of honesty, the temptations of wealth, and the struggle to escape the past. Though The Great Gatsby novel runs to fewer than two hundred pages, there is no bigger read in American literature.

The Big Read is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts, in partnership with Arts Midwest, designed to revitalize the role of literature in American culture and to encourage citizens to read for pleasure and enlightenment. The Ridgefield Playhouse, in partnership with Ridgefield Library, is one of 77 non-profit organizations to receive a grant to host The Big Read project between September 2014 and June 2015 and the only organization in CT to be awarded the grant. The events planned will take place from October 1 to November 2, 2014, which embraces Ridgefield's "Fall in Love with Ridgefield", October 17-19.

Arts Midwest promotes creativity, nurtures cultural leadership, and engages people in meaningful arts experiences, bringing vitality to Midwest communities and enriching people's lives. For more information, please visit artsmidwest.org. Connecticut Humanities (CTH) is a non-profit affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities that funds, creates and collaborates on hundreds of cultural programs across Connecticut each year; visit cthumanities.org. Without the support of CTH, the NEA and Arts Midwest, The Ridgefield Playhouse and Ridgefield Library would not be able to provide the plethora of cultural events surrounding The Big Read's celebration of The Great Gatsby. The Big Read in Ridgefield is sponsored by The National Endowment for the Arts in Partnership with Arts Midwest Connecticut Humanities Council,?Liz & Steven Goldstone,?The Friends of the Ridgefield Library and Books on the Common with media sponsors i95 fm, 98Q, WLAD, 95.9 The Fox, 99.1 FM WPLR, WHUD, WPLR, Star 99.9 Hearst CT Media, The Ridgefield Press, Morris Media Group, Ridgefield Patch and Ridgefield HamletHub.

For tickets to Cab Calloway ($38) and to reserve free seats for the Gatsby films, call the box office at 203-438-5795 or visit ridgefieldplayhouse.org. The Ridgefield Playhouse is a 501 (c) (3) not-for-profit performing arts center whose mission is to serve the Ridgefield community and neighboring environs by fostering an appreciation for the arts through enrichment and entertainment programs including movies, musical performances, theater and other performing art forms at a price and with a content accessible to a broad cross-section of the public. The Ridgefield Playhouse is located at 80 East Ridge, parallel to Main Street, Ridgefield, CT.



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