Interview: Joshua Grosso of THE GREAT GATSBY at Kansas City Music Hall

BroadwayWorld.com got to chat (and by extension you) with one of the lead actors from the first North American tour of a new musical version of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby.” 

I had the pleasure of meeting by telephone with Joshua Grosso who plays Nick Carraway in “The Great Gatsby.” Nick is the character through whose eyes the audience sees Gatsby and the other characters from the Fitzgerald book and in this retelling. Josh is one of the most positive and thoughtful people it has ever been my pleasure to spend time with.

BroadwayWorld: Hi Josh, Welcome to Kansas City. The Great Gatsby will roll into town today Monday and opens at the Kansas City Music Hall for a too short residency beginning next Tuesday, March 17 and continuing through Sunday, March 22.

BroadwayWorld: This is the first North American touring company of “The Great Gatsby, the musical” and I am told this is close to the beginning of your journey. 

Josh Grosso: Yeah, We’ve been on the road only a couple of months. We started, I believe in early February.

BroadwayWorld: Your character is the stand-in for F. Scott Fitzgerald himself, right?  The book is semi-autobiographical. I seem to recall that Fitzgerald married an upper-class woman from Savannah Georgia in the wake of World War I.

Josh Grosso: Yes, I think so. Many of the memorable lines like the “beautiful little fool” line is exactly what she says, a direct quote. “Well, the best thing a girl can be in this world is a beautiful little fool.”

I'm not sure if that's the exact line, but yeah, that basically comes straight out of what the female lead Daisy said in the book.

Well, that’s an interesting, certainly an interesting take on it. 

BroadwayWorld: So, this is a very new company of a show where the Broadway version is still running in New York.

Josh Grosso: “The Great Gatsby, The Musical” Yes. Yes, it is. It is currently still running, currently running on Broadway.

BroadwayWorld: I remember “The Great Gatsby” the book is a rather short novel; something like one hundred and thirty pages.

Josh Grosso: It is definitely an easy read. It's one of the better summer reads for sure, in my opinion. And it is a good book to read every so often.

BroadwayWorld: It used to be on many high school curriculums, but that has been a while for me; especially for me.  Please remind our readers about the subject matter F. Scott Fitzgerald covered.

Josh Grosso:   First, The original book was published almost 101 years ago. I think one of the many reasons why the book remains so “top of mind” is because of its many universal themes. Like in terms of love versus obsession. Another theme looks at social class and inequality. Still another is: Wealth versus happiness.

BroadwayWorld: Nick is a midwestern kid of moderate means, as was Fitzgerald, and a distant cousin to Daisy Buchanan. By happenstance, Nick becomes a neighbor to Gatsby.

Jay Gatsby and the upper-class Daisy had enjoyed a brief romance when he was in training to lead doughboys scheduled to fight in France.  Their relationship was doomed from the start because of class differences.

Both Nick and Jay have moved to New York after the war to seek their fortunes. Nick is a bond salesman.  Jay is a bootlegger.

Daisy has moved on and married someone of her own class. Jay has not.  He has hopes of rekindling his romance with Daisy now that he is rich.

Jay deliberately buys a mansion in sight of Daisy’s home, but he hasn’t made the grade; hopelessly regarded as “nouveau riche.”

Nick lives in a rented cottage next door. Jay has acquired the habit of using his riches to throw extravagant parties.

A mutual acquaintance alerts Jay to the family connection between Nick and Daisy.  So, Nick is added to the party guest list.  And that is the jumping off place for the book and the play.

Josh Grosso: But I think what makes the book and the show so special as well, especially to us, is how inherently American it is and how unabashedly it is about the quest and the journey to achieve the American Dream.

And I think it's, um, so we're all bootleggers; like Jay Gatsby.  I would say in some sort of way, we all have our passions and dreams that we're all chasing.  

And I think that's what kind of makes Gatsby such an interesting character. Because the way that he goes about things definitely could be a little bit questionable.

From Jay’s point of view, the story is so layered, right? It's interesting because it seems like Jay is on a noble and moral quest because it's all done for love.

So yeah, it's kind of a long winded answer. But with any of these great novels, there's no simple response. That makes it a dream for an actor.

BroadwayWorld: What is your personal favorite song that you perform in the show?

Josh Grosso: I guess I look forward to the very first number. Because it is the very first thing that the audience hears and very few shows have that kind of direct address. Nick serves as the narrator and storyteller.

It's very exciting on this tour traveling from city to city and inviting the audience into the story and kind of getting them settled before we start the ride and this show is a ride. I find it challenging and very invigorating and a privilege at every tour stop.

I also like “Lobbied On,” in the second act. It is a lot of fun as well.

“Lobbied On” is one of the few times almost the entire cast is on stage. The cast does an amazing job. It has a great dance sequence in it, which never gets old to watch.

So I would say my favorite is between those two numbers.  I could keep going on and on.

BroadwayWorld: You sound like you're having a good time.

Josh Grosso: Yeah. It's a privilege. You know, it's hard not to sound happy when you have a job like this.

BroadwayWorld: Please tell me about some of the other people that you're working with:

Josh Grosso: Oh man, I mean this cast is absolutely phenomenal. We all truly enjoy performing “The Great Gatsby” and (I might be biased) but I think it translates pretty well into the performances that you see on stage.

Jake David Smith, who plays Jay Gatsby, is incredible. I mean, the guy has a voice of gold. He is paired with Senzel Ahmady as Daisy Buchanan. Together, They are an immaculate pair.  And as people you couldn't even ask for better castmates. They lead our tour, our production.

Senzel is a phenomenal Daisy. She has this unusual kind of creativity.

What's incredible about Jake and Senzel is that they are so incredibly consistent every night.  This shows not only with their scene work, but with their vocal talent as well.

It's truly a joy I get to be on stage with them for a lot of that. I get to be a first-hand witness to seeing them work.

Leanne Robinson, my Jordan Baker, is an acting partner that I could not be more blessed and more privileged to have.

Lila Coogan as Myrtle is a powerhouse of a vocalist.

We all get along really well, which is a funny thing to say, but you know, it's not required in this business. But when it is. When it happens organically, you know. It makes the job infinitely easier and enjoyable to do every night.

The ensemble is the backbone of the entire show. With any good musical, the quality of the ensemble makes half the show when they are pulling so much of the weight.

Our dancers are incredible and they've been rehearsing now for two months. Many of the ensemble members also cover some of the leads. They rehearse almost every single day to get ready.

So it's, it's a joy, and a pleasure to be around just good people. And I believe good people breed good work. So that's what I have to say about that. I can't really sing their praises more.

BroadwayWorld: Share a little bit about creative team behind it all.

Josh Grosso: The libretto to “The Great Gatsby” is by Kait Kerrigan with a score by Jason Howland and lyrics by Nathan Tyson.

Nathan Tyson and Kait Kerrigan are a team. It's really cool what they did with this story in terms of adapting it into the musical.

This is my first time working with them and it has been a pleasure. I don't think tours usually have the opportunity work with the original creatives.  They came in and we talked about the project, and we were lucky enough to have them there. They are phenomenal. Jason Howland, in particular, has been great.

Director Marc Bruni is an amazing artist. Dominic Kelly, our choreographer, has an incredible list of credits on stage and on television. Most importantly, they're amazing and wonderful people. They are extremely collaborative. Having them around is a privilege for this cast.

To have had the privilege of working with all the original creatives. To have the first-degree resource right there, you know, and ask them questions about what their intentions were in certain scenes or certain songs is a gift.

Not only did we have their guidance but also had their blessing in putting our little bit of a creative twist to the show.

They allowed us to really make this story-our own version of the Broadway production.  The playwright and the composer gave us plenty of creative freedom to kind of explore how we got from point A to point B.

BroadwayWorld: Tell me a little bit about Josh.

Josh Grosso: I was, uh, raised mostly in Florida but I was born in Colombia. We immigrated when I was a very young baby. We moved to New York first and then moved to Florida. I've had like my whole formation there. I went to elementary, middle school and high school there. And then I went to College in Pittsburgh,

So, the family is in Florida. That's where I go back to kind of recharge. I always go back home to family.

BroadwayWorld: Tell me about touring.

Josh Grosso: We're thrilled to be in Kansas City. I'm always privileged and I'm always blessed to be able to do this job and have the opportunity to visit you.

You sometimes forget how massive this country is until you actually go out and start traveling. And it's been, it's been a real joy. I keep using that word, but I, just, it's the only thing that truly comes to mind. It really is a privilege to be able to do this and travel with it. You meet different people and see how they react to the show. It's being able to have this as your job and it's already a blessing in itself.

BroadwayWorld:  Josh Grasso and the entire production of “The Great Gatsby” with be in Kansas City and performing at the Kansas City Music Hall now through March 22.  Tickets are available through Ticketmaster.

Josh and I chatted for almost an hour.  He had a lot to say.  Above is an edited version of our 7000 word conversation.  You should go visit with him as Nick Carraway in this Broadway entertaining version of a great novel.