Micaela Diamond, Nicholas Christopher and More to Lead THE GREAT WAR & THE GREAT GATSBY

Following his sold-out 2023 performance of The Great War & The Great Gatsby, historian and narrator John Monsky returns to Carnegie Hall this spring with a bold re-envisioning of his production. Performances will take place on Monday, April 21 and Tuesday, April 22, at 7:30 p.m.
 
Directed by Tony Award-winner Michael Mayer (Spring Awakening), this newly reimagined production—equal parts concert, suspense, drama, romance, tribute, and exhibition of rare and iconic images and film from the National Archives—brings fresh insights, newly uncovered research, and additional musical selections to create a vivid and emotionally powerful journey for this musical and visual exploration of World War I.
 
The cast includes Adam Chanler-Berat (Next to Normal), Nicholas Christopher (Hamilton), Micaela Diamond (Parade), Gracie McGraw (Babe at The New Group), and Diego Andres Rodriguez (Sunset Boulevard). Ian Weinberger (Hamilton) will serve as music supervisor, conductor, and arranger. Trey Ellett is the Associate Director.
 
The performances of The Great War & The Great Gatsby will be filmed for a televised event, thanks to the generous support of Citadel founder and CEO Kenneth C. Griffin and his civic engagement initiative Griffin Catalyst. With the aim of “Catalyzing American Achievement,” one of Griffin Catalyst’s six priority areas is Freedom & Democracy, core ideas enshrined in John Monsky’s creative work at American History Unbound.
 
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby, which marks the 100th anniversary of its publication this month, is a starting point as Monsky guides the audience through the war’s origins and its harrowing climax during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, as seen through the wartime experiences of both fictional and real-life figures: WWI veterans Jay Gatsby and Nick Carraway; combat pilot Quentin Roosevelt, the son of President Theodore Roosevelt; soldier and music pioneer, Harlem Hellfighter, James Reese Europe; author Vera Brittain, a young nurse who loses everything in the war, except her determination to end all wars; charles Whittlesey, a shy New York lawyer leading a melting pot of soldiers trapped under fire in the Meuse-Argonne Forest; New York debutante Flora Payne Whitney; and Cher Ami, a homing pigeon who becomes an unlikely symbol of American resolve and fortitude.