THE GREAT GATSBY Broadway Previews- Page 3

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 4/5/24 at 6:27pm

Would love to see a breakdown of funds spent on advertising pre-opening for all the shows this season. Completely anecdotal but Gatsby appears to be doing more than some other shows (in addition to all the digital marketing, press, and video content). That plus the name value of the property may be helping sales.

As with a lot of shows, we don't know when the bottom will drop out. Could be next week, could be in 6 weeks, could be in a year. That's a big house. But a good start is a good start.

[Broadway Flash]

Posted: 4/5/24 at 11:24pm

I think their 50 dollar scheme on the day the box office opened also might have helped. There was a really long line for people buying tickets.  I believe people could have gotten as many as they wanted $50 each.  Even looking ahead, they have performances that are already decently sold. It’s about creating an event and hyping the show up.  I also understand they are negotiating a collaboration with a major company.  The NY Jets collab definitely helped Back to the Future. 

[chrishuyen]

Posted: 4/6/24 at 3:35am

As someone who saw this in Papermill and found it generally mediocre (mostly in the writing), I'm actually shocked at how improved this was tonight.  Maybe part of it just had to do with expectations, because the characterizations are very much not the same as those in the novel and you just have to accept that, but I think as a spectacle musical it did a good job and flowed a lot better (though I still have some quibbles in the book, particularly in the second act).  I won't get into everything now because it's late and I'm still thinking about what did/didn't work for me this time around, but I think the single best thing they did was give the opening song to Nick. 

Here is the side by side comparison of the song list (left side is Papermill and right side is Broadway).  I also noticed some expanded orchestrations (more violins, another reed and a French horn added)

Updated On: 4/7/24 at 03:35 AM

[QueenAlice]

Posted: 4/6/24 at 6:12am

I caught the (sold out) performance last night and was also really pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it. They have taken a tone of pure romantic musical theatre which is different from the tone of the novel but which for me completely works.  And wow, I forgot how much I’ve missed seeing spectacle on Broadway. The audience loved it- especially the two central performances, and I can’t wait for the cast recording to hear the songs again. This would definitely be in my top five  musicals of the season if I were a Tony voter. I was far more engaged by this than The Notebook or Water for Elephants.  Again- really surprised.

[bwayobsessed]

Posted: 4/6/24 at 7:27am

chrishuyen said: "As someone who saw this in Papermill and found it generally mediocre (mostly in the writing), I'm actually shocked at how improved this was tonight. Maybe part of it just had to do with expectations, because the characterizations are very much not the same as those in the novel and you just have to accept that, but I think as a spectacle musical it did a good job and flowed a lot better (though I still have some quibbles in the book, particularly in the second act). I won't get into everything now because it's late and I'm still thinking about what did/didn't work for me this time around, but I think the single best thing they did was give the opening song to Nick.

Here is the side by side comparison of the song list (left side is Papermill and right side is Broadway). I also noticed some expanded orchestrations (more violins, another reed and a French horn added)

The photo isn't showing...maybe it's just on my end. but i'd love see if theres an alternate way to post.

"

 

[Jarethan]

Posted: 4/6/24 at 11:53am

Since they are not selling all of the seats in the rear mezzanine, are they hiding all the empty seats with a curtain or just showing how many more seats can be sold if it becomes a hit?

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 4/6/24 at 12:07pm

There is a divider the theater uses to close the section off, so the empty seats are hidden. 

[chrishuyen]

Posted: 4/6/24 at 12:21pm

Oh that makes sense about the mezzanine because I was looking back at it and thought it looked shorter than I remembered from WSS

Here's another link to the picture comparing the song lists

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/pw/AP1GczNFoOZBrEmOUOnm0X9ykY9wWYO42N9e0uR5oxRpuRFJ2alN8NofWgw3WORhZjZ8FZrWHtCjBhDdTbll8sc2F9I2D-lFepTdayiXp-9s2NU649tYB0UQXibPz9iwgNbs_FMLs2jFsvL5mZJO7ThY2pUjOw=w1170-h879-s-no

[BarnabyTucker]

Posted: 4/6/24 at 1:22pm

Well you can add my voice to the chorus of folks who were pleasantly surprised by this. I think the highest compliment you can pay a show is "that was great" because it implies that all of the elements came together to make a solid night of theater. 

This is a case of the material, performances, physical production, etc. all meshing beautifully together to create a solid night of Broadway musical entertainment. 

I enjoyed myself and this might just be my new top pick for when non-theater goer colleagues ask "what show should I take the wife to see?" :)

[chrishuyen]

Posted: 4/7/24 at 11:24pm

Posting some more thoughts on Friday’s performance, which I thought was actually a good musical as long as you’re not too attached to the original book.  For context, when I saw the Papermill production, I had not read the book or seen the movie(s) so I didn’t know the finer details of the plot, but I read the novel soon after.  And I think the current version of the musical on Broadway presents a great big budget spectacle show, but with different characterizations and without as much of the commentary, as it leans more into the romance/melodrama of the story itself (with the primary focus being on Daisy and Gatsby).  

Like I mentioned in my previous post, giving Nick the opening song was probably the best change they could have made.  Without establishing Nick as the main character early on (Gatsby sang the opening number originally), it was confusing to me about why we were following him around when he went to the city with Tom and everything, and he kind of faded into the ensemble sometimes.  But when he sings Roarin’ On, it sort of establishes him both as the main character for the audience to follow, as well as focuses more on him being new to town, which makes more sense for him to seem like a fish out of water in subsequent scenes.  (And it also made his ending narration make more sense too.)

The other part of this change I liked is that when Gatsby was singing the number, it takes away his mystique and it seems like he’s actively involved in the party scene and mixing with everyone else.  So when they tried to play up how mysterious he was, it felt disingenuous, but now we don’t really see him until Nick does (outside of a quick glimpse at the top of the show).

The problem now with Gatsby is that we never really see his public persona.  In most media, he seems to usually be portrayed as a suave charming guy who hides his longing for Daisy under that veneer but we get maybe 30 seconds of the suave Gatsby before he launches into For Her, which is just super on the nose in how he talks about being in love with Daisy and how he built his entire fortune for her (if I were Nick and this were my first time meeting him, I’d probably think he was a bit of a creep).  And his other song in act 1 before meeting Daisy (Only Tea) basically just depicts him as a nervous wreck, so we never get a chance to see a smooth-talking Gatsby.

Outside of the opening, I don’t know if they actually changed Nick that much or if Noah Ricketts just grew into the character more or if the reframing of the story really just improved my perception, but I found The Met a lot more charming and funny this time around, whereas previously I had been annoyed at Nick’s indecision about what to do (also a marked departure from the Nick of the novel).  

Nick and Jordan also worked better as a pair for me.  Before, it seemed like Jordan was way too cool for him, but they had some nice banter during both New Money and after Only Tea that had good chemistry, and it also provided a nice contrast to the emotion of Daisy and Gatsby’s reunion.  

I liked Absolute Rose more than Sophisticated, though I still don’t think it’s a particularly memorable song, but it does do a good job of incorporating book scenes for Daisy to be setting up Jordan and Nick, and the refrain of “absolute rose” adds a bit of a thematic thread for that song down to Beautiful Little Fool, while also establishing the kind of person Daisy is.

I don’t remember it exactly but I think they made some changes to Past Is Catching Up to Me that made me like it less.  It feels more like a generic power ballad now, whereas previously I remembered it having some momentum and a little bit of tension.  La Dee Dah With You is the new party song in act 2 and it’s a fun number with some spirited dancing, but I liked some of the commentary that Bootstraps had before.

I think in general the show refocused a bit to be more about the actual events happening to the main characters and didn’t feel like it needed to try to include all the themes from the book (hence, the excision of Ol’ Owl Eyes), which in general makes it a better musical (though perhaps a less good adaptation).  But the problem with the second act is that some of the events that relate to wider ranging themes sort of have to happen to finish the story and it feels a bit like moving pieces around so they can line up correctly, but some of the choices the characters make don’t quite feel as organic.  Like I don’t know why they end up at the Plaza all together when it seems like Daisy and Gatsby just want to run away (they’re even driving in the same car without anyone else!) or why Jordan and Nick go with Tom when they both kind of despise him.  And even after the scene at the Plaza, the car arrangements heading back home don’t quite make sense either (why would Daisy drive with Gatsby if she doesn’t want to be associated with a bootlegger?  Why would Tom let Gatsby go after Daisy alone?).  So it seems like the characters have been manipulated into these situations just so the rest of the plot can happen so that Nick can comment on it at the end, but by this point the characters are different enough from the book that it doesn’t quite make sense for them to be doing the same things, and the tone set in the first act doesn’t seem to line up with the events happening in the second act or the resolution it’s trying to get to.

Speaking of the ending though, I also think that was improved.  Without Ol’ Owl Eyes, the funeral scene is more streamlined, with no dialogue and just a short reprise of New Money, which I think perfectly demonstrates all we really need to know for this scene.  And Nick’s closing narration makes a lot more sense given that he was set up as the narrator in the beginning, and I thought the reprise of Roarin’ On was great.  I’m not sure if Beautiful Little Fool was actually shortened or if it just feels that way but the lyrics seemed more trite and on the nose than before, so I kind of wished they just replaced it with a different song altogether (and I didn’t feel like I could see the character of Daisy that we had seen so far actually singing this sentiment).

Given that the orchestra has a slightly different makeup, it does seem like they reorchestrated the show, and I think it’s for the better.  At Papermill I had complained it sounded too much like a pop-score, divorced from period elements to the point where it was strange to see people in flapper dressers dancing the Charleston to the score, but I think they literally jazzed up the orchestrations a bit, so that even if the music itself wasn’t quite true jazz, it sounded more like something that could have come from the time period.  The songs in general worked decently enough in the scenes (other than the ones I complained about), but I’m not sure that any of them were that notable.

Anyways, I’m very impressed at how much work they did on the show in such a short period of time, and I’m curious if they’ll keep changing it throughout previews.  I had been dismissive of it before, but I could see this actually getting a Best Musical nomination (though it’s definitely not guaranteed), and it’ll be nominated for all the scenic/design elements (set, lighting, costumes, probably choreography as well).

[ddenoff2]

Posted: 4/8/24 at 9:53am

It's called the Cameron Mackintosh curtain 

[FANtomFollies]

Posted: 4/8/24 at 9:03pm

Has anyone won the digital lottery for this? I'm wondering how difficult a win it is and also where winning seats are located.

[Broadway Flash]

Posted: 4/9/24 at 4:10am

Do you know when the curtain was put there?  Les Mis?  Miss Saigon?  How many seats is it hiding?  What is the seating capacity without them?  

[rachelfran]

Posted: 4/9/24 at 7:25am

I won the lottery for tonight and the seat is rear mezz E3 and I'm not happy about it. There are so many empty seats and I had checked Reddit and saw everyone that posted their wins had orchestra or front mezz row A.  Everyone said they had a good view.  
I don't know if I'll go or not. 

[Broadway Flash]

Posted: 4/9/24 at 7:31am

By showtime, there will not be any empty seats.  I don’t think rear mezz is as far as you think it is. 

Updated On: 4/9/24 at 07:31 AM

[FANtomFollies]

Posted: 4/9/24 at 8:39am

rachelfran said: "I won the lottery for tonight and the seat is rear mezz E3 and I'm not happy about it. There are so many empty seats and I had checked Reddit and saw everyone that posted their wins had orchestra or front mezz row A. Everyone said they had a good view.
I don't know if I'll go or not."

Were you able to see which seat you got before you purchased?

[rachelfran]

Posted: 4/9/24 at 8:48am

FANtomFollies said: "rachelfran said: "I won the lottery for tonight and the seat is rear mezz E3 and I'm not happy about it. There are so many empty seats and I had checked Reddit and saw everyone that posted their wins had orchestra or front mezz row A. Everyone said they had a good view.
I don't know if I'll go or not."

Were you able to see which seat you got before you purchased?"

No. If I could I wouldn't have purchased. 

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 4/9/24 at 9:12am

The rear mezz partition removes about 275 seats.

Gatsby's working with 1485 seats according to last week's grosses; the actual capacity for the Broadway is 1763.

Updated On: 4/9/24 at 09:12 AM

[Dylan Smith4]

Posted: 4/9/24 at 9:17am

Broadway Flash said: "Do you know when the curtain was put there? Les Mis? Miss Saigon? How many seats is it hiding? What is the seating capacity without them?"

I think this is the first time they've done this. Just looked at the seating chart. The rear mezz cutoff starts at row K I think. If that's the case, then about 262 seats are not being used during this show's run. The theatre's capacity is 1761, but 1499 seats are being used. Honestly, that could work.

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 4/9/24 at 9:27am

Many other shows (if not ALL shows) have used the rear mezz partition at the Broadway but it usually happens later in the run as sales soften and they want to push buyers forward. It's not a bad move to start it now. 1485 seats is still a ton of inventory to move (more seats still than the Shubert, Imperial, and Simon). It's that house's answer to closing the Balcony for a three-tiered theater.

Updated On: 4/9/24 at 09:27 AM

[rachelfran]

Posted: 4/9/24 at 7:13pm

I was headed to the show but the trains are out and I was not going to make it anywhere close to on time. Is there anyway to get a refund for a lottery ticket or attend another night?  This is a first for me .. I am typically extremely punctual!
 

Thanks! 

[ce13804n]

Posted: 4/9/24 at 7:21pm

Unfortunately lottery tickets are usually non-refundable/transferable across the board. I would say you could try to sell them on Twitter but it's unlikely that they'll sell this close to curtain. 

[Jonathan Cohen]

Posted: 4/10/24 at 1:02am

I watched tonight's performance and this is my favorite show of the season about adultery in the 1920s. So basically I liked it more than Sandy Rustin's The Cottage. Here are some quick thoughts...

 

• My lottery ticket was a Left Orchestra Row G, Seat 16. It was a pretty good seat. 

 

• I know Alan Menken isn't involved in the show, but I was struck how much Howland and Tysen's ballads sounded like 1990s Disney. It's not a shock the star of Newsies would sound good singing that style of music, but I was surprised at just how great Jeremy Jordan (and Eva Noblezada) sounded. I liked the music more than I expected to. 

 

• Other than the party scenes, where their presence was for sure necessary, the use of the company as backup dancers drove me nuts. Dramatically, I didn't get  "Roaring On" and thought Nick should have no exposure to that type of spectacle until the party at Gatsby's house. "Shady", Wolfsheim's big number was the worst though. The dancers looked like they had escaped from the Hall & Oates "Private Eyes" music video for no apparent reason. 

 

• I enjoyed the show while I was watching it but also left thinking it has absolutely nothing to say. Speaking just to the musical not the novel, Nick Carraway basically concludes the Buchanans are pure evil, and holds up Gatsby as his favorite human being ever. Yet Gatsby is a bootlegger and adulterer, who seems pretty indifferent to the hit and run death he's involved in. I'm not sure what this is saying about class when the old money and new money characters seem equally horrible.    

[BossBroadway]

Posted: 4/10/24 at 11:39am

Remember when it was said here that The Great Gatsby would be the biggest flop this season? Lol. Remember when it was said here that they weren't selling out? Lol. Remember when it was said here that there were no advance sales? Lol. 

[kurtal]

Posted: 4/10/24 at 11:53pm

Oh man, I hated this.

To be clear, the cast is giving it there are.  There is some excellent singing.  The set and costume design is great.

But did the creators of this show even read the book?  The novel is a biting commentary on the emptiness of the American dream, the inability to transcend class, and the tragedy of chasing after something that you can never obtain.  All of the opulence and decadence of the novel pulsates around a hollow core.  Gatsby's wealth is a house of cards, and his parties are all part of that illusion.

And this musical turned the story into a musical comedy with a tragic ending.

I would have been open to a new take on Gatsby -- a feminist lens, a story about delusion, a contemporary take on wealth inequality.  Any of that could have been interesting.  But to reduce this story to a melodramatic love story misses the entire point of the novel. 

And I would almost be able to forgive that if the music and lyrics were not so criminally awful.  

I imagine there are people who are going to like this -- the people around me certainly seemed to enjoy themselves.  But I haven't hated a show this much in a long time.  What a missed opportunity.