The Great Gatsby West End Reviews

The main issue lies with Kait Kerrigan’s book, which often sounds like it was written by ChatGPT. Occasional direct quotes from the book jar Fitzgerald's poetic prose against bland phrasing. Kerrigan focuses more on the love story, rattling off the...

The main issue lies with Kait Kerrigan’s book, which often sounds like it was written by ChatGPT. Occasional direct quotes from the book jar Fitzgerald's poetic prose against bland phrasing. Kerrigan focuses more on the love story, rattling off the odd reference to class issues and the American Dream, but never delving deeply enough to engage or scrutinise.

The Great Gatsby isn’t a great tuner: it’s neither cynical enough to really explore the dark underbelly of the F Scott Fitzgerald story with which it flirts, nor is it distinguished enough to provide the uplift of musical theatre at its best, but...

The Great Gatsby isn’t a great tuner: it’s neither cynical enough to really explore the dark underbelly of the F Scott Fitzgerald story with which it flirts, nor is it distinguished enough to provide the uplift of musical theatre at its best, but it’s the epitome of a slick, escapist West End night out. Shallow, loud and sumptuous.

The talented Rachel Tucker has the thankless task of injecting some nuance into Tom’s blue-collar mistress, Myrtle. As the second act rumbles towards its melancholy conclusion, the songs grow ever more maudlin. By the time the revellers return for ...

The talented Rachel Tucker has the thankless task of injecting some nuance into Tom’s blue-collar mistress, Myrtle. As the second act rumbles towards its melancholy conclusion, the songs grow ever more maudlin. By the time the revellers return for a reprise of Roaring On, the champagne has lost its sparkle.

Boasting a production design to which every future ‘glamorous’ musical will be compared, a cast of bona fide West End superstars performing at the top of their game, and – crucially – two and half hours with not a hint of boredom… has anybo...

Boasting a production design to which every future ‘glamorous’ musical will be compared, a cast of bona fide West End superstars performing at the top of their game, and – crucially – two and half hours with not a hint of boredom… has anybody really been shortchanged?

A more ambitious creative team might have turned The Great Gatsby’s keening lyricism, elusive spirit and sheer tragic beauty to its advantage. Instead, we get a screechy clodhopping musical that amps up the Roaring Twenties clichés at the expense ...

A more ambitious creative team might have turned The Great Gatsby’s keening lyricism, elusive spirit and sheer tragic beauty to its advantage. Instead, we get a screechy clodhopping musical that amps up the Roaring Twenties clichés at the expense of anything Fitzgerald had to say about class, money and the scissoring chasms between appearances and reality. Book writer Kait Kerrigan foregrounds the romance between Gatsby and Daisy in ways that make their cryptic love affair the routine stuff of a thousand Broadway power ballads – and in case we don’t get the message, a deluxe bed is at one point rolled onto the stage.

Kait Kerrigan’s accessible book hurtles through the action, adding brisk explanations for the characters’ various dilemmas. In particular, she beefs up the female voices – an admirable intent, especially when it comes to Daisy, who is often dep...

Kait Kerrigan’s accessible book hurtles through the action, adding brisk explanations for the characters’ various dilemmas. In particular, she beefs up the female voices – an admirable intent, especially when it comes to Daisy, who is often depicted as a shallow socialite and a prize to be fought over. But so passionately underscoring the gendered double standards of marriage in this era (men can cheat publicly; women stand to lose everything, including their children) makes Daisy almost too sympathetic. She loses her moral shading – and these characters aren’t meant to be saintly, romantic victims of circumstance. It causes problems in the murkier second half.