Huge thank you to the Great Gatsby for helping us pay the team to cover the last three months of videos while we worked on this HUGE project, for being so hands off creatively, and letting me tell the whole story I wanted to tell. Documenting the history of Broadway (even the negative parts) is important, and it’s the mission this channel was founded on. So to be able to do it in real time was an incredible challenge and privilege. If you're close to New York and want to experience the show for yourself you can get tickets here: broadwaygatsby.com
one of my favorite products of the Great Gatsby entering the public domain is a version on ao3 where it's just the exact book word for word except for an added paragraph where tom kisses gatsby on the mouth and then it never gets addressed for the rest of the book
@@TheCanderemy i can't find the fanfic anymore but i can still find the tumblr post that talks about it 😭it was called "The Great Gatsby .. I think" by antibucci. idk if it was deleted or just orphaned tho
"she saw that The Great Gatsby wasn't just about Gatsby" is a wild realization to have at the point in the process where you're taking your show to broadway.
It feels bitterly ironic that the team started out with the intention of creating “a great tragedy disguised as a great party,” only for the marketing of the show to pivot after opening to “it’s a giant crowd-pleasing spectacle.”
what a massive misunderstanding of the source material if they didn't realize that part of gatsby as a character is the fact that hes mysterious and unknown for a good half of the book
“the great gatsby wasn’t just about gatsby it was about everyone’s perspective of him and most importantly it was a story about class” and “there’s something inherent in this material about the mystery of gatsby” … well yes that’s the entire point. ask any english major - scratch that, any high schooler in an english class - what the importance of the title itself is. “great” signifies power and status (and possibly wealth) and as gatsby is given this name it reflects different perspectives concerning him, and then you’re wondering even before reading the book “what’s so great about this guy anyways?” WHICH CREATES THE GATSBY MYSTERY. i genuinely don’t know how everyone got so far into the creative process without realizing the core elements of the TITLE alone.
Knowing that this is now in the public domain REALLY makes me wanna see a Muppets The Great Gatsby. Thanks for putting that in my brain. Also, amazing video. I really love these long form documentaries you put out. The quality is out of this world and I always learn so much!
This feels like a musical that was created by people who wanted to be the BEST at making the source material a musical that they didn’t take the time to fully understand the source material.
Honestly, hearing that the producer was so flexible with following the direction of the creatives in the first half is refreshing compared to having watched all the other videos on this channel where the producers stuck their feet in and ruined projects
After hearing the shows goal was to be a crowd pleasing spectacle, I can respect that. I think it succeeded in that area, and if that's what they were trying to do, great. If you think it misses the point of the original book, that doesn't matter, because the original book still exists and you can read it whenever you want. This is a different interpretation, and it's allowed to exist in whatever form it wants to. And for what it is, I think it's very well made.
Although i dont agree with how they went about the play i do respect that they were transparent in advertising that this isnt going to be the book you read. But imo it doesnt take away from the fact that there is a huge irony to take a book that is supposed to critize the shallow spectical of the high class and to make your adaption... just a spectial with not much subtext that was there in the book. Im all for different interpretations and there is nothing wrong with a light hearted time and just spectical but thats not the great gastby. The book is always going to be there, true but I feel it deserves a interpretation that understands the *core* and the spirt of the book and what it is trying to say and to show that true story to non book readers in different media. This looks like a good play but this doesnt look like THE great gatsby. Although i havent seen ART version so maybe that is what it will do. Who knows.
I was so lucky to see both the Papermill and Broadway performances. The Papermill production was the best thing I ever saw in my life (I am 58). I saw their second Broadway performance, 3rd row, and loved it even more. I can't wait to see this again. It is everything you want and expect in a musical, music, costuming, set design, lighting, singing, acting, etc. I asked Eva after I saw her at Papermill what was next, and she simply said "life". I hope this show keeps roaring on, as everyone involved deserves so much credit and success.
As someone that saw the show early in previews, there were some choices that left me a little perplexed. But seeing this and knowing 1) that the show was originally intended for South Korea and 2) that they intention was for the party to go on as long as possible before the drama arrived. Know THAT... I wanna go back again and see it knowing that was rhe vision.
Agreed. I saw the 5th preview on Broadway and knowing the intention behind the show makes so much sense. I was blown away by the spectacle of it all but left feeling the story was lacking.
I saw this at the Papermill Playhouse before it got transferred to Broadway and even though this musical doesn’t have the best songbook, the dancing, acting, and singing is INCREDIBLE! And also the set even before its transfer was absolutely gorgeous. Seeing it for Eva and Jeremy alone is so worth it they’re just so amazing at their craft.
i saw this show at papermill- my best friend & i grabbed the last two seats on the november 11th matinee for $25 each (student prices) and it’s truly one of my core memories and an experience i will never take for granted. my mom drove us two hours there and back and didn’t even get to see the show with us haha (i love my mom lol) i can’t speak for the broadway show, but at papermill, the party was very clearly covering the tragedy of gatsbys life so by the time you got to the end and it all came crashing down it was tragic and shocking but not totally unexpected. it felt like answering the “how are you?” question with “fine” every time until you have a breakdown and was cathartic in a way. i will always love this show and i’m also excited to see what “gatsby” does because i think they’re both interesting and valid takes on the source material favorite part of seeing gatsby though was getting to ask questions after the show and see the stage manager of the show come out on stage after i mentioned that i was hoping to go into stage managing, and talking to the sound op who was sitting at the back of the theater running the show and getting to learn how everything worked there. be nice to techies yall they’re so cool
There actually has already been a Great Gatsby musical in Japan, first performed in 1991 and restaged in 2008 and 2022 by the Takarazuka Revue. It also had a co-ed (non-Takarazuka) run in 2017.
This. I'm glad that a Korean producer is involved and that a few Japanese and Korean things are on stage in London now. There's so much history of theatre all over the world that the US and UK have yet to acknowledge. You know, like Elisabeth, for one.
I noticed that, too. Partly because I am a Jeremy Jordan fan and he was amazing as Light Yagami in the original New York cast recordings of DN the Musical.
Excited to watch this video but ngl I'm still more excited about Gatsby: An American Myth which is about to premiere in two days. The creative team behind that has some of my favorites. And hopefully that one will put in more of the queer subtext that exists throughout the book and focus on the substance not just the style of the book. The darkness is the *point* of the book, and to skip that is to skip what makes Gatsby great.
oh the Gatsby PR team is working overtime lmao 😂 I somehow didn't know this show existed until I saw a YT Short an hour ago, and now one of my favorite theater TH-camrs has come through with a video
@@Chibbykinsjust from a music stand point the Florence one is a million times more interesting and sounds like nothing on broadway. Plus with hadestown director i can’t wait to see the visuals of it. But just going off score, Gatsby at art is literally a breath of fresh air compared that sounds like the book feels. It’s ominous, industrial at times, themes of American exceptionalism and class divide. It seems like this production missed the metaphors of the book. Like the way they misunderstood the green light is wild and turning it into a romantic ballad is kinda like- didn’t you read the book in high school?
@@JL0ndon interesting that Eva approached this team and not the one running the Florence version, especially since there's a Hadestown connection. I'm curious (or maybe just nosy) as to what the story is there. She was burnt out from Htown but jumped right into this? Maybe she wanted something less demanding
@@Chibbykins good question- I wondered that too when I heard who was directing Florence Gatsby. From what I know with ppl who have worked with Rachel Chavkin, she can be extremely difficult and actors have made lots of complaints about her. I think Eva might have avoided that production because of her. And after being burnt out on hadestown didn't want another demanding show like Chavkin tends to do
My gripe is that Kait mentioned in a speech posted on Instagram that she didn’t like the women in the Great Gatsby. She couldn’t relate to the book because she couldn’t see herself in it. So they fundamentally change a character of Myrtle. I will stand by that yes, the show that I saw was a party. They achieved what they set out to do, but they didn’t do a great, no pun intended, adaptation of The Great Gatsby. The whole climax of the book is completely undermined in the musical and I just can’t see WHY.
do you know which interview she said that in? that’s so disappointing!! gatsby has such interesting female characters and it’s so upsetting to see both them and the whole story become so reduced
Did you see the show on Broadway? For me, personally, I didn’t feel that the entire show was a party, at all. Yes there was a lot of maximalism in the costumes, music, sets, and lighting. But that seemed more of a commentary and reflection of the world these folks lived in. I was actually shocked at how much the affair takes center stage in this show’s plot. Partly because I’ve never read the book, probably, and just remember the excess vibes from the movie. But still.
Very interesting to hear about how some of the writing decisions were made for this show. I feel like I understand the show a bit more but ultimately I think a lot of the narrative changes hurt the show more than helped but I can't say I had a bad time seeing it. I'm sure it'll have a very long life.
I saw Great Gatsby a few weeks ago on Broadway! It was great to see such a spectacle from the lighting, sets and costumes, especially as the other Broadway shows I watched were more minimalistic, and a show like this would be hard to recreate on tour. Eva’s understudy did amazing, and all the actors were phenomenal. My issues were more with character development and pacing (as someone who isn’t familiar with the book) but I’m glad I saw it! I love that you’re partnering with Gatsby to make videos and content about it as I have been watching your channel for years!
Thanks for shedding light on the background of this one. Makes me want to go see it again with the knowledge I now have about this show’s development. I found the show to be entertaining. I liked it. But it was by no means extraordinary. Other shows have featured similar themes (especially on the critique if excess, capitalism, wanting what you can’t have, etc) and did those commentaries a lot better, in my opinion. Here Lies Love talked about those themes, and did so in a way that didn’t seem tired and done before. Which is ironic since Here Lies Love was in the Broadway theatre right before The Great Gatsby was.
I’ve seen the Great Gatsby musical twice: once at Paper Mill and once on Broadway, and it was genuinely one of the greatest productions I’ve ever seen. I’m not entirely sure what about it pulled me in (it’s probably Jeremy Jordan guys) but the music, choreography, and the perspectives of the show just work so well to me
Wow, this is honestly amazing work guys! That clip at 36:50 made me tear up, it is so unusual to see the creatives behind the scenes, so surreal to see them sitting on the audience seats chatting. If you ever get the oppertunity to make a documentry about a current show again please do you all smashed it!! I can't even begin to imagine the preperation and reshearch that went into this ahhhhhh 10/10
The best version of Gatsby I have seen is from a professional Italian dance troupe that made it into a dance show that uses a wide range of popular songs to portray the story. There was barely any dialogue but they perfectly transported the story.
I’m super excited for the cast album to come out next month. Eva Noblezada and Jeremy Jordan are 2 of (if not my all time) favorite broadway perfomers. I wish I could see the show but living in Scandinavia makes that I bit difficult
This was an awesome video that hooked me into diving into this production more! Thanks for all the hard work you do to chronicle shows and help those of us that don’t live near NYC to feel a part of this. Also those opening credits were bomb!
I am so interested in this musical "interpretation." This is another informative, educational, and extremely well-crafted video documentary. The rewriting and restructuring done by the "GATSBY" creative team reminds me of the trials and tribulations that plagued "CAMELOT" (1960) and "FUNNY GIRL" (1964). An excellent video. Thank You so much.
I am sorry, but this adaptation missed the entire point of the book. It is a critique of the carelessness, excess, and extravagance of the time. This musical just pushes this great lavish party idea. Also, whoever thought the green light was a romantic metaphor and wrote a song about it needs to reread the book.
Hey! I would advise taking a bit more time in analyzing the lyrics of the song, especially since the Jimmy Fallon version is out or at least when the cast recording comes out. The entire point of that song is that both understand that while they love each other, they cannot have each other. They acknowledge each other as their green light, which is something they had hoped to happen but sadly moved on. You act like Daisy and Jay didn’t have an affair either in the book. Plus the actual musical does hit on carelessness and the overall pomp of that time, emphasizing in the shallowness of new money. Ive seen the musical too much to hear people who have heard a minute of a song try to analyze the entire thing
@@Jellyfish1106 I never said anything about the affair? And an affair does not equal romance. Also, you are jumping to conclusions as I have seen this musical both on Broadway and at Papermill. I would take a bit more time considering where a person is coming from before making assumptions about their knowledge of something.
I am so siked for this video. Brendon you do such a good job with the Broadway deep dives. You are one of the many people I aspire to be when I grow up.
I’m sorry, I really appreciate your work and I’m VERY glad that you’re getting paid well for this video, but I can’t take this video seriously as an ad paid for by the show. The lack of understanding of Gatsby as a text at the very HEART of this show has honestly had me despairing of the current state of Broadway and honestly America’s reading comprehension. Hearing discussion of how shallow the female characters are in the source material??? Daisy is one of the most complex female characters in all of classic literature. Basically every comment about the source material by the show runners had me despairing. I truly love everyone involved in the project (including you!!) so I hope EVERYONE makes a lot of money, but yeah, I might be disengaging from all Broadway puts out for a few years until we take a turn back to intelligent writing. I’m sorry, just, how can you have such an opulent and celebratory adaptation of THE GREAT GATSBY??? My heart is breaking
@@WaitintheWings I haven't seen the stage show and it's been ages since I've read the book... that said, I do remember Gatsby needing something from her that should've been simple, and she couldn't give it to him. It broke my heart when we realize that she obviously never loved Gatsby. No woman who ever loved Gatsby could ever have real feelings for careless monster like Tom. Everything Gatsby did was for nothing.
Please please make a video about How To Dance In Ohio! It unfortunately had a super short broadway run but it was a huge step forward in equity for autistic actors in theater. Additionally, it had kind of an insane process of opening in upstate NY and then almost immediately transferring to Broadway. Plus Hal Prince was originally directing!
When we watched the movie in class I looked at the fight scene and though "you know this would make for a great musical number" honestly I'm not surprised it's a musical now because it just seemed like the natural evolution it was a book then a bunch of movies and now a musical
can't wait for this! (but also regarding the caption: it hasn't been published for 100 years yet, so idk if I'm missing something but how could it have been adapted into other stuff "for over 100 years" ???)
This was so interesting! The Great Gatsby is one of my favourites novels and I wish I could watch this show so much to get an idea of it! Especially because so far, base on what I've been told, it seems like they stripped the story of all it's meaning. I've been told they've just reduced it to a love story. Which was already what I thought since they placed Gatsby and Daisy as the leads. Can't wait for the cast recording to come out because I loved Roaring On but I really disliked My Green Light.
So I’ve watched the musical and I can say that hasn’t really been reduced to a love story. A lot of people are taking mere portions of “My Green Light” and “Roaring On” and assuming that all they’ve seen from those 2 songs are the meat of the entire musical. The entire point of “My Green Light” isn’t to romanticize Jay and Daisy. The entire meaning of that song is that they had love before and knew there was something between them. Unfortunately that was back then and now both have gone on with separate lives, especially Daisy as she has a family with Tom. While she loves Gatsby and her love has been reignited, she understands that she cannot leave Tom as she built everything about Gatsby not being there. That entire song is about reaching for the unreachable, and if you thought you were close to getting it, it continues to become out of reach. That’s what the green light is about. Roaring on is meant to not be an introduction of the plot, but rather inviting us to the musical and what the timeline is. You have to watch the musical in its full to truly compare them both
This was very well done! Bravo, Old Sport! I do have a question though, how was Myrtle's "a very different death" in the musical? She was hit by the yellow car in the book and in the show.
Also the fact that [SPOILERS!!!] she chooses to go back to her husband over Tom which fundamentally changes her character and the death is different because she doesn’t run into the car trying go chase after it. They swerve and hit her from behind lol
This is so insanely fantastic, and I love that you got such an inside view. Does TH-cam give awards? 😂 Because you should get an award for this one. Gatsby has always been one of my favorite novels. I love the language of Fitzgerald (For anyone who also loves the way he writes, Winter Dreams is also an absolutely fantastic short story). I loved Gatsby when I read it my senior year in high school, and it was one of the reasons I became an English major in college. And then, my masters to become an English teacher. And then I taught the book to my high schoolers. And I would do anything to see this on Broadway. But it’s probably not going to happen. I doubt they will do a pro shot or tour, but one can hope. Just from an educator standpoint, if they do the proshot, it would be fantastic for English teachers and choir and music teachers to collaborate and show it to students. There’s a market for that, just like Hamilton, because Gatsby is still widely read in most high schools in the US.
Kinda scared for this doc tbh considering a lot of people's gripes about this specific iteration of Gatsby and the fact that it's made in partnership with them, which means it won't necessarily be entirely impartial. Might have to skip it ngl...
I love "it's not a story about characters or plot so much as it's a story about time" like having just read the novel for the first time this year I think that's so poignant; it's about the time Fitzgerald was living in, it's about what we feel time has taken from us or owes us, about time as a luxury and an antagonist. Idk I have a cold this video slapped
My girlfriend went to see it and ended up walking out by the second act lol. She said spectacle wise it's great but it misses the whole point of the book. Style over substance.
anyone when watching the show still compare to 'the book' should have walked out yes. You don't deserve to watch it. Period. It's not missing the point from the book. It's their interpretation. And if you GF doesn't have the same interpretation and claim her version only is the correct one, good luck with your relationship. Tragic is coming soon.
@@BttmintownAJCome on, man. Everyone’s entitled to their own opinion. You liked it. Other people didn’t. That is the nature of art, and saying OP’s relationship is doomed because their GF didn’t like it is messed up, even for a TH-cam comment
Ok so that’s not good theatre etiquette to just leave halfway through the musical., but also how can your girlfriend judge the musical when she hasn’t watched the musical?
I saw the Opera's premier at the Met. Lorraine Hunt-Liberson as Myrtle was the best thing in the production. Not one of my favorite nights at the theatre. The beginning had Daisy singing" It's hooot, it's hot." Nuff said.
Has there been any rumblings of a Westend transfer yet? Or is it too soon to tell? How long does it normally take to guess/know if a show might transfer?
I saw your comment halfway through the video, after finishing it I respectfully disagree. All it did was show where the musical started as an idea on zoom, & how far it's come over the past 4 years. If it really was like a commercial, it wouldn't have mentioned any of the backlash the show got from the mask bit or shown any of the negative reactions from critics & tiktokers. All it did was show where the musical started as an idea on zoom, & how far it's come over the past 4 years.
Shying away from the darker elements is precisely why most Gatsby adaptations have failed. This musical seems to be no different. Let's hope the Florence Welch one has more balls.
Question: should I read the book or watch the musical first? If I were to see the show, I would probably see the show sometime in early August, but my school is assigning this book and we’re probably reading it during the second semester or late December. I don’t know which one is better to have seen first. Advice?
It is always best to go into any musical not knowing the source material or plot. The only exception to this currently is Wicked since they assume you know most of those character's futures. When you study the book in December you will enjoy an even richer experience than can be presented in 2 1/2 hours. Also, this plot is very clearly told with first rate actors and dazzling design.
The timeline of Gatsby adaptations is pure GATZ erasure 😢 But also, hot damn does it feel like this marketing push is timed to try and take advantage of any hype that Florence/ART Gatsby get this weekend.
Purely coincidence as far as Florence is concerned (I wanted to release last week) and Gatz deserves a whole video on its own. I’m seeing it at the Public and am FASCINATED by it
Huge thank you to the Great Gatsby for helping us pay the team to cover the last three months of videos while we worked on this HUGE project, for being so hands off creatively, and letting me tell the whole story I wanted to tell.
Documenting the history of Broadway (even the negative parts) is important, and it’s the mission this channel was founded on. So to be able to do it in real time was an incredible challenge and privilege.
If you're close to New York and want to experience the show for yourself you can get tickets here: broadwaygatsby.com
one of my favorite products of the Great Gatsby entering the public domain is a version on ao3 where it's just the exact book word for word except for an added paragraph where tom kisses gatsby on the mouth and then it never gets addressed for the rest of the book
What? I need to read this 😂
@@TheCanderemy i can't find the fanfic anymore but i can still find the tumblr post that talks about it 😭it was called "The Great Gatsby .. I think" by antibucci. idk if it was deleted or just orphaned tho
No comment has sent me running to the computer this fast before
do you mean nick??
@@matchatoastyno there's a screenshot of the passage on the Tumblr post I found it on, it's Tom
"she saw that The Great Gatsby wasn't just about Gatsby" is a wild realization to have at the point in the process where you're taking your show to broadway.
It feels bitterly ironic that the team started out with the intention of creating “a great tragedy disguised as a great party,” only for the marketing of the show to pivot after opening to “it’s a giant crowd-pleasing spectacle.”
still found it to be a tragedy with the trappings of a great party so technically imo they nailed it (saw it today and i'm still crying on the inside)
what a massive misunderstanding of the source material if they didn't realize that part of gatsby as a character is the fact that hes mysterious and unknown for a good half of the book
“the great gatsby wasn’t just about gatsby it was about everyone’s perspective of him and most importantly it was a story about class” and “there’s something inherent in this material about the mystery of gatsby” … well yes that’s the entire point. ask any english major - scratch that, any high schooler in an english class - what the importance of the title itself is. “great” signifies power and status (and possibly wealth) and as gatsby is given this name it reflects different perspectives concerning him, and then you’re wondering even before reading the book “what’s so great about this guy anyways?” WHICH CREATES THE GATSBY MYSTERY. i genuinely don’t know how everyone got so far into the creative process without realizing the core elements of the TITLE alone.
Gatsby is Great to Nick, because Nick is crazy in love with him
@@SkyeID duh!
Knowing that this is now in the public domain REALLY makes me wanna see a Muppets The Great Gatsby. Thanks for putting that in my brain. Also, amazing video. I really love these long form documentaries you put out. The quality is out of this world and I always learn so much!
with Kermit as Gatsby and Gonzo as Nick
@@SkyeID And Miss Piggy as Daisy
This feels like a musical that was created by people who wanted to be the BEST at making the source material a musical that they didn’t take the time to fully understand the source material.
Honestly, hearing that the producer was so flexible with following the direction of the creatives in the first half is refreshing compared to having watched all the other videos on this channel where the producers stuck their feet in and ruined projects
After hearing the shows goal was to be a crowd pleasing spectacle, I can respect that. I think it succeeded in that area, and if that's what they were trying to do, great. If you think it misses the point of the original book, that doesn't matter, because the original book still exists and you can read it whenever you want. This is a different interpretation, and it's allowed to exist in whatever form it wants to. And for what it is, I think it's very well made.
Although i dont agree with how they went about the play i do respect that they were transparent in advertising that this isnt going to be the book you read. But imo it doesnt take away from the fact that there is a huge irony to take a book that is supposed to critize the shallow spectical of the high class and to make your adaption... just a spectial with not much subtext that was there in the book. Im all for different interpretations and there is nothing wrong with a light hearted time and just spectical but thats not the great gastby. The book is always going to be there, true but I feel it deserves a interpretation that understands the *core* and the spirt of the book and what it is trying to say and to show that true story to non book readers in different media. This looks like a good play but this doesnt look like THE great gatsby. Although i havent seen ART version so maybe that is what it will do. Who knows.
I was so lucky to see both the Papermill and Broadway performances. The Papermill production was the best thing I ever saw in my life (I am 58). I saw their second Broadway performance, 3rd row, and loved it even more. I can't wait to see this again. It is everything you want and expect in a musical, music, costuming, set design, lighting, singing, acting, etc. I asked Eva after I saw her at Papermill what was next, and she simply said "life". I hope this show keeps roaring on, as everyone involved deserves so much credit and success.
As someone that saw the show early in previews, there were some choices that left me a little perplexed. But seeing this and knowing 1) that the show was originally intended for South Korea and 2) that they intention was for the party to go on as long as possible before the drama arrived. Know THAT... I wanna go back again and see it knowing that was rhe vision.
Agreed. I saw the 5th preview on Broadway and knowing the intention behind the show makes so much sense. I was blown away by the spectacle of it all but left feeling the story was lacking.
I saw this at the Papermill Playhouse before it got transferred to Broadway and even though this musical doesn’t have the best songbook, the dancing, acting, and singing is INCREDIBLE! And also the set even before its transfer was absolutely gorgeous. Seeing it for Eva and Jeremy alone is so worth it they’re just so amazing at their craft.
"And so we beat on"
One of the most poignant endings to your docs yet. You blew this out of the water Brendon, well done!
There is so much depth and nuance to the female characters that already exists in the text, you don't need to make up new stuff.
love that a bunch of tikitokers said immediately that Nick should start the show, but it took the writers months to realise...
It's because the tiktokers actually read the book 😬
The writers were probably too stuck on the idea of what they wanted for the show that it took an outsider’s opinion for them to see reality.
The fact that THE PARTY’S GOOOING OOOOOON gave tons of publicity to the show makes me so happy
😂❤😂😂😂🎉
i saw this show at papermill- my best friend & i grabbed the last two seats on the november 11th matinee for $25 each (student prices) and it’s truly one of my core memories and an experience i will never take for granted. my mom drove us two hours there and back and didn’t even get to see the show with us haha (i love my mom lol)
i can’t speak for the broadway show, but at papermill, the party was very clearly covering the tragedy of gatsbys life so by the time you got to the end and it all came crashing down it was tragic and shocking but not totally unexpected. it felt like answering the “how are you?” question with “fine” every time until you have a breakdown and was cathartic in a way. i will always love this show and i’m also excited to see what “gatsby” does because i think they’re both interesting and valid takes on the source material
favorite part of seeing gatsby though was getting to ask questions after the show and see the stage manager of the show come out on stage after i mentioned that i was hoping to go into stage managing, and talking to the sound op who was sitting at the back of the theater running the show and getting to learn how everything worked there. be nice to techies yall they’re so cool
There actually has already been a Great Gatsby musical in Japan, first performed in 1991 and restaged in 2008 and 2022 by the Takarazuka Revue. It also had a co-ed (non-Takarazuka) run in 2017.
This. I'm glad that a Korean producer is involved and that a few Japanese and Korean things are on stage in London now. There's so much history of theatre all over the world that the US and UK have yet to acknowledge. You know, like Elisabeth, for one.
Omg I was at the stage door the night you were filming!!! I was the one who asked if you were from waiting in the wings lol
2:38 sooooooo death note the musical documentary when??? (seriously, you do not understand how bad i need a death note the musical documentary)
I noticed that, too. Partly because I am a Jeremy Jordan fan and he was amazing as Light Yagami in the original New York cast recordings of DN the Musical.
Excited to watch this video but ngl I'm still more excited about Gatsby: An American Myth which is about to premiere in two days. The creative team behind that has some of my favorites. And hopefully that one will put in more of the queer subtext that exists throughout the book and focus on the substance not just the style of the book. The darkness is the *point* of the book, and to skip that is to skip what makes Gatsby great.
oh the Gatsby PR team is working overtime lmao 😂 I somehow didn't know this show existed until I saw a YT Short an hour ago, and now one of my favorite theater TH-camrs has come through with a video
It may be a coincidence but they might be flooding the scene rn with promo as the rival Gatsby musical premieres this weekend
@@WhenNerdsAttack it's going to be very interesting to see which one stands the test of time
@@Chibbykinsjust from a music stand point the Florence one is a million times more interesting and sounds like nothing on broadway. Plus with hadestown director i can’t wait to see the visuals of it. But just going off score, Gatsby at art is literally a breath of fresh air compared that sounds like the book feels. It’s ominous, industrial at times, themes of American exceptionalism and class divide. It seems like this production missed the metaphors of the book. Like the way they misunderstood the green light is wild and turning it into a romantic ballad is kinda like- didn’t you read the book in high school?
@@JL0ndon interesting that Eva approached this team and not the one running the Florence version, especially since there's a Hadestown connection. I'm curious (or maybe just nosy) as to what the story is there. She was burnt out from Htown but jumped right into this? Maybe she wanted something less demanding
@@Chibbykins good question- I wondered that too when I heard who was directing Florence Gatsby. From what I know with ppl who have worked with Rachel Chavkin, she can be extremely difficult and actors have made lots of complaints about her. I think Eva might have avoided that production because of her. And after being burnt out on hadestown didn't want another demanding show like Chavkin tends to do
My gripe is that Kait mentioned in a speech posted on Instagram that she didn’t like the women in the Great Gatsby. She couldn’t relate to the book because she couldn’t see herself in it. So they fundamentally change a character of Myrtle. I will stand by that yes, the show that I saw was a party. They achieved what they set out to do, but they didn’t do a great, no pun intended, adaptation of The Great Gatsby. The whole climax of the book is completely undermined in the musical and I just can’t see WHY.
do you know which interview she said that in? that’s so disappointing!! gatsby has such interesting female characters and it’s so upsetting to see both them and the whole story become so reduced
@@alternicoYes. It was a speech that she did to the cast and crew during the previews at Papermill. It’s on the official Instagram.
Did you see the show on Broadway? For me, personally, I didn’t feel that the entire show was a party, at all. Yes there was a lot of maximalism in the costumes, music, sets, and lighting. But that seemed more of a commentary and reflection of the world these folks lived in.
I was actually shocked at how much the affair takes center stage in this show’s plot. Partly because I’ve never read the book, probably, and just remember the excess vibes from the movie. But still.
Very interesting to hear about how some of the writing decisions were made for this show. I feel like I understand the show a bit more but ultimately I think a lot of the narrative changes hurt the show more than helped but I can't say I had a bad time seeing it. I'm sure it'll have a very long life.
I saw Great Gatsby a few weeks ago on Broadway! It was great to see such a spectacle from the lighting, sets and costumes, especially as the other Broadway shows I watched were more minimalistic, and a show like this would be hard to recreate on tour. Eva’s understudy did amazing, and all the actors were phenomenal. My issues were more with character development and pacing (as someone who isn’t familiar with the book) but I’m glad I saw it! I love that you’re partnering with Gatsby to make videos and content about it as I have been watching your channel for years!
I went to see this last night solely on this video.... I LOVE IT ... WE LOVE IT - Seeing it again Thursday!
Thanks for shedding light on the background of this one. Makes me want to go see it again with the knowledge I now have about this show’s development.
I found the show to be entertaining. I liked it. But it was by no means extraordinary. Other shows have featured similar themes (especially on the critique if excess, capitalism, wanting what you can’t have, etc) and did those commentaries a lot better, in my opinion. Here Lies Love talked about those themes, and did so in a way that didn’t seem tired and done before. Which is ironic since Here Lies Love was in the Broadway theatre right before The Great Gatsby was.
I’ve seen the Great Gatsby musical twice: once at Paper Mill and once on Broadway, and it was genuinely one of the greatest productions I’ve ever seen. I’m not entirely sure what about it pulled me in (it’s probably Jeremy Jordan guys) but the music, choreography, and the perspectives of the show just work so well to me
Wow, this is honestly amazing work guys! That clip at 36:50 made me tear up, it is so unusual to see the creatives behind the scenes, so surreal to see them sitting on the audience seats chatting. If you ever get the oppertunity to make a documentry about a current show again please do you all smashed it!! I can't even begin to imagine the preperation and reshearch that went into this ahhhhhh 10/10
The best version of Gatsby I have seen is from a professional Italian dance troupe that made it into a dance show that uses a wide range of popular songs to portray the story. There was barely any dialogue but they perfectly transported the story.
I’m super excited for the cast album to come out next month. Eva Noblezada and Jeremy Jordan are 2 of (if not my all time) favorite broadway perfomers. I wish I could see the show but living in Scandinavia makes that I bit difficult
You did a wonderful job on this documentary!! I honestly didn't know about this musical but it was wonderful learning about its creation!
This means so much! Thanks for watching :)
Posting this comment early that way I can leave my mark here for those to know I was here the day this masterpiece was 2 days from premier
This was an awesome video that hooked me into diving into this production more! Thanks for all the hard work you do to chronicle shows and help those of us that don’t live near NYC to feel a part of this. Also those opening credits were bomb!
I saw the show a couple weeks ago and was surprised at how many people gasped with shock at the ending.
I really hope they film and release a proshot before Jeremy Jordan and Eva Noblezada leave 😭
I am so interested in this musical "interpretation." This is another informative, educational, and extremely well-crafted video documentary. The rewriting and restructuring done by the "GATSBY" creative team reminds me of the trials and tribulations that plagued "CAMELOT" (1960) and "FUNNY GIRL" (1964). An excellent video. Thank You so much.
I am sorry, but this adaptation missed the entire point of the book. It is a critique of the carelessness, excess, and extravagance of the time. This musical just pushes this great lavish party idea. Also, whoever thought the green light was a romantic metaphor and wrote a song about it needs to reread the book.
Hey! I would advise taking a bit more time in analyzing the lyrics of the song, especially since the Jimmy Fallon version is out or at least when the cast recording comes out. The entire point of that song is that both understand that while they love each other, they cannot have each other. They acknowledge each other as their green light, which is something they had hoped to happen but sadly moved on. You act like Daisy and Jay didn’t have an affair either in the book. Plus the actual musical does hit on carelessness and the overall pomp of that time, emphasizing in the shallowness of new money. Ive seen the musical too much to hear people who have heard a minute of a song try to analyze the entire thing
@@Jellyfish1106 I never said anything about the affair? And an affair does not equal romance. Also, you are jumping to conclusions as I have seen this musical both on Broadway and at Papermill. I would take a bit more time considering where a person is coming from before making assumptions about their knowledge of something.
This documentary is incredible! Thank you for this opportunity to learn the behind-the-scenes of The Great Gatsby Musical on Broadway!
If only the show were as good as this documentary
I am so siked for this video. Brendon you do such a good job with the Broadway deep dives. You are one of the many people I aspire to be when I grow up.
Okay the instagram posts make sense now 😂
I’m so excited about this show and hoping for a great run so I can see it!
7:57 the entire time i was waiting for you to mention a killer party oh my god i love this musical so much it’s insane
good to see broadway understand how AMAZING AND FANTASTIC this channel is.
I’m sorry, I really appreciate your work and I’m VERY glad that you’re getting paid well for this video, but I can’t take this video seriously as an ad paid for by the show. The lack of understanding of Gatsby as a text at the very HEART of this show has honestly had me despairing of the current state of Broadway and honestly America’s reading comprehension. Hearing discussion of how shallow the female characters are in the source material??? Daisy is one of the most complex female characters in all of classic literature. Basically every comment about the source material by the show runners had me despairing. I truly love everyone involved in the project (including you!!) so I hope EVERYONE makes a lot of money, but yeah, I might be disengaging from all Broadway puts out for a few years until we take a turn back to intelligent writing.
I’m sorry, just, how can you have such an opulent and celebratory adaptation of THE GREAT GATSBY??? My heart is breaking
And I’m so happy you reached this conclusion on your own, because it means I did my job :)
@@WaitintheWings I haven't seen the stage show and it's been ages since I've read the book... that said, I do remember Gatsby needing something from her that should've been simple, and she couldn't give it to him. It broke my heart when we realize that she obviously never loved Gatsby. No woman who ever loved Gatsby could ever have real feelings for careless monster like Tom. Everything Gatsby did was for nothing.
That 40 minutes flew by fast!! Well done!
Please please make a video about How To Dance In Ohio! It unfortunately had a super short broadway run but it was a huge step forward in equity for autistic actors in theater. Additionally, it had kind of an insane process of opening in upstate NY and then almost immediately transferring to Broadway. Plus Hal Prince was originally directing!
Just saw this last week and while I disagree with the ending ( it could’ve ended for me after Nicks song), I was surprised at how much I loved it
When we watched the movie in class I looked at the fight scene and though "you know this would make for a great musical number" honestly I'm not surprised it's a musical now because it just seemed like the natural evolution it was a book then a bunch of movies and now a musical
Hey, Gatsby is my favorite book, i dont care that the musical is different, i love it so dang much!
No one does videos quite like you. I thoroughly enjoy everytime. 👏
So happy to hear it and happy you enjoyed!
Can’t wait to see a great book as a musical!!
"soon the show came face to face with a machine" *youtube immediately plays new transformers movie ad* LOL
Great video. How nice to see a video about a show where there was a major drama.
I hope it shows up in Chicago, I'd go see it.
Shout out to the Paper Mill Playhouse.
Wow I had no idea how massive the social media campaigns were. I found out about this musical from the musical’s trailer on TH-cam
I cannot believe this is how I found out someone I used to report on when they were a theatre major is playing Jordan in this show lol
No matter its history, I absolutely love this show.
can't wait for this! (but also regarding the caption: it hasn't been published for 100 years yet, so idk if I'm missing something but how could it have been adapted into other stuff "for over 100 years" ???)
Typed “over”, meant “nearly” 😅
@@WaitintheWings that makes total sense haha! looking forward to watching the video!!
thank god someone is talking about a killer party
I had a chance to talk to Jeremy Jordan in a zoom during the pandemic and he is so nice
This was so interesting! The Great Gatsby is one of my favourites novels and I wish I could watch this show so much to get an idea of it! Especially because so far, base on what I've been told, it seems like they stripped the story of all it's meaning. I've been told they've just reduced it to a love story. Which was already what I thought since they placed Gatsby and Daisy as the leads.
Can't wait for the cast recording to come out because I loved Roaring On but I really disliked My Green Light.
So I’ve watched the musical and I can say that hasn’t really been reduced to a love story. A lot of people are taking mere portions of “My Green Light” and “Roaring On” and assuming that all they’ve seen from those 2 songs are the meat of the entire musical. The entire point of “My Green Light” isn’t to romanticize Jay and Daisy. The entire meaning of that song is that they had love before and knew there was something between them. Unfortunately that was back then and now both have gone on with separate lives, especially Daisy as she has a family with Tom. While she loves Gatsby and her love has been reignited, she understands that she cannot leave Tom as she built everything about Gatsby not being there. That entire song is about reaching for the unreachable, and if you thought you were close to getting it, it continues to become out of reach. That’s what the green light is about. Roaring on is meant to not be an introduction of the plot, but rather inviting us to the musical and what the timeline is. You have to watch the musical in its full to truly compare them both
Another fab vid. Thank you :)
This was very well done! Bravo, Old Sport! I do have a question though, how was Myrtle's "a very different death" in the musical? She was hit by the yellow car in the book and in the show.
The pregnancy?
@@ChristyLoveSinging7 yeah, that could be it since she wasn't pregnant in the novel.
Also the fact that [SPOILERS!!!] she chooses to go back to her husband over Tom which fundamentally changes her character and the death is different because she doesn’t run into the car trying go chase after it. They swerve and hit her from behind lol
I love this show so much I’m sobbing
Need to see the show OML I NEED TOO
This is so insanely fantastic, and I love that you got such an inside view. Does TH-cam give awards? 😂 Because you should get an award for this one.
Gatsby has always been one of my favorite novels. I love the language of Fitzgerald (For anyone who also loves the way he writes, Winter Dreams is also an absolutely fantastic short story). I loved Gatsby when I read it my senior year in high school, and it was one of the reasons I became an English major in college. And then, my masters to become an English teacher. And then I taught the book to my high schoolers. And I would do anything to see this on Broadway. But it’s probably not going to happen. I doubt they will do a pro shot or tour, but one can hope. Just from an educator standpoint, if they do the proshot, it would be fantastic for English teachers and choir and music teachers to collaborate and show it to students. There’s a market for that, just like Hamilton, because Gatsby is still widely read in most high schools in the US.
I’m seeing one in Boston this summer just called Gatsby. It’s got music by Florence Welch
Kinda scared for this doc tbh considering a lot of people's gripes about this specific iteration of Gatsby and the fact that it's made in partnership with them, which means it won't necessarily be entirely impartial. Might have to skip it ngl...
There’s a angry Sweaty Oracle clip in here. That’s all you need to know 😅
The Jaime Lyn Beatty tiktok mention yessss 🤣
Great documentary as always.
I love "it's not a story about characters or plot so much as it's a story about time" like having just read the novel for the first time this year I think that's so poignant; it's about the time Fitzgerald was living in, it's about what we feel time has taken from us or owes us, about time as a luxury and an antagonist. Idk I have a cold this video slapped
You should be so proud of yourself
Great job
@waitinthewings You’ve outdone yourself this time! Best one yet!
Thank you Jacob!!
I’d love to se a version of this for the outsiders!
Just watched it and I will say that they nailed the feeling of gloom under the facade of the party.
Who's excited!!!!
Going to see this in a week
My girlfriend went to see it and ended up walking out by the second act lol. She said spectacle wise it's great but it misses the whole point of the book. Style over substance.
anyone when watching the show still compare to 'the book' should have walked out yes. You don't deserve to watch it. Period. It's not missing the point from the book. It's their interpretation. And if you GF doesn't have the same interpretation and claim her version only is the correct one, good luck with your relationship. Tragic is coming soon.
@user-mh9sx7he8k people are allowed to dislike the show, no need for your trashy comments.
@@BttmintownAJCome on, man. Everyone’s entitled to their own opinion. You liked it. Other people didn’t. That is the nature of art, and saying OP’s relationship is doomed because their GF didn’t like it is messed up, even for a TH-cam comment
the second act is what’s most like the book so her leaving halfway through it is like?? she can’t even fairly judge how they represent the book
Ok so that’s not good theatre etiquette to just leave halfway through the musical., but also how can your girlfriend judge the musical when she hasn’t watched the musical?
I saw the Opera's premier at the Met. Lorraine Hunt-Liberson as Myrtle was the best thing in the production. Not one of my favorite nights at the theatre. The beginning had Daisy singing" It's hooot, it's hot." Nuff said.
Thanks!
Has there been any rumblings of a Westend transfer yet? Or is it too soon to tell? How long does it normally take to guess/know if a show might transfer?
I love your documentaries ❤
Not my tik tok video with my reaction from the press rehearsal making it on here
It ate. Devoured.
Did anyone got jumped scared from Sweaty Orical's appearance.
Sweaty…Orical?!
I don’t know who that’s referring to.
At the end (maybe because I have seen too many Simpsons episodes) I was expecting a quick cut to “The show closed after 5 performances”
This Great Gatsby situation with two different musical adaptations is the Wild Party from 1999 all over again 😂 Remember that?
12:15
@@johnyesjustjohn He covered it?? Damn, I must have missed that part 😂
Definitely feels more like a long commercial for the musical as opposed to a documentary 😅
It’s literally the same structure as any of his other docs but, go off I guess?
@@ModBod16 except for the fact he said he'd no longer do docs for shows that aren't at least 5 years old
I saw your comment halfway through the video, after finishing it I respectfully disagree.
All it did was show where the musical started as an idea on zoom, & how far it's come over the past 4 years.
If it really was like a commercial, it wouldn't have mentioned any of the backlash the show got from the mask bit or shown any of the negative reactions from critics & tiktokers. All it did was show where the musical started as an idea on zoom, & how far it's come over the past 4 years.
Can not wait!
After that intro, I really want a video about Man Of La Mancha from you-
Shying away from the darker elements is precisely why most Gatsby adaptations have failed. This musical seems to be no different. Let's hope the Florence Welch one has more balls.
Why did they remove Sophisticated? That was their best song!
absolute rose is better tbh
Sounded good but absolute rose played more towards the plot
Question: should I read the book or watch the musical first? If I were to see the show, I would probably see the show sometime in early August, but my school is assigning this book and we’re probably reading it during the second semester or late December. I don’t know which one is better to have seen first. Advice?
It is always best to go into any musical not knowing the source material or plot. The only exception to this currently is Wicked since they assume you know most of those character's futures. When you study the book in December you will enjoy an even richer experience than can be presented in 2 1/2 hours. Also, this plot is very clearly told with first rate actors and dazzling design.
I read the book before watching it and I’d say def watch it first it can act as a stand-alone ; because you’ll definitely compare it to the book
"and we left" is wilddd lmaooo
To think, all of the dominos that fell because a kinda failed and unpopular book ended up on the soldier's library list in WWII
i loved a killer party!
The timeline of Gatsby adaptations is pure GATZ erasure 😢
But also, hot damn does it feel like this marketing push is timed to try and take advantage of any hype that Florence/ART Gatsby get this weekend.
Purely coincidence as far as Florence is concerned (I wanted to release last week) and Gatz deserves a whole video on its own. I’m seeing it at the Public and am FASCINATED by it
@@WaitintheWings - Gatz: An Audiobook but make it IMMERSIVE
I SAW YOU AT THE GATSBY STAGE DOOR