By Adam Cohen . . .
For 85 years, Paper Mill Playhouse has presented musicals and plays with loving flair. The house is saturated in history—near financial ruin, fire, and a devotion to theatrical arts. For a banner anniversary, the theater unfurls a resplendent, largely glorious world premiere production of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby reflecting the complications of romance. Book a seat on the Morris & Essex New Jersey Transit line for the musical ride of your life.
The Jazz Age novel, a high school English curriculum favorite, translates superbly well to the stage. The production is richly beset with gorgeous sets, lights and costumes, a spry, knowing, intelligent book, and witty lyrics with amazing performances by a gloriously talented, intelligent cast. Resplendence abounds.
Jeremy Jordan, especially Eva Noblezada, Samantha Pauly, Noah J. Ricketts, and John Zdrojeski are perfectly cast. They sing beautifully, whipping the audience into a frenzy with several numbers filled with hopeful possibilities of a happy ending. And Stanley W. Mathis is a welcome addition to any cast. His Wolfsheim’s menace meshes well with Zdrojeski’s ill-founded, but increasingly protective jealousy.
In the spring of 1922, World War I vet Nick Carroway (Ricketts) rents a cottage in West Egg on Long Island provided by fellow veteran and new-money millionaire, Jay Gatsby (Jordan). Across the water in the more refined village of East Egg lives his cousin Daisy (Noblezada) and her brutish, absurdly old-money, wealthy husband Tom Buchanan (Zdrojeski).
At the Buchanans for dinner, Nick meets Jordan Baker (Pauly), a friend of Daisy’s and a well-known golf champion. The two set off for a party at the mysterious Jay Gatsby’s palatial mansion. Gatsby urges Nick to invite Daisy to lunch at Nick’s. Gatsby has spent the last five years building his wealth, mansion, and persona to win back Daisy. Turns out the Buchanans are unhappily married—with Tom having an affair with mechanic/gas station owner Tom Wilson’s (Paul Whitty) wife Myrtle (Sara Chase). The complications are laid plain as tragedy ensues.
Ricketts finds himself drawn increasingly into the more flamboyant lives of others. His performance is open and genuine. Pauly shatters her cynicism for the possibility of passionate love. Their performances are nothing short of perfection.
With resplendent, gorgeous sets and projections by Paul Tate dePoo III, the tone and look are quickly set. The Long Island Sound, with slightly stormy water and ominous clouds, greets the audience before it rises to reveal a massive party in Gatsby’s plush mansion. dePoo accurately recreates Grand Central Station and vividly contrasts the wealth with Wilson’s garage with an eye doctor’s billboard looming over it. The detail is admirable and Tony-worthy. Linda Cho’s costumes are equally impressive, rendering partygoers in high fashion: perfectly tailored suits for Gatsby and Tom, and an array of dresses for the women. Cory Pattak’s lighting design gloriously and delicately compliments, working in great synchronicity with the sets to move from bright to ominous. It is particularly deft with the Wilson’s gas station and billboard. The design elements deserve their own ovation.
Kait Kerrigan’s book and the lyrics by Nathan Tysen are wonderful. They craft—with Jason Howland’s music—several anthemic songs that will assuredly be utilized for auditions and cabarets for decades to come. Howland’s score surprisingly lacks jazz. For such a confident production, we’re given well-crafted music that leans more toward restraint than possibility. And perhaps that’s in keeping with director Mark Bruni’s vision of the novel—richly appointed passion tamping the tragedy to come.
That Howland saddles Jordan with some high notes in his first number conveys nervousness for the character. But they undercut a bold confidence, performance and characterization. Nobelzoda sings gorgeously and embodies Daisy with steely resolve and unhappiness. There is a richness to Kerrigan’s book and Bruni’s direction that builds groundswells of emotion for all the performers.
We, too, want the long-awaited reunion between this formerly poor boy soldier and his society-girl muse to be perfect. He’s worked so hard and waited for so long, after all. He made something of himself against all odds—now he’s no longer just “some nobody” whom Daisy’s father forbids from marrying. It’s all rewarded the moment their eyes meet.
Jeremy Jordan (Gatsby) embodies the smooth charm and loving determination for Daisy (Eva Nobeldoza). Rickett’s Nick is all brisk sweetness—and he interacts in a very inclusive, kind way with the audience, shrugging and apologizing at all the craziness in which he embarrassingly, but gradually enthusiastically, finds himself caught up. Daisy and Jordan Baker are archetypal good-time girls, painfully aware of the thin ice beneath their whirling heels and golf clubs. We believe their friendship is built on more than convenience.
Kerrigan’s book and Tysen’s lyrics offer many ingeniously sly degrees to shape all the characters and situations. Marc Bruni’s direction weaves these elements to perfection in a brilliantly paced, loving production. It honors Fitzgerald’s narrative rhythms and infectious seduction in wonderful ways.
Fitzgerald’s themes are patently and brilliantly laid out by the gorgeous production. Though you can’t turn back time or recapture certain youthful dreams, you can yearn. Do all you can to grab a ticket for Paper Mill’s scintillating production of The Great Gatsby.
The Great Gatsby. Through November 12 at the Paper Mill Playhouse (22 Brookside Drive, Millburn, NJ). www.papermill.org
Photos: Jeremy Daniel (except where otherwise indicated)
Cover Photo: Noah J. Ricketts, John Zdrojeski, Eva Noblezada and Samantha Pauly (Photo Credit: Evan Zimmerman for Murphy Made)
