By Brian Scott Lipton . . .
To quote the great Noel Coward: “I’ve been to a marvelous party.” It was filled with soigné New Yorkers of every age and shape, dressed in glamorous 1920s-inspired attire, imbibing booze freely (though the booze wasn’t free), sometimes joining a spirited group of dancers, and listening to some very talented vocalists warble songs from that era (as well as original compositions by Glen Andrew Brown, Tendai Humphrey Sitima and David Sims that sound like they were written in that decade).
Indeed, if there were any cares in the world outside this party—supposedly held at the Long Island mansion of the very debonair Jay Gatsby (but, really, the basement of the Park Central Hotel, beautifully decorated by a team led by Casey Jay Andrews and Shoko Kambara)—one quickly forgot about them while the frivolity reigned.
But truth be told, that’s only half the story! The gathering’s raison d’etre is a theatrical experience—direct from England—called The Great Gatsby-The Immersive Show. Sadly, it pains me to report that director-adaptor Alexander Wright has done less-than-full justice to F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic American novel—and that no amount of atmosphere changes that central fact.
In Wright’s defense, Fitzgerald’s book, despite its spot-on characterization of the upper-crust (and lower crust) denizens of Prohibition-era Long Island, has always been more celebrated for its poetic prose than its wispy plot. As a result, “Gatsby” has always been difficult to translate to other mediums. (Neither of its star-studded cinematic adaptations are particularly revered, and its most famous theatrical version, Elevator Repair Service’s Gatz, has as many admirers as it does detractors).
Still, Wright could have made a stronger effort to theatricalize the story than is apparent here. Much of the show’s dialogue is lifted directly from the novel—which makes complete sense for its narrator, Nick Carraway (a highly effective Rob Brinkman), but not always for the rest of the company. In fact, only a couple of scenes, mostly ones involving the hard-working George Wilson (Keivon Akbari) and his unhappy wife, the adulterous waitress Myrtle (Claire Saunders), feel truly stageworthy. To quote Oscar Hammerstein II, “all the rest is talk.”
To his credit, the handsome Juan Acosta (beautifully costumed, as is the entire cast, by Vanessa Leuck) works very hard, if not always successfully, to fill the spiffy shoes of Gatsby: a self-made, ultimately less-than-reputable man who passes himself as someone to the manner born, tossing off “old sport” as frequently as anyone else might say “hello.”
Meanwhile, it’s hard to say where the exact fault lies in the overall impressions left by the lovely Jillian Anne Abaya as Gatsby’s love Daisy Buchanan and Shahzeb Hussain as her boorish husband Tom Buchanan, but one never has the sense of them fitting Nick’s description of them—which is the key to the novel: “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy; they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.”
Somewhat more convincing in their parts are the lovely Stephanie Rocío as the glamorous, devil-may-care Jordan Baker and Charlie Marcus as the gangster Meyer Wolfsheim—and both performers turn out to be excellent singers and dancers!
As for the “immersive” part of the show, it extends past mingling with everyone in the grand ballroom. Periodically, patrons are whisked away to join the actors/characters in other rooms, where they are given information not shared with other attendees. At times, there was some confusion about whether one should stay or one should go. The show’s directorial team should make the ground rules clearer from the get-go.
In addition, being suddenly asked to give up one’s seat in the ballroom, have a table moved that you’re sitting at, or have someone ordered to stand in front of you because you didn’t follow the optional dress code is decidedly not in keeping with the spirit of the novel or “immersive” theater; it’s just rudeness. And that behavior was not acceptable in 1923, nor is it in 2023!
The Great Gatsby – The Immersive Show. Open run at the Gatsby Mansion in the Park Central Hotel New York (870 Seventh Avenue, between West 55th and 56th Steets). www.ImmersiveGatsby.com
Photos: Joan Marcus
