THE GREAT GATSBY MUSICAL • LONDON COLISEUM
★★★★☆☆
Photo: Johan Persson
REVIEW THE GREAT GATSBY LONDON: FIRST-CLASS PRODUCTION. SECOND-CLASS MUSICAL
The Great Gatsby has moved into the impressive theatre space of the London Coliseum with a new musical that pulls out all the stops in terms of extravagant stage design, dazzling choreography and magnificent costumes. But there is something about it all that quickly becomes apparent to a festively dressed, expectant audience: it is not a particularly good musical.
Despite the spectacularly executed grandeur that invites the audience into the opulence and decadence of the Roaring Twenties, the lavishly staged show rings hollow. The plot is muddled, and it is impossible to get under the skin of the characters, who come across as one-dimensional glossy images.
It only partially succeeds in capturing the subtle layers of melancholic, sentimental passion that carry F. Scott Fitzgerald’s original novel. An iconic work that celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2025 and can currently be experienced in a dazzling dance version at the Royal Danish Opera in Copenhagen. If you haven’t seen the Royal Theatre’s six-star production yet, you simply must go!
Photo: Johan Persson
First and foremost, the London musical, imported from Broadway, has a musical problem. The music, composed by Florence Welch, english singer/songwriter and frontwoman of indie rock band Florence & The Machine, has been a hot topic of conversation.
Opinions are divided on the mix of modern orchestral pop-style musical music and 1920s “Gatsby Jazz”, which evokes the era with a new twist. I belong to the group of reviewers who do not find the result very successful.
Despite the large orchestra and ambitious arrangements, the music does not really come across.
You never get caught up in the delicious melancholy of the story, which unfolds in Jay Gatsby’s awkward attempts to get close to Daisy, whom he has loved for so long and who is at the heart of the story, along with the portrait of the glittering American dream – and its dark underside.
Photo: Johan Persson
The production delivers on set design and formidable dance numbers wrapped in a wonderful staging of extreme wealth and the Long Island upper class after the First World War.
The melancholic/dramatic plot has the potential to become a powerful Puccini opera, just not in this treat, where Puccini had long since fired his librettists for lack of an effective storyline and characterisation that calls for empathy and compassion.
Photo: Johan Persson
Despite its lavish staging, The Great Gatsby comes across as a strangely hollow piece of musical theatre that fires with its entire arsenal but doesn’t quite hit the mark.
It gets four stars from Got to see this. Compared to the reception in the British theatre press, that’s on the polite side.
