(seen at the preview performance on 15th April 2025)
Unlike “The Catcher In The Rye,” on first reading this modern American classic novel, the monkey was left cold – and it never bothered re-reading it. Thus it approached this musical with some trepidation. It needn’t have.
The staging is absolutely spectacular. Easily the most lavish sets and costumes (Paul Tate dePoo III, Linda Cho) the monkey has seen in years, stunning lighting (Cory Pattak). Only a Black Mamba of an cable dangling top left from ceiling to proscenium rig ruins the effect somewhat.
Director Marc Bruni has marshalled some of the top names in British musical theatre into the lead roles. Choreographer Dominique Kelley gets the most from them, and a twenty-strong ensemble, which fill the stage precisely for maximum effect.
Jamie Muscato simply is Jay Gatsby. Affable, understatedly flamboyant, yet with a whiff of sleaze. A man-child wrapped in his own legendary world – no wonder people are drawn to him, yet at the same time repelled. Muscato has matured into a fine leading man, a new peak in his career.
Requited love Daisy Buchanan (Frances Mayli McCann) is unscrupulous in her own way, though marriage to Tom Buchanan (Jon Robyns) is fair motivation.
Individually, both excel. Mayli McCann has clearly learned from her “Bonnie and Clyde” years, emerging able to carry an enormous production effortlessly.
Robyns tucks delightedly into his own rich role. Moraliser and abuser, he fascinates us with his hypocritical repellence.
Secret love Myrtle Wilson is an equal gift in Rachel Tucker’s hands. Sadly, only one number for her voice to shine in, but the role provides two dramatic moments at which she has the audience gasping.
Her simple, easily corrupted husband George (Joel Montague) matches in reaction. We are never certain how far he is a victim of circumstance, but his scenes alone are revealing and strongly played to reach out into the large auditorium.
With entirely corrupted Meyer Wolfsheim (John Owen-Jones) to contend with, it is a lost battle. Needless to say, Owen-Jones is his usual enormous presence, making the most of his second half opening number to set the tone of the later evening.
Narrator Nick Carraway (Corbin Bleu) and his love interest, independent Jordan Baker (Amber Davies), are another fascinating match. Bleu slips easily from commentator to participant. Davies keeps up a steady paced manipulation and demolition of people and emotions, true only to her own rules – and all the wiser for selectively choosing her terms of engagement with everyone else.
A stellar cast and ensemble, beautifully clad and playing on a stunningly presented stage, then. The pace is cinematic, the sweep of scenes, the gliding full-size cars.
It is a little disappointing that the music and lyric do not always rise to quite the same heights. Kait Kerrigan does an excellent job turning a slim novella containing rather repetitive phrasing into a character-driven story proceeding at an even pace.
Jason Howland’s music is for the most part pleasant, but rather like budget champagne it delights briefly with sparkles, then simply satisfies. Nathan Tysen’s lyric is woozy on it, sometimes erudite, other times mildly flippant, disappointingly rhymed or cliched.
There is a lot to be said for a show capturing perfectly the shallowness of the characters and weak motivations. The problem is that by leaving it to the visual and performances to do so, we do not come away with perhaps the fullness of experience we expect from all the efforts - a deeper emotional connections with the characters which the most memorable musicals provide.
This for sure does not lay an egg, East or West, but it does not quite produce a golden one either.
4 stars.