‘Gatsby: An American Myth’ @ American Repertory Theater: Boston (5/25-26/24)

I had the chance to attend both the dress rehearsal and first preview of Gatsby: An American Myth at A.R.T. in Boston and let me tell you – you aren’t ready for this. Within hearing the opening number, ‘Welcome to the New World’ I knew we were in for something special.

Show Name: Gatsby: An American Myth at A.R.T.
Show Type: Musical
Location:  American Repertory Theater – Boston, MA
Date Seen: May 25-26, 2024

Before you ask how I was able to attend the invited dress rehearsal, it was by accident – I had purchased tickets for Friday, Saturday night, and Sunday night shows and both Thursday and Friday were canceled due to A/C issues in the venue. Saturday then became a dress rehearsal, and anyone who had purchased a ticket was refunded and given the chance to attend or reschedule into another show – I of course wanted to attend!

The only difference between the dress rehearsal and first preview was that the dress rehearsal had two brief tech stops, and there was one staging difference I noticed (which I’ll mention later, it was very minor) but otherwise it was the same show – but I’m so grateful I could see the first show performances.

For reference, my seats were Orch Row C center for dress, and Orch Row EE center for first preview – Row EE is 4 rows back. I recommend sitting center for this production, if you’re on the sides you will miss some points.

I’ll do a general, spoiler free review first and then I’ll go into more details and note where that starts so you can avoid it if you want! I will be talking about the set, music, actors, and costumes though so if you don’t want to know ANYTHING before seeing this, turn around now.

The set: When I saw the set for the first time it truly took my breath away. I saw photographers/videographers around during dress rehearsal, so I expect promo shots soon, so hopefully you all will see it too! The set is very futuristic – everything gave me Lempicka and Hadestown vibes, which makes sense since Rachel Chavkin directed those as well. The set looks like a bunch of smashed up metallic cars, almost like a junkyard, but elegant. This set is BIG. It takes up SPACE. It’s TALL. The left side features a stationary staircase. Underneath that is a car that only pulled out halfway during the set, and nobody ever got “in” a car. The orchestra sits on top of all of this, with the conductor/grand piano player in the center. The center features a platform, with a staircase to the left of that which could swing out to the center and even further around that center platform, typically used when we’re in Gatsby’s mansion. To the left and right of the center platform there is silver tassel hanging down to the ground, and it can move out of the way. On the right a platform moves out to show the Buchanan’s living room. To the right of that is the Wilson’s house, which also pushes out when needed – it’s more important than you might think. Both of these sections are covered by tassels. Back to the center platform, below it is what looks like the face of a car with two headlights – this is only used at the very end when…well, you could probably guess.

One thing I really appreciated about this production is how they didn’t make a big deal about the “green light” – sure, it’s still there, but it’s not a focus at any point, it’s just sorta known that it’s there.

The stage is pretty high, if you sit in the first or second row I’d say you’re about eye level with the stage – I don’t think you’d miss anything, but you might miss things higher up, as this stage is VERY high.

Rachel said the set isn’t complete yet, and to imagine a lavish living room, and a decadent apartment in the city, and a hotel room, all which would come up from the bottom of the stage. Personally, I didn’t even mind the set the way it was now! Someone who sees it later in the run will have to report back how it looks.

The music: I am a Florence + The Machine fan, and that is what had me so excited about this show from the second it was announced. I’m not a diehard stan, but I’d say I’m an above average. The music will feel familiar if you know Florence’s music, but it also didn’t feel like a copy. There was only one song I personally said, “Ah, this feels like X of Florence’s.” Otherwise after 2 listens, I couldn’t call out any direct comparisons, but the vibes. The music also had more jazzy sounds to it – funny enough, during intermission I heard a woman in the restroom line complain it sounded too jazzy! I was getting Hadestown kind of vibes in the music. There have been 2 performances and already I can’t wait for a cast recording – which I know won’t happen anytime soon, but I’d love to listen to this on repeat! I’ve heard that there will be changes in the music, they’ll be trying out other songs or removing songs to see what hits the most, and again I wish I was seeing this show again later in the run.

The actors: This is such a strong cast, including the ensemble! The only member of the cast I was familiar with prior to seeing this was Solea Pfeiffer, having seen her as Penny Lane in Almost Famous, and Eurydice in Hadestown for her brief run.

The standouts of this cast for me are Charlotte Macinnes as Daisy, Solea as Myrtle, and Matthew Amira as Wilson. They all impressed me more than I thought possible for their characters. I enjoyed how important the ensemble were, and how Ben Levi Ross as Nick and Eleri Ward as Jordan were often joining in the ensemble numbers.

The costumes: The costumes for this show were all very neutral shades of black, white, and gray, except for Jay Gatsby played by Isaac Powell, often seen in a salmon colored suit. The ensemble often wore outfits that resembled the workers outfits from Hadestown, showing they are a working lower class, before they would transform into the upper party class in fancy dresses and suits – none of which was set to a gender binary meaning those who looked like women could be wearing pant suits and those who looked like men could be wearing dresses – I’m not familiar with any of the ensemble but I appreciated this choice to have characters not wear gendered outfits. The outfits all appeared dirty on the bottom hems as well – all except Gatsby. The neutral colored outfits would have an almost rust colored tinge to them – it wasn’t very obvious, but if you were looking, you could see it.

The choreography: The choreography for this is done by Sonya Tayeh, who did the choreography for Moulin Rouge, and it’s extravagant as you would expect – there’s so many full ensemble numbers, both on the ground and on the staircase, and having people up in the air more than once.

Alright, now that we have that out of the way, from here on out will contain SPOILERS!!!! This is the plot and my own commentary.

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Spoiler warning last chance.

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I bought a notebook with me and was scribbling in it during the performance, intermission, and afterwards, in case you’re wondering how I remember all this – I wrote it down. So please take it all with a grain of salt as this is my recollection of it all. Feel free to correct me, or if you read this later in June/July/August, please tell me what has changed!

Nick walks out and is our narrator, but he doesn’t narrate as often as I was expecting – not as much as he does in the book.

‘Welcome to the New World’ is a fantastic, high energy opener, with the phrase, “Can you hear it roar?” a theme throughout the show. There is a lot of heavy breathing as movement for their bodies. The dancing gave me a lot of Lempicka vibes (which I loved) throughout the show.

We open into the Buchanan’s living room with Daisy, Jordan, and Nick visiting his cousin. They speak of Daisy’s daughter but Daisy never says the famous line, “I hope she’ll be a fool—that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool.” 

When Tom enters the room, he makes a comment about how “civilization is fucked” – I noticed they said this or that is “fucked” more often then I hear that word spoken in a typical Broadway show. Daisy also makes a comment that had everyone laughing, “Tom’s been reading.” Jordan makes an offhand comment here which I didn’t realize was important until my second watch through – “So many Indians.” I love being able to see foreshadowing when seeing shows a second time!

When Tom goes to answer the phone call, first thing: Myrtle is the servant who is holding the phone – we hadn’t been introduced to her yet, but it’s Solea. Second: it’s Myrtle he’s talking to (I think?) so that’s weird. Third: Daisy says, after arguing, “Put down the fucking phone Tom!” before going into ‘Golden Girl’ song, about herself.

‘Golden Girl’ is a softer, sweet melody of hope and what could be, and knowing her worth but being forced into a role. It felt like it ended on a question, on a held breath, on a note that Daisy isn’t finished yet. It’s a short song, and then Nick narrates how he and Tom go to “the city”.

The Wilson’s house pushes out from the far right – we encounter Myrtle for the “first” time and Solea begins singing ‘Valley Of Ashes’ with the ensemble shortly joining her. The second showing I noticed that Wilson is also a part of this ensemble in the back. This song feels like foreshadowing for Myrtle’s death, and the choreography is very similar to the ending at her death.

It’s interesting to note the songs went directly into dialogue and rarely left room for clapping, or maybe the audience just didn’t know where to clap yet. George (Wilson) and Myrtle go into their “house” (room) and Myrtle says, “I burned the cake. How do you burn a fucking cake? Fucking I do.” Myrtle says she wanted to have a party and people could “BYO stuff, maybe someone would bring a fucking cake.” 

This show has the plot line that Myrtle and George had a daughter who died because she became sick and they couldn’t afford to get a doctor to heal her – George is still grieving and Myrtle is ready to live again, which causes the rift in their marriage.

Nick and Tom arrive, and when Wilson walks away Solea jumps into Tom’s arms and starts kissing him – during dress rehearsal this is where the first tech hold was, as their house wouldn’t retract.

This goes into ‘Shakin Off The Dust’ which is very upbeat and another song started by Myrtle. Tom rips offs Myrtle’s overalls and underneath is a party dress, with the set changing to the apartment in New York City. The ensemble party is already there, and it’s a very sensual sexual scene. “I’m four drinks in, I’m a classy fucking lady” sings Myrtle. The choreography with this again involves a lot of heavy breathing as movement.

Myrtle starts singing again while at the apartment, this is interspersed with dialogue, of Tom telling her not to say Daisy’s name, and Myrtle says it again and again, “Daisy, Daisy, Daisy” before Tom grabs her to stop her. (This particular moment gave me real Penny Lane vibes for Solea, something she’s said before but in a different context.)

At the end of the apartment scene, McGee, the photographer, asks Nick to lunch. Nick says where, and McGee says anywhere before kissing him. Nick pulls away briefly before grabbing his face and kissing him back fiercely. 

I think the song Nick starts singing is ‘New York Symphony (on booze)’ but this is where I got a little fuzzy on the songs, because they would sing for a few moments but it wouldn’t turn into a full song. Later on its snippets of songs/words they’ve previously said. “A drunken revelation, waking up at Penn Station” (which, as a New Yorker, I had to laugh at). “I am within, and without.” We see Myrtle returning home in her overalls, and George is waiting for her, running to hug her when he sees her. Nick and Myrtle take turns with this song. This song was incredibly beautiful and made me tear up. This is the only song I can say gave me a specific Florence song vibes and it was ‘Never Let You Go’ – maybe because that’s my favorite Florence song and also makes me emotional. The song ends with, “I just want something.” 

Without a breath to spare, Nick receives an invitation to Gatsby’s party and we’re at the party! This is the first time we see the big main staircase swing out. This is a big dance number for the song ‘One Heart Beat’ – it has a jazzy feel to it. Jordan is a part of the ensemble for this dance number, and she keeps getting close to other women, which leads me to believe that Jordan is also queer? Maybe bisexual? Nothing is ever said, but those are the vibes I got – Jordan isn’t straight. (Side note, there was no Jordan/Nick attempted romance in this production.)

The party keeps going but the staircase swings further inward, and we see a bookcase underneath and there’s the guy in the library who says he’s been drunk for a week and, “Books are real!” I felt this was interesting to keep in, as I’m not sure of the relevance of it, but it was a fun moment nonetheless.

When Gatsby meets Nick for the first time, it feels a bit like Gatsby is flirting with Nick. Then there is a bit of a jumpscare as fireworks go off and the party leaves them alone to watch the fireworks.

Jordan’s famous line does remain, “I love large parties, they’re so intimate. At small parties there isn’t any privacy.”

Gatsby then begins ‘Month of Love’ in a flashback – it’s said Gatsby met Daisy in Louisville “all those years ago”, so Gatsby and Daisy meet, younger and innocent, before she met Tom. This is a gentle lovely sweet song, again full of hope and promise for the future. They end up kissing in the past. “Now we’re heaven bound” are lyrics that stuck with me.

Deathless Song is a Gatsby solo song, I don’t remember much about this one, it was about his love for Daisy, but I wouldn’t be surprised if this one gets cut as it didn’t feel necessary and it was forgettable.

We move right into the bar with Gatsby introducing Nick to Wolfsheim. There is a flashback as Gatsby as a soldier in uniform, and Wolfsheim narrating how the two met, but Gatsby is also responding to what he says so it’s pretty funny. This goes into ‘Feels Like Hell’ which was another upbeat, flashy jazzy number. At one point the ensemble were doing jazz hands. There’s tap dancing in this number! This song is about how Wolfsheim built up Jay Gatsby. His uniform gets ripped off and underneath is the signature suit, and at the end Gatsby dances with the ensemble, very jazzy.

Wolfsheim excuses himself after this song. He only had a small role in this show but it was a great one and well received!

Gatsby bluntly askes Nick, “What’s your opinion of me?”

We have another flashback to Daisy’s wedding day, and she sings, “Tell them Daisy’s changed her mind” for the song ‘I’ve Changed My Mind’. It’s an urgent, rushed feeling song – I liked it a lot. Daisy goes into her bathtub in her underclothes, and surprisingly there’s water in there, enough to soak her underdress. She received a letter from Jay Gatsby on her wedding day and wants to call off her marriage to Tom. Gatsby sings, “Daisy, won’t you wait?” from above. “I’ve changed my mind, I’ve changed my mind, I do” the tune adds in the wedding march, and such a sad but fitting end to this powerful song.

We go right into tea at Nick’s house and, ‘Pouring Down’ song – another of my favorites of this show. This is where we had the 2nd tech hold during dress rehearsal, I’m not sure what the issue was but it was only maybe 2-3 minutes long. During the dress rehearsal I remember Gatsby standing further to the right on a patch of green grass, and during the first preview he was closer to the left with the table and tea setup, and there was no patch of grass, so now I’m wondering if that was all a fever dream and I’m making it up. ANYWAY.

Both Jay and Daisy sing, ‘It’s really pouring down’ lyrics. The “rain” is blue lights on the back of the stage, a handful of them look like they’re dripping and showing rain – it’s really quite lovely.

Daisy sees Jay for the first time and says, “I’ve never seen you out of uniform, except when I ripped it off you in the orchard” – thus implying Daisy and Jay have been together in the past, which I don’t think the book references – so that is new! She bumps into the table and is embarrassed, Jay wants to run away but Nick convinces him to go back in. Jay pours tea for Daisy and she’s impressed he remembers how she takes it, and then he holds it and drinks it himself forgetting he was going to give it to her and then fumbles while still offering it to her.

The stage lights blind the audience momentarily while the stage changes and they arrive in Gatsby’s mansion, with the staircase swinging out.

“Do you just own a piano player?” Daisy asked when she got to the top of the stairs.

“He came to one of my parties and never left.” was Gatsby’s answer – which, let’s be honest, is the best acknowledgement of an orchestra on stage!

Gatsby and Daisy were at the top of the staircase, and the ensemble were to the right (their left) handing Gatsby shirts and he threw them off the “balcony”, and more ensemble came out below and caught the shirts as they fell. I thought this was so artistically done. Daisy would call out a year or moment in her life without Gatsby for each shirt he threw – 1917, 1918, 1919, wedding day, 1920, Pammy is born, 1921, 1922. “Every day is a chance to start something new.” Gatsby said to Daisy.

Remember how I said they intersperse lyrics throughout other moments? After that is a part of ‘Month of Love’ and singing about ‘now we’re heaven bound’ and then it goes back into ‘it’s really pouring down’ because that’s the song we never truly ended before! (The ‘heaven bound’ melody is another that stuck with me but I couldn’t always remember the name of the song, I thought it was Heaven Bound at first!)

We go straight into Gatsby’s solo, ‘Mr Nobody From Nowhere’ – the ensemble harmonizes with him, it’s another hopeful, upbeat song to end Act 1. I liked this one, I hope they don’t cut this!

Act 1 was about 1 hour and 20~ minutes long, but I expect this to vary based on starting time (we started 10 minutes after anticipated start time). There was an extra long black out moment before the lights came back up again for intermission.

Intermission lasted about 15-20 minutes and we’re right back into Act 2, opening with ‘It’s Just A Little Party’ at Gatsby’s mansion, of course. The ensemble are all in servant uniforms before they rip them off and they’re in party outfits underneath! This goes right into ‘Welcome to the New World (reprise)’ and repetition of “can you hear it roar?” theme. Gatsby is in white, Jordan is with a girl, Nick is with a guy, then they join in the ensemble dance number. The ensemble lifts up Daisy and carries her over to the main staircase to Gatsby. Myrtle is in a servant uniform passing around drinks to the upper class before she meets Tom on the ground level. Meanwhile, Gatsby and Daisy are up above on the balcony, another juxtaposition.

Myrtle arrives home to George and he asks how it was, and doesn’t want her working at Gatsby’s mansion anymore. This goes into ‘Out of the Ashes’ sung by Myrtle which feels like a mirror to ‘Valley of the Ashes’ in Act 1.

‘What Is This Worship’ is a Gatsby & Daisy song, ‘What is this worship, I hope that it’s worth it’ is the chorus that stuck with me. It also featured Myrtle running past Wilson into Tom’s arms, and showed them in the apartment again, pushing home the lyrics ‘I hope that it’s worth it.’

That went straight into ‘What Will We Do With Ourselves’ when the group complained about it being too hot. During this song, we meet Daisy’s daughter Pammy – there are three little girls who play this role. Pammy saw Gatsby and waved to him before walking over and giving him a handshake with her little hand, he touched her cheek like he didn’t believe she was real before this moment. “It’s so hot, everything is so confused.” When they decide to “go to town” the ensemble is chanting ‘drive drive drive’ (that’s what it sounded like).

Tom mentions he was investigating Gatsby, and comments “Oxford, New Mexico” in reference to Gatsby being an “Oxford man.” Again, more foreshadowing.

Myrtle comments that George used to be beautiful but he’s no longer that man, and how he came to America with multiple brothers and only knew 5 words of English. ‘What of Love, What of God’ is a Myrtle/George song that really shows of Solea’s vocal range. It gave me Hadestown vibes.

The group arrives at the hotel, and Daisy and Tom fight. Gatsby says to Tom that Daisy never loved him. It felt more violent than I expected with them pushing Daisy between the two men and cursing. ‘The Dream Fought On’ has the ‘Daisy’s changed her mind’ tune used for a moment again. “My life has never been mine” sing says Daisy. This section is a little fuzzy for me and I foresee this changing.

‘The Dream Fought On’ continues with Myrtle singing it as she runs out into the road and gets hit by the car. The car face at the back of the stage lit up bright, while Myrtle somersaulted backwards with the help of the ensemble tossing her backwards in slow motion. She did two full somersaults before rolling off to the back side of the stage. It’s a very dramatic but well done scene. We never fully see a car in this production, but I don’t think we need to, the point gets across.

Tom, Nick, and Jordan pull up and see the aftermath, and Tom explains to George that the yellow car wasn’t his. Back in the Buchanan’s living room, Daisy and Tom fight in ‘The Damage That You Do’ song – ‘its you, it’s you, the damage that you do’. Tom accuses Daisy of hitting Myrtle on purpose and tells her how awful a person she is, just like him. The ensemble chant, ‘its you, it’s you’ at Daisy, and she believes she did it on purpose.

Daisy says, “I wish I was a fool, I wish I didn’t know just what I had to do” and, “Hope, it can be cruel”.

Nick tells Gatsby he needs to leave town, but he refuses. There is a short song called ‘Vigil’ here. Nick ends up leaving and saying, “Good night Mr. Gatsby” and Jay replies, “That’s not my name. I made it up.”

‘American, She Breaks’ is started by George, and I have to say Matthew Amira as Wilson has a fantastic voice. While this is happening, Gatsby is at the top of the “balcony” slowly undressing. There is no mention of going for a swim, but he’s undressing, jacket, then tie, and so on. George begins walking up the main staircase to where Gatsby is. One of the lyrics reference how easy it is to obtain a gun in America, which the dress rehearsal performance received some snaps for that line. As George reaches the top, he shoots Gatsby and Gatsby tosses his shirt over the edge as he crumbles to the ground. George then shoots himself as well.

Nick placed an ad in the Chicago paper and Gatsby’s father showed. The father comments that Gatsby isn’t his name, ‘Jimmy changed his’ and how he ran away from home. But the biggest (best) surprise is that the father is Native American – he’s wearing a tribal necklace – and therefore Jay Gatsby is also Native American. Suddenly the earlier comments about “Indians” and “New Mexico” made more sense. The father calls him a Native word for either son or beloved, which I unfortunately don’t know, phonetically it sounded like “may-who” and the closest I could think of was mijo, but I’m not sure.

I also want to note that Isaac Powell who plays Gatsby is part Native American – so excellent casting choice there! But he is white passing which I think is the entire point.

We’re back to ‘can you hear it roar?’ chants before going into ‘Pouring Down (reprise)’ at both Wilson (and Myrtle?) & Gatsby’s funerals. Wilsons’ funeral has a lot of people – Gatsby’s only has three. Nick comments, “Daisy didn’t even send a flower” and the father says, “Who’s Daisy?” which just broke my heart. ‘It’s really pouring down’ repeated a few times.

‘We Beat On’ starts with Nick before the entire company joins – ‘Reaching for the light and always wanting more.’ The ensemble start walking out on stage forward, but then turn backwards and walk backwards to go with Nick singing, ‘Let me go back’ – when they join in, they turn frontwards again. ‘Put oil and gold back in the ground’ is also a lyric that stuck with me. Myrtle, George, Gatsby all join the ensemble for this final number. “We believe in the green light in a future that disappears before us” (lyrics to be determined, but that’s what I heard). It’s a song that made me cry – and I’m not a crier. “We belong” was sung by everyone. This really pushes home the idea of the “American Dream” and how everyone belongs. The very end note feels like it was said on an inhale breath, and the entire cast comes together, takes a breath, and falls backwards before it goes dark. (It gave me Hamilton vibes at the end!)

I cannot wait to hear from everyone else who sees this production to learn how it changes over the next three months! Please, if you’ve seen it and something here sounds different, please let me know, I’m very curious to hear what changes! 

I don’t think I’ll make it back up to Boston to see it again, but I’m so grateful I was able to see it twice. I highly recommend seeing this show before it comes to Broadway if you can – its only a matter of time before it comes to Broadway, maybe 2025. I adore everything about this show!

Do you plan to see Gatsby: An American Myth in Boston?