Theatre
Review
Review: The Great Gatsby
The new musical at the London Coliseum is exactly what the West End needs
Everyone knows how this story goes. Still, when The Great Gatsby winds its way to its inevitable conclusion, the response in the London Coliseum is audible. There are gasps, some nervous laughs, loud disbelief. We’ve been so drawn into this world, immersed in the excess and romance of it all, we’ve forgotten that it’s familiar. We’ve forgotten that we already knew the ending.
The new musical adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel succeeds on many fronts, but perhaps its biggest victory is the ability to make this story feel new. Not because it deviates much from the source material – this adaptation is highly faithful to the text, with many of Fitzgerald’s most famous quotes woven into the book and lyrics – but because it brings Gatsby’s world so successfully to life. With adaptations landing thick and fast in the West End, The Great Gatsby wholly justifies itself with its eye-popping design, impressive original score, and brilliant cast. This is how you do a West End musical.
The sets are fantastic, from the rippling bay that greets audiences as they enter, to Nick Carraway’s cottage with its wealth of foliage, to the gloomy expanse of road that poor Myrtle Wilson traipses down. It’s easier to suspend disbelief and see the stage at the London Coliseum as a portal to another time. Corbin Bleu as Nick is our guide into the Jazz Age and is a highly likable presence onstage, vocally keeping pace with some of the West End’s most impressive talents. They’re in no short supply here – reality star-turned-performer Amber Davies does a wonderful job as Jordan Baker, and Rachel Tucker is a standout in the supporting cast as Myrtle Wilson. Frances Mayli McCann and Jamie Muscato as Daisy Buchanan and Jay Gatsby play in another league, with performances that highlight the rot at the heart of each character – McCann is a deliciously selfish and false Daisy, whilst Muscato’s neurotic and obsessive Gatsby paints him a shade darker than we’re perhaps used to, with fantastic results.
Vocally, the two consistently astonish, and they’re given the material to do so. Kait Kerrigan’s book is tight and well-paced, deeply considerate of the text, but it’s Jason Howland and Nathan Tysen’s score that has the power to elevate the project or drag it down, and thankfully it very much does the former, with Gatsby’s ‘For Her’ and his back and forward with Carraway on ‘Only Tea’ particularly effective. The songs do powerful character work, with clever lyricism and lush instrumentals – in fact, lush is very much the word of choice here, in all aspects. No Gatsby musical would succeed without leaning into the excess of it all, and this new arrival takes that as its gospel. It may be a dark story at heart, but The Great Gatsby dazzles even as it unsettles, a roaring triumph of an adaptation that more than deserves to be seen.
The Great Gatsby is currently playing at The London Coliseum until 7 September – find tickets here
