The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a classic American novel telling the tragic love story of Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan. Set in the timeline of the Golden Twenties, it shows the illusion of the American Dream and Gatsby’s obsession for a lost past. The story is told by Nick Carraway.
The Erfurt theatre, a very modernly designed theatre near the St. Mary’s Cathedral, brought the storyline of the book to us as a musical by the ADG Europe, American Drama Group Europe. Their group had been touring all over the world for over 40 years, gaining themselves a reputation for captivating audiences of all ages, with their original stage productions.
Three actors and two actresses of that group sang and acted out the whole story of The Great Gatsby in a time span of one and a half hours. They did not only act out the whole story, but interacted with the audience throughout the play, making us feel included and setting a humorous mood within the audience. The singing and dancing elements were essentially storytelling devices.
They reflected the vibrant culture of the Golden Twenties. It created an energetic and glamorous atmosphere that showed us how extravagant Gatsby’s parties were. The fast and joyful dances made the stage feel full of energy and that glamour, that clearly entertained everyone in the audience. However those elements also told the story’s true meaning, that this happiness was just show. Their true feelings were hidden beneath that glamour. Especially the more emotional songs brought out what the characters really felt. This created a stark contrast between the beautiful glamorous life of those characters living the American Dream and the poor people who didn’t get to live that life. But even those who seemed like they have the perfect life had hidden problems.
Between the musical parts were also the acted out parts of the play
The actors and actresses changed clothes behind a partition wall put up on stage. Each outfit was designed for either a new character or new scene. One actor played multiple characters, so with changing their outfits they also changed their way of talking and behaving, showing us a whole new person on stage then before. But not only their acting through different characters was amazingly planned out, also their minimalistic use of props was unique. A single black rectangular wooden box was used as a versatile prop. It varied from a simple sitting space, like a couch or bench, to Gatsby’s coffin. Throughout the play it was also a car, a train seat and stage, making a simple box define the whole scene that they were playing without much change, except for there
But not just the acting and singing was great. Also the story itself was interesting as it was educational. The author F. Scott Fitzgerald, who is known for short-storys and novels describing the Jazz Age, outdid himself with the Great Gatsby, also called the Great American Novel. Not only did he describe the hope and disappointment that comes with the American Dream in this novel, he also showed the romantic idealism of the time along with social inequalities and that new money wealth doesn’t give you old money class. This is shown by Gatsby himself, he is considered new money, throwing big parties all for the sake of meeting Daisy again. Daisy, his teenage love, has married into old money. The narrator, also Gatsby’s neighbour and Daisy’s cousin, help them to meet again. Daisy’s husband, Tom Buchanan, finds out about the affair and it comes to a confrontation between him and Gatsby, Gatsby wants Daisy to tell Tom she has never loved him.
But she can’t do that. After the fall out Daisy tragically hits and runs over Myrtle, a poor woman from New York, but her husband thought Gatsby ran her over. In his anger and sadness he shoots and kills Gatsby.
The story functions as a cautionary tale that things like wealth may seem great from the outside but are just materialistic and don’t give you real happiness. Gatsby’s downfall has shown that you in-fact cannot repeat the past, even with all the money in the world, because love can’t be bought and that was shown at his funeral. No one but his friend, the narrator Nick Carraway, and his father showed up. This makes Nick leave New York disappointed in rich people, Daisy and Tom have already moved away, as if this all never happened.
