"The Great Gatsby" at Theatre in the Round

To celebrate their 75th season, Theatre in the Round has chosen plays and musicals with a Minnesota connection. First up: an adaptation of Minnesota writer F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic novel The Great Gatsby by playwright Simon Levy, that premiered at the Guthrie Theater twenty years ago. I re-read the novel this summer, after seeing the Broadway tour of the musical adaptation earlier this year, which didn't feel true to the novel, so I was ready for this more faithful adaptation. The beautiful and tragic story plays out in about two hours (including intermission), and portrays the darkness of capitalism, materialism, classism, and the failure of the American Dream, as well as the glitz and glamour of the roaring '20s. The Great Gatsby continues for one more weekend at the oldest theater in Minneapolis, followed by an exciting slate of Minnesota stories and/or stories by Minnesota artists.

As he is in the novel, a man named Nick, a recent transplant from humble St. Paul to a wealthy neighborhood on Long Island, is the narrator of the story. The playwright wisely includes much of Fitzgerald's gorgeous prose in this narration. We meet Nick's cousin Daisy, her brutish husband Tom, and her golf pro friend Jordan, but the titular character is a little more elusive. Nick finally meets his next door neighbor at one of his glamourous parties, and they become friendly. It turns out that Gatsby and Daisy have a past, that we see in a flashback. This love story is the driver of everything Gatsby does, and also his downfall.

Jordan (Kendra Alaura), Nick (Gavin Webb), and
Daisy (Nina Broberg, photo by Tom Taintor)

Director Vanessa Brooke Agnes accomplishes the tone of the novel, a mixture of hope and despair. The darkness is obvious from the beginning, in the ugly way that Tom (John Blocher) treats Daisy, and the sadness beneath her gaiety (well played by Nina Broberg). Gavin Webb portrays all of Nick's innocence and openness with these new people he's meeting, as well as his disillusionment as the story plays out, and Jake Leif is appropriately mysterious and romantic as Gatsby. Other highlights in the strong 13-person cast include Kendra Alaura as the confident Jordan, Sydney Lanning Payne as Tom's girlfriend, and Ian Fee as her desperate husband.

photo by Tom Taintor

A raised platform of pale pink tile covers half of the
in-the-round stage, with a circular platform in the middle that lights up on occasion. Period furniture sits along the edges, and be sure to take a peek at the detailed props (including liquor bottles and glasses) as you walk across the stage to your seat. The period music played in the party scenes (the raucous dancing choreographed by Colin Edwards) is amplified by a live sax player (Maje Adams), providing a mournful underscore for the story. The lush '20s era costumes include an array of neat three-piece suits (white and pink for elegant Gatsby, with two-toned shoes), flapper dresses, coats, headpieces, and more. (Set design by Michael Haas, lighting design by Chad Van Kekerix, costume design by Emma Shook, prop design by Roxanne Miller, sound design by Tatum Evans.)

See the classic novel by one of Minnesota's most famous authors come to life, in all its beauty and brutality, on stage at Theatre in the Round through October 4.