Gallimaufry -- a Hodge Podge of Thoughts Prompted by Local, Global & Cultural Events

Gallimaufry -- a Hodge Podge of Thoughts Prompted by Local, Global & Cultural Events

By Elyse  Sommer

Friends with whom I maintain a steady email conversation often receive one from me with a subject heading of "This and That." The contents include a numbered list of topics to which the recipient can then respond. And so, by calling this missive Gallimaufry, I'm simply indulging in a linguistic borrowing from sixteenth-century French cooks who concocted a stew that contained a little of this and that.

I'm using this old-world title to gather some glad/sad thoughts and memories kicked up by life right  where I live and further afield. I'll start with what's closest -- my home territory. I'm fortunate to live in a neighborhood that remains a suburban-like oasis, with tree-lined streets convenient to restaurants,  grocery markets and quick transportation (subway, Long Island Railroad, buses) to NewYork's business and entertainment hub. Despite skyrocketing rents and purchase prices, young people continue to move here. What's more, instead of allowing the dire climate disasters and deplorable incidents of gun violence to discourage them, they courageously opt to raise families. Watching some of their "pandemic babies" become lively toddlers and getting to know them and their parents has socially enriched my daily walks and compensated somewhat for the social interaction that was integral to my previous busy life as Curtainup's editor and critic-in-chief.

Less upbeat and decidedly worrisome is the rise of authoritarian heads of state and the disastrous conflict in the Middle East. To ramp up these worries, that conflict has led to protests and an increase in antisemitism on local campuses and streets.

As for theatercentric happenings, I may be retired but I remain an armchair observer of the beat that  kept me super busy for a quarter century. Thus, below are comments on some happenings along the  area encompassing what's known as The Great White Way.

For starters, the practice of renaming theaters to honor notable practitioners of playwriting, directing  and performing continues, which also supports the bottom line and makes them more commercially  viable enterprises. Several theaters have been renamed since my retirement. But the most spectacular  new look on Broadway is the renovated Palace Theater. Eight years of work culminated in the entire  theater being raised 30 feet in the air. The airlifted venue will open with a concert by Ben Platt and   then followed by Tammy Faye, a new musical about the famous and also infamous preacher's wife. Katie Brayhen plays Tammy Faye and Andrew Rannells plays her spouse.

While I'd probably go to press previews of both the above, I would have had one of my musical  enthusiast backups do the reviews. On the other hand, two upcoming plays would top my see-and-  write-up list: Good Night, and Good Luck and The Mother.

I saw and liked the 2005 movie, Good Night, and Good Luck (the signature sign-off line of famed  newscaster Edward R. Murrow). The movie starred David Strathairn as Murrow and Georce Clooney as Fred Friendly. With Clooney scripting, directing and taking the lead, this stage adaptation would  certainly be on my list of must-see as well as write-about upcoming new plays.

Of course, I wouldn't miss anything by the great Paula Vogel -- not the revival of her Pulitzer-Prize-winning How I Learned to Drive when it was at the Samuel Friedman or her new play, The Mother,  which revisits the story about the brother whose loss she dramatized in The Baltimore Waltz before she  and its downtown cast became famous. The reviews of the new take at the Helen Hayes rejiggered one of my most memorable theater outings.

As always, and especially given that audiences are still hesitant to pay costlier-than-ever ticket prices   except for big-cast, sure-fire musicals, the remarkable solo play Prima Facie is having an unusual and  fascinating off-stage life. A recorded version of the show is being made available to judges who deal with sexual assault cases in Northern Ireland's courts. Bravo for harnessing the play for this valuable  function. 

Hopefully, the whole season, but especially the plays, on what would be the top of my must-see-and-  review list will be filmed so that I'll have a chance to watch on my home screen. No, it won't be the  same, but will give me a front-row view of the actors' faces and gestures. That view is only available   to people in the first five or six rows of a Broadway theater's top-priced orchestra seats.

The Many Lives of the Great Gatsby

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The Many Lives of the Great Gatsby by Elyse Sommer

The theater has come back to life with almost a dozen new productions recently opening over the course of less than two weeks and with more announced in the months ahead. As always, shows on  offer include a mix of plays and musicals -- some new, some revivals. Works in the public domain can  be adapted without writers or their heirs granting permission and receiving royalties.

 F. Scott Fitzgerald's oeuvre doesn't go quite as far back as Shakespeare's. Though his The Great Gatsby actually had an unsuccessful first outing in 1925, the book eventually gained status as a classic. And so, the mysterious Gatsby's narrative did have a full and diverse cultural life even before it entered  the public domain in 2021. I won't go into chapter and verse about the ramifications of copyright law. Instead, I'll begin this feature with a brief rundown of its history as staged, filmed and reimagined in print.

Gatsby on Stage

The first known stage adaptation was a drama by Owen Davis, who earlier received a Pulitzer Prize for drama in 1923. The play was directed by George Cukor, later widely known as a film director. That version of The Great Gatsby opened to a successful run on Broadway in 1926 with several subsequent runs elsewhere.

The most inventive staging, to my mind, was the Elevator Repair Service Company's Gatz, presented at  the Public Theater in 2010.The eight-hour reading by a cast of terrific actors combined the pleasure of  reading the book and also experiencing theater. If you're too young to have seen it, you may want to   read my wonderful Curtainup colleague Les Gutman's review, which can be found at http://www.curtainup.com/gatzpublic.html

Last year, The Great Gatsby:The Immersive Show saw part of the Park Central Hotel done up to replicate the former Gatsby Mansion near Central Park. However, that show didn't hit the mark like the Macbeth-sourced Sleep No More that ran for years at the McKittredge Hotel. The Immersive Gatsby closed after a brief run.
 
 In 1999, the New York Metropolitan Opera commissioned John Harbison to compose an operatic treatment of the novel to commemorate the 25th anniversary of its music director, James Levine. Ballet versions of The Great Gatsby have included the 2009 performances by BalletMet Columbus at The Capitol Theater in Columbus, Ohio, and a 2010 production by the Washington Ballet at the Kennedy Center.

The novel also has been adapted into a series of radio episodes, starting with a half-hour-long episode for the CBS Family Hour of Stars with Kirk Douglas as Gatsby. The story also was read aloud as a 10-part BBC Radio Serial. The first of several short TV movies aired on the popular Robert Mongomery Presents series and starred Montgomery. Publishers also have released several versions of The Great Gatsby in graphic format, with a new publication coming along later this year.

And, yes, there have been Gatsby-inspired video games!

Gatsby Movies

The first Great Gatsby movie was a silent version of the above-mentioned early Broadway play, starring Warner Baxter and William Powell. Only a trailer of that movie still exists. But two later movies can be seen on your home screen. The first, from 1974, was directed by Jack Clayton and  starred Robert Redford and Mia Farrow as Gatsby and Daisy, and Sam Waterston as Nick Carraway. I like Mia Farrow but not her Daisy. A more watchable Daisy can be found in the Baz Luhrmann-directed adaptation that starred Leonardo DiCaprio and Carey Mulligan. While the movie versions of The Great Gatsby understably made Gatsby the narrator, in the novel, it was Nick Carraway who narrated and observed. Consequently, the movies haven't bested the book. For me, it remains well worth a now-and-then reread. 

While Shakespeare always intended for his plays to be watched, Fitzgerald's intention was that audiences meet his characters on the page. But I've found Shakespeare difficult to read -- except after  hearing his language actually spoken and the charaxters visualized on a stage.

And Now -- The Great Gatsby Musical

Novels and plays have regularly been turned into musicals. Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew was a huge hit as Kiss Me Kate, and the durable hit, The Lion  King, is Shakespeare sourced. But The Great  Gatsby, while enjoying a diverse cultural life, has never been turned into a musical. That is, until now. Not one but two Great Gatsby musicals have been created at non-profit regional theaters known for having their premiere shows transfer to Broadway -- the Paper Mill Playhouse and the Boston  Repertory Theater. Both productions feature stellar creative teams and performers. The Papermill show has already made the move and hopes to be selling tickets at the Broadway theater for a long time.

The Boston Repertory Theater's team also has all the hit-making elements. But with the theater still  struggling to come back from the pandemic and the cost of tickets higher than ever, filling the seats in a big Broadway house is a challenge. And so, no matter how well cast and staged, only the most dedicated musical theatergoers are likely to see two singing Gatsbys. Thus, it remains to be seen if the  Boston Rep opts to transfer its production.

I do tend to prefer dramas to musicals, so if I were still Curtainup's editor and critic-in-chief, I'd  probably check out the Gatsby musical (or musicals) but assign the review to one of  my backup critics. I certainly would not miss seeing and writing about the revival of John Patrick Shanley's Doubt or the  great Paula Vogel's new play Mother with Jessica Lange, Celia Keenan Bolger, and Jim Parsons that's  coming to the Hayes Theater in June. I'd also check out the latest version of Ibsen's Enemy of the  People, sadly more relevant than ever.

A final word about the difference between reading and watching. I recently watched the 2015 film version of Thomas Hardy's Far From the Madding Crowd, which stars Carey Mulligan and is available to stream on Max. I found reading that novel, as part of a college literature course, to be rather dull and slow. However, Mulligan and her fellow actors brought the story, locale and era to rich and enjoyable life.  

P,S. After initially posting this blog, my good friend Simon mentioned the noorish 1949 movie version of The Great Gatsby, directed by Elliott Nugent and starring Alan Ladd and the wonderful Betty Field as Daisy. That movie did not make the final version of the blog, but I wanted to give it a nod, so I'm republishing with this note.  -- Elyse Sommer