Great ‘Gatz’ recreates ‘The Great Gatsby’

Fitzgerald's classic American novel gets an absorbing marathon staging

BY MICHAEL SOMMERS

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

OFF BROADWAY REVIEW

One of the most remarkable shows I have thrilled to in years, "Gatz" demands the imagination of viewers nearly as much as its marathon performance exacts unusual artistry from its players.

Unless you are prepared to go along with the magic being made before your eyes and ears, better stay home with a good book and leave the seat for somebody willing to engage with the enchantment being offered.

I must confess to being skeptical about the possibilities of Elevator Repair Service's incarnation of "The Great Gatsby," F. Scott Fitgerald's classic 1920s novel about a striving but doomed bootlegger. But ever hopeful, off I went to last Sunday's preview at the Public Theater, where the production opened on Wednesday.

Without a doubt this show proves to be an incredibly inventive and creative page-to-stage adaptation in which every word of Fitzgerald's relatively slim novel is read aloud in a marathon staging that runs eight hours or so inclusive of a 70-minute dinner break and two 15-minute intermissions.

Devised by the 13-member ensemble and directed seamlessly by John Collins, "Gatz" unfolds within a bleak office-lounge area in some unnamed type of small industrial business. Designed with shabby realism by Louisa Thompson, the drab room holds a battered couch plus a few desks, mismatched chairs, file cabinets and looming metal shelves crammed with office supplies. From the antiquated looks of the computers and large cell phones being used, the time appears to be the early 1990s.

An employee enters, cardboard cup of coffee in hand, flicks on the harsh fluorescent lights overhead and starts his computer. Waiting for the balky machine to boot up, he finds a paperback copy of "The Great Gatsby" amid the clutter on his desk. Hesitantly, awkwardly, he begins to read the novel aloud.

Over the next 30 minutes, this boyish, red-headed man (Scott Shepherd) neatly dressed in a blue Oxford shirt and grey flannels slowly grows into the voice and character of Nick, the novel's chief narrator who lives next door to rich, mysterious Gatsby's mansion on Long Island.

While he reads, other workers drift in and around the office going about their business or chatting in mumbles. After a while you realize the employee flicking through a golf magazine on the couch while on her break (Susie Sokol) resembles Jordan Baker, the deceitful socialite, and how that strapping foreman with the clipboard (Gary Wilmes) strongly suggests Tom Buchanan, the careless millionaire.

Eventually the novel's other characters emerge among the office staff and start speaking the dialogue. The comely executive in pearls is elegant, evasive Daisy (Victoria Vazquez), the tech guy fiddling with the computer is the wretched garage owner George (Aaron Landsman) and that balding, cadaverous boss at the adjoining desk becomes enigmatic Jay Gatsby (Jim Fletcher).

By some marvelous alchemy of Fitzgerald's writing, canny staging, persuasive acting and audience imagination, "The Great Gatsby" comes to life, complete with dissolute Gold Coast parties, encounters at the Plaza, roadster journeys and raffish Jazz Age atmosphere. The realization that all of this 1920s glamour is being evoked within such dreary everyday surroundings is startling and wonderful.

This reading-performance process further allows spectators to savor the sheer beauty of Fitzgerald's prose as he describes these people and their world. Sound designer Ben Williams, unobtrusively seated at a console at one side of the office, briefly participates in the action as a character. But mostly Williams creates a richly detailed yet subtly rendered sound scape that ceaselessly enhances the story at every layer, be it muffled factory noises or the midnight twitter of summer lawns. Lighting designer Mark Barton similarly contributes multitudes of moods, drama and ambience to the production.

A particularly exquisite moment the designers provide is the nighttime scene as Gatsby gazes longingly across the bay towards Daisy's distant house where a green light glows. In utter contrast is the raucous eruption of a sordid booze-soaked party hosted by Tom and his luckless mistress Myrtle (Laurena Allan) in their untidy love nest.

The performances of the entire company are incredibly effective but special mention must be made for Shepherd, who portrays sympathetic Nick so nicely as well as reads aloud almost the entire novel.

Other than once more warning you to be willing to suspend disbelief and to listen intently, what else do you need to know to fully enjoy "Gatz"? Wear comfortable clothes. You will be surprised how quickly the hours pass during this totally absorbing and thoroughly remarkable production.

"Gatz" continues through Nov. 28 at the Public Theater, 425 Lafayette St., New York. Call (212) 967-7555 or visit www.publictheater.org.