New Jersey Stage logo
New Jersey Stage Menu



 

REVIEW: "The Great Gatsby" at Paper Mill Playhouse


By Adam F. Cohen

originally published: 10/23/2023

Noah J. Ricketts as Nick Carraway in Paper Mill Playhouse's The Great Gatsby, directed by Marc Bruni. Photo © Jeremy Daniel

For 85 years, Paper Mill Playhouse has presented musicals and plays with loving flair.  The house is saturated in history – near financial ruin, fire, and a devotion to theatrical arts.  For a banner anniversary, the theater unfurls a resplendent, largely glorious world premiere production of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby reflecting the complications of romance.  Book a seat on the Morris & Essex New Jersey Transit line for the musical ride of your life.

The jazz age novel, a high school English curriculum favorite, translates superbly well to the stage. The production is richly beset with gorgeous sets, lights and costumes, a spry knowing intelligent book, and witty lyrics with amazing performances by a gloriously talented, intelligent cast.  Resplendence abounds.

Jeremy Jordan, especially Eva Noblezada, Samantha Pauly, Noah J. Ricketts, and John Zdrojeski are perfectly cast.  They sing beautifully, whipping the audience into frenzy with several numbers filled with hopeful possibility of a happy ending.  And Stanley W. Mathis is a welcome addition to any cast.  His Wolfsheim’s menace meshes well with Zdrojeski’s ill founded, but increasingly protective jealousy.

Noah J. Ricketts as Nick Carraway, John Zdrojeski as Tom Buchanan, Eva Noblezada as Daisy Buchanan, Samantha Pauly as Jordan Baker. Photo ©Evan Zimmerman for Murphy Made




Promote your shows at New Jersey Stage! Click here for info



In the spring of 1922, World War I vet Nick Carroway (Ricketts) rents a cottage in West Egg on Long Island provided by fellow veteran and new money millionaire Jay Gatsby (Jordan).    Across the water in the more refined village of East Egg live his cousin Daisy (Noblezada) and her brutish, absurdly old-money wealthy husband Tom Buchanan (Zdrojeski).

At the Buchanan’s for dinner, Nick meets Jordan Baker (Pauly), a friend of Daisy’s and a well-known golf champion.  The two set off for a party at the mysterious Jay Gatsby’s palatial mansion.  Gatsby urges Nick to invite Daisy to lunch at Nick’s.  Gatsby has spent the last five years building his wealth, mansion, and persona to win back Daisy.  Turns out the Buchanan’s are unhappily married – with Tom having an affair with mechanic/gas station owner Tom Wilson’s (Paul Whitty) wife Myrtle (Sara Chase).  The complications laid plain as tragedy ensues.

Ricketts finds himself drawn increasingly into the more flamboyant lives of others.  His performance is open and genuine.  Pauly shatters her cynicism for the possibility of passionate love.  Their performances are nothing short of perfection.

With resplendent, gorgeous sets and projections by Paul Tate dePoo III, the tone and look are quickly set.  The Long Island sound with slightly stormy water and ominous clouds greets the audience, before it rises to reveal a massive party in Gatsby’s plush mansion.  dePoo accurately recreates Grand Central Station and vividly contrasts the wealth with the Wilson’s garage with an eye doctor’s billboard looming over it.  The detail is admirable and Tony-worthy.  Linda Cho’s costumes are equally impressive – rendering party goers in high fashion; perfectly-tailored suits for Gatsby and Tom; and an array of dresses for the women.  Cory Pattak’s lighting design gloriously and delicately compliments, working in great synchronicity with the sets to move from bright to ominous.  It is particularly deft with the Wilson’s gas station and billboard.  The design elements deserve their own ovation.

Jeremy Jordan as Jay Gatsby. Photo ©Evan Zimmerman for Murphy Made

Kait Kerrigan’s book and the lyrics by Nathan Tysen are wonderful.  They craft – with Jason Howland’s music several anthemic songs that will assuredly be utilized for auditions and cabarets for decades to come.  Howland’s score surprisingly lacks jazz.  For such a confident production, we’re given well-crafted music that leans more towards restraint than possibility.  And perhaps that’s in keeping with director Mark Bruni’s vision of the novel, richly appointed passion tamping the tragedy to come.

That Howland saddles Jordan with some high notes in his first number convey nervousness for the character.  But they undercut a steely confident, performance and characterization.  Nobelzoda sings gorgeously and embodies Daisy with a steely resolve and unhappiness.  There is a richness to Kerrigan’s book and Bruni’s direction – that builds groundswells of emotion for all the performers.

We, too, want the long-awaited reunion between this ex-poor boy soldier and his society-girl muse to be perfect. He’s worked so hard and waited for so long, after all. He made something of himself against all odds—now he’s no longer just “some nobody” whom Daisy’s father forbids her from marrying.  It’s all rewarded the moment their eyes meet.




Promote your shows at New Jersey Stage! Click here for info



Jeremy Jordan as Jay Gatsby, Eva Noblezada as Daisy Buchanan, Samantha Pauly as Jordan Baker. Photo ©Jeremy Daniel

Jeremy Jordan (Gatsby) embodies smooth charm and loving determination for Daisy (Eva Nobeldoza).  Rickett’s Nick is all brisk sweetness—and he interacts in a very inclusive, kind way with the audience, shrugging and apologizing at all the craziness he embarrassingly but gradually enthusiastically finds himself caught up in. Daisy and Jordan Baker are archetypal good time girls painfully aware of the thin ice beneath their whirling heels and golf clubs.  We believe their friendship is built on more than convenience.

Kerrigan’s book and Tysen’s lyrics offer many ingeniously sly degrees to shape all the characters and situations.  Marc Bruni’s directly weaves these elements to perfection in brilliantly paced, loving production.  It honors Fitzgerald’s narrative rhythms and infectious seduction in wonderful ways.

Fitzgerald’s themes are patently and brilliantly laid out by the gorgeous production.  Though you can’t turn back time or recapture certain youthful dreams, you can yearn.  Do all you can to grab a ticket for Paper Mill’s scintillating production of The Great Gatsby.

Eva Noblezada as Daisy Buchanan and Jeremy Jordan as Jay Gatsby. Photo ©Jeremy Daniel

Tickets and more information at www.papermill.org - performances run through November 12, 2023.  Paper Mill Playhouse is located at 22 Brookside Drive in Millburn, New Jersey.


 

EVENT PREVIEWS

Bergen

Bergen County Players to Host Special Post-Show Talkback with Tony Nominated Actress Beth Fowler

(ORADELL, NJ) -- Bergen County Players (BCP), one of America's longest-running little theater companies, will host a special post-show talkback with Tony nominated actress Beth Fowler, on Friday, May 16, 2025 at the Little Firehouse Theatre in Oradell. The talkback will take place immediately following the 8:00pm performance of Stephen Sondheim's A Little Night Music, now on stage thru June 1. Beth will discuss her successful career from "BCP to Broadway."



Burlington

Burlington County Footlighters presents "Fiddler on the Roof"

(CINNAMINSON, NJ) -- Burlington County Footlighters presents Fiddler on the Roof across three weekends from May 2-17, 2025. The classic musical is set in the little village of Anatevka, the story centers on Tevye, a poor milkman, and his five daughters. With the help of a colorful and tight-knit Jewish community, Tevye tries to protect his daughters and instill them with traditional values in the face of changing social mores and the growing anti-Semitism of Czarist Russia.



The

The Village Playbox presents "Man of La Mancha"

(HADDON HEIGHTS, NJ) -- The Village Playbox presents Man of La Mancha weekends from May 2-17, 2025. This is one of the world's most popular musicals. Inspired by Miguel de Cervantes' 17th-century masterwork Don Quixote, it is set during the Spanish Inquisition.



For

For the Whim Productions presents "Sense & Sensibility"

(BRIDGETON, NJ) -- For the Whim Productions presents Sense & Sensibility weekends from May 9-17, 2025. Jane Austen's classic novel is brought to life in Kate Hamill's brilliantly funny, fast-paced stage adaptation, which utilizes a chorus of lively Gossips to enhance the sense of a socially stifling world, and encourages inventive choreography, bold characterization, and creative doubling to produce a fresh take on a well-beloved story.



Chatham

Chatham Players presents "Home, I'm Darling"

(CHATHAM, NJ) -- Chatham Players presents Home, I'm Darling weekends from May 2-17, 2025. Every marriage needs a little fantasy to keep it sparkling. But behind the gingham curtains, being a domestic goddess isn't as easy as it looks... This is Laura Wade's dark comedy about sex, cake and the quest to be the perfect 1950s housewife.



FEATURED EVENTS

ART | COMEDY | DANCE | FILM | MUSIC | THEATRE | COMMUNITY

To narrow results by date range, categories,
or region of New Jersey
click here for our advanced search.


1776

1776

Friday, May 16, 2025 @ 8:00pm
Algonquin Arts Theatre
60 Abe Voorhees, Manasquan, NJ 08736
category: theatre


 

McCarter

McCarter Theatre Spring Costume Shop Sale

Friday, May 16, 2025 @ 10:00am
McCarter Theatre Center
755 Alexander Road, Princeton, NJ 08540
category: theatre


 

Green

Green Honey Love

Friday, May 16, 2025 @ 8:00pm
Middletown Arts Center
36 Church Street, Middletown, NJ 07748
category: theatre


 

"How

"How The Light Gets In" by E. M. Lewis

Friday, May 16, 2025 @ 8:00pm
South Camden Theatre Company
400 Jasper Street, Camden, NJ 08104
category: theatre


 

Once

Once Upon A Crime

Friday, May 16, 2025 @ 6:00pm
Avenel Performing Arts Center
150 Avenel Street, Avenel, NJ 07001
category: theatre