Review: Jeremy Jordan and Eva Noblezada star in ‘The Great Gatsby’ musical on Broadway

Jeremy Jordan and Eva Noblezada in ‘The Great Gatsby’ musical. Photo Credit: Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman.

Actors Jeremy Jordan and Eva Noblezada star in the new musical “The Great Gatsby” on Broadway. It is being performed at the Broadway Theatre in New York City.

Aside from Jordan and Noblezada, the cast includes Noah J. Ricketts, Samantha Pauly, Sara Chase, John Zdrojeski, Paul Whitty, and Eric Anderson.

This show was directed by Marc Bruni from a book by Kait Kerrigan, music by Jason Howland and lyrics by Nathan Tysen.

This production is a musical adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel, set in the Roaring Twenties, which is still read in high schools all over the country.

Jeremy Jordan and Eva Noblezada had solid chemistry together as Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan respectively, and their rapport allows for more resonance. Jordan’s rich, rumbling vocals were resonant and reminiscent of such vocalists as Josh Groban meets Ryan Vasquez.

Noblezada allowed her crystalline soprano voice shine throughout the show. Samantha Pauly is sassy and spunky as Jordan Baker, and she nails her musical numbers.

Noah J. Ricketts was memorable as Nick Carraway while John Zdrojeski did decent in the role of Tom Buchanan. Everyone in the cast did a fine job with the material that they had.

The only downside was that although it was a little over two a half hours in duration, it felt like it was a lot longer; several of the musical numbers could have been trimmed down a bit in duration (or could have been excluded entirely); moreover, in several instances, it didn’t fully capture the heart and essence of the book by F. Scott Fitzgerald, yet this musical is still memorable in its own distinct way.

The Verdict

Overall, “The Great Gatsby” was a lavish and entertaining new Broadway musical. It was a different type of musical adaptation than one would expect, but it worked as a whole and it is worth checking out.

The costumes and the set design was able to transport viewers back to the 1920’s. “The Great Gatsby” on Broadway garners four out of five stars.