Story by Karen Parr-Moody
CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. – Simon Levy’s stage adaptation of “The Great Gatsby” distills the heart-wrenching agony that is at the core of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s finest novel. And it does so in ways that two movie renditions could not, as guests at The Roxy Regional Theatre will find during its run from Nov. 8 to Nov. 23.
This production of “The Great Gatsby” brings the characters fully to life, underscoring in bold their shortsightedness, their missed opportunities, their fundamental vapidity. It also keeps the characters hurdling speedily toward their doom. And more so than film renditions and truer to the book, this play uncovers the finer nuances of their frailties, unchecked passions and gaping blind spots.
Adding to this adaptation is a stellar cast. There is Myrtle Wilson, the low-class girlfriend desperate to improve her life with her pathetic “list of all the things I gotta get.” Actress Ashley Harris brings to the role a convincing Queens accent and emotional fragility. Her Myrtle inspires empathy in the audience. Myrtle sees only one way out of her situation, but she dreams small and we feel it.
Michael Spaziani as Jay Gatsby perfects the sharp, confident and elegant movements of the self-made millionaire. Spaziani’s natural good looks fit the Gatsby bill; a tall blonde, he follows in the aesthetic footsteps of actors Robert Redford and Leonardo DiCaprio, who played Gatsby on the silver screen. Spaziani’s range is top notch, going from tender kisses to steely confrontations. He’s fun to watch.
Then there are the Buchanans, the unhappily married couple at the center of this unhappy mess: There’s Daisy, a golden girl of the Roaring Twenties, and Tom, the to-the-manor-born husband. Eli Jolley plays Tom with an air of insouciance reserved for the ultra-wealthy. But he keeps in reserve the white heat of anger, which is glorious to watch when he lets it roar. Michelle Foletta is a tiny slip of a thing who whips up the frothy confection that is Daisy, conveying her manic giddiness one moment, her confusion the next, and finally, her fleeting moments of clarity.
In this dynamic cast, even smaller roles are well done. Jake Jessup inhabits the role of mechanic George Wilson with a great Queens accent and a bumbling sense of frustration. Jay Doolittle plays four supporting roles, including Mr. Gatz, to which he brings a sad sense of quiet pride. Then there is a heaping dose of sassiness provided by Jacque Clydesdale as Jordan Baker and Leslie Greene as Lucille McKee.
The play’s anchor is Patrick Roberts as Nick Carraway, Daisy’s hapless cousin who gets thrown into this booze-soaked maelstrom and whose moments of epiphany give the play its moral compass. Roberts has the body language down, with his guileless, smooth movements and his cheery smile.
This play is succinct and powerful, an adaptation that brings out the strongest prose and action of Fitzgerald’s novel. At times it brought chills to this viewer, so powerful was the acting lent to a vivid script. It is one to see more than once.
Performances take place at 8 p.m. November 8, 9, 15, 16, 22 and 23. There is a 2 p.m. matinee on November 16. Tickets are $20 for adults and $15 for those 13 and younger.
They may be purchased ahead of time at the Roxy box office at 100 Franklin Street, which is open from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on weekdays, or at the door the day of the performance. They may also be ordered online at www.roxyregionaltheatre.org. For more information call (931) 645-7699.
Patrick Roberts as Nick Carraway acts in “The Great Gatsby” with Ashley Harris, who plays Myrtle Wilson.
Karen Parr-Moody began a career as a New York journalist, working as a fashion reporter for Women’s Wear Daily, a beauty editor for Young Miss and a beauty and fashion writer for both In Style and People magazines. Regionally, she has been a writer at The Leaf-Chronicle newspaper and currently writes about arts and culture for Nashville Arts magazine each month.