Casting has been announced for Gatsby: The Musical; Ruby in the Dust Theatre’s captivating musical adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel. Alongside period glitz and glamour, a smoky jazz score and a sprinkling of wry humour will be a strong cast of West End talent.
Leading on the stage as Daisy Buchanan will be Jodie Steele (Heathers, Theatre Royal Haymarket; Six: The Musical, Kenny Wax) who tells the story through Daisy’s eyes. Jay Gatsby will be played by Ross William Wild (Spandau Ballet; Million Dollar Quartet, Mark Goucher) while Luke Bayer (Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, Original West End Cast; Rent, Hope Mill Theatre) takes the role of Nick Carraway. Tom Buchanan will be brought to the stage by Bradley Clarkson (Guys and Dolls, Gordon Craig Theatre; Dreamcoats & Petticoats, Playhouse Theatre) and Robert Grose (Kinky Boots, Adelphi Theatre; Smokey Joe’s Café, Prince of Wales) will bring to life the notorious gangster Woolfe.
This original retelling is Intertwined with the sophisticated harmony and yearning beat of jazz, skillfully harnessed by Composer Joe Evans and Musical Director Victoria Calver. Arranged and Orchestrated by Henry Brennan, this quintessentially American art form perfectly parallels the novel’s themes of enchantment, heartbreak and optimism.
Julie Yammanee (Priscilla Queen of the Desert, David Ian Productions; Lazarus – The David Bowie Project , King’s Cross Theatre) will be playing the tragic figure of Myrtle Wilson, with Juan Lobo (In the Heights, Bridewell Theatre; Lend Me a Tenor) as George Wilson. Freddie Love (Carmen, Mediterranean Opera Studio & Festival; A Little Night Music, Hawaii Performing Arts Festival) as Jordan Baker and Oliver Mawdsley (Miss Nightingale, Mr Bugg Presents; Peterloo, Thin Man Films) as Owl Eyes also bring the 1920s, Speakeasy atmosphere to the stage, alongside Tristan Pegg (The Merry Wives of Windsor RSC) and Ash Weir, taking on all the other roles.
Gatsby: The Musical saw previous successes as a sell-out concert at Crazy Coqs in Piccadilly and an online streamed concert performance at Cadogan Hall. This production not only revels in the decadence of the period but draws out the story’s relevance to today. Ruby in the Dust Theatre are set to enchant audiences again with decadent music, elegant pacing and a talented cast at Southwark Playhouse this December.
Writer and Director Linnie Reedman comments, “Gatsby has become, over the years, synonymous with glamour, glitz and parties. What a lot of people forget, however, is that the ‘Roaring Twenties’ came immediately after a World War. And a global pandemic. It was a period of upheaval and great change. I think the story of a crushed American dreamed, juxtaposed against individual hope and optimism is essentially pertinent today…”
This production is a fresh understanding of characters and a story made compellingly resonant with the Roaring Twenties we find ourselves in once again.
