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THE GREAT GATSBY is coming to London | Details on the new musical transfer from Broadway in 2025
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Mickey Jo
Guess what musical theatre fans, Today's the day. At least it will be by the time that you are seeing this pre recorded video. Spooky, mysterious green light. What could it mean? Stay tuned. I'm about to tell you. Oh my God. Hey. Welcome back to my theatre themed YouTube channel. My name is Mickey Jo. I am a theatrical content creator here on social media as well as a professional theatre critic and right now I am currently in the middle of a trip to New York where I'm seeing as many Broadway and Off Broadway shows as possible and reviewing them for my YouTube channel right here. But I also cover breaking theatrical news and this morning I am hoping it has been announced that the Broadway musical adaptation of the Great Gatsby, the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel that has been several times adapted for the stage and for film, is officially transferring to a London theatre. It's coming to the West End like the location, but I don't know if we're specifically calling this a West End theatre because the Great Gatsby is going to be opening at the Colosseum, the London Colosseum, currently the home of the English National Opera. There are a few more details that I have been made aware of prior to the official announcement that I am going to be sharing with you here now that it has been officially announced and there is a little bit more speculation and a little bit of intriguing sort of side rumor as well about the original show that was going to be going to the Colosseum this summer that may have been ousted in favor of the Great Gatsby. That is all just purely hit hearsay and conjecture. I don't officially know anything as well as the whole conversation around this being one of two dueling Great Gatsby musical adaptations which were being developed recently in the US Both of which may be vying to come to London. As well as all of that, we are also going to be speculating about casting. Is there anything we can predict? Are we going to see some of the show's original Broadway stars transferring with it this summer? Much for us to discuss and I'm going to talk through it all in today's brand new theatrical news recap video. If you have thoughts about this, and I'm sure that you do, comment down below with your opinion, your thoughts. If you have seen seen the show previously on Broadway, are you excited for it to go to the West End? Perhaps you've become a fan of it through its social media presence and its cast recording and you're very excited to see it here for the first time. I say here, I'm currently in New York. We're gonna talk about it. Let me know your thoughts in the comments. And if you aren't already, please subscribe to my theatrical YouTube channel for more theatrical news as and when we get it. For now, though, let me tell you all about the Great Gatsby coming to London. So let's rewind a little bit here and discuss how this 2024 Broadway musical, which is set to receive its 2025 European and UK premiere at the London Coliseum next year, originally came to be because the circumstances around its New York arrival were a little bit interesting. This was one of two Great Gatsby musical adaptations being conceived and written and developed and brought to the stage around the same time. This because the copyright had expired on the original F. Scott Fitzgerald novel, so it makes sense that multiple people would be looking to adapt it thereafter. Now this one features a score by Jason Howland and Nathan Tyson with a book by Kate Kerrigan, and it received its world premiere production at Papermill Playhouse in New Jersey, formerly the home of newsies, perhaps what it's best known for. This one was called the Great Gatsby, a new musical. The other one would ultimately become known as an American Myth, and that was set to receive its world premiere at Art, the American Repertory Theatre, another regional US Theater. So neither of them were opening cold on Broadway. And this is what many shows do is that they open somewhere else regionally and develop and then sort of like tweak things, fine tune things, and then will transfer in to Broadway if they are successful enough to do so. And if theatre is available. Now what's curious here is that Paper Mill hasn't transferred nearly as many shows as a handful of other venues like Art, in fact. But with two shows based on exactly the same source material coming to the stage around the same time, it seemed clear to everyone that this was not just going to be about which Gatsby could do a better job in terms of adapting the story to the stage. It was a question of which one could get to Broadway first, because they would have a huge advantage. It would make it basically impossible for the other one to transfer in while the first one was still running, because you're only going to confuse tourists and undermine your own commercial viability because you've got a certain number of people who would go and see a Great Gatsby musical on Broadway already. You're cutting that in half because they have two choices. The Whether you call it luck or smart, producing the Papermill Playhouse production of the Great Gatsby managed to secure a Broadway transfer. The Broadway musical Here Lies Love closed a little earlier than planned on Broadway, leaving the Broadway Theatre, that's actually the name of the theatre, free for new tenants. Now, this is not the most desirable theatre on Broadway, both I think, because of its location and because it's a larger theatre, making it slightly intimidating in terms of, like, selling that space. But the Paper Mill production, which ran in New Jersey at the very end of 2023, was already ARR. Broadway in early 2024, making it in time for that season's Tony Awards. A hilarious footnote to all of this is that before either of them had even opened regionally, I think, or certainly before announcing plans to go to Broadway, they each had social media accounts calling themselves Gatsby, B Way and B Way Gatsby, respectively. And once the Great Gatsby and new musical had made its way to Broadway, it got, from what I recall, like lukewarm but not devastating reviews. It didn't do particularly well in terms of Tony Award nominations. I think they won possibly on their only nomination, which I think was a costume design nomination. They also didn't have the opportunity to perform on the Tony Awards broadcast, which is a really great marketing opportunity for shows to get themselves seen by a wider American audience. But an interesting thing has been happening over at the Broadway theater because the show in a season and in, you know, in a series of seasons where many shows do not run long enough to see in the next Tony Awards after their own, the Great Gatsby has been one of a handful of shows doing quite well, really. It's them and the Outsiders and Hell's Kitchen against the world right now. While Sophs is closing, Water for Elephants is closing, the Notebook is closing. Back to the Future is closing. Everything else is falling by the wayside. But the Great Gatsby is soldiering on. And there are a few reasons for this. One of them is it's, you know, it's a strong commercial title, and they're able to market it in a way that celebrates the sparkle and the decadence and the party of it all. So people coming to New York for a good, glitzy Broadway show will have a lot to enjoy about the Great Gatsby. It's also just something they've heard of in the first place. Whether they've read the book, whether they've seen one of the film adaptations, people will know what that is. And that is not to be underestimated when it comes to trying to entice tourists and potential new ticket buyers to see your show. It also makes it attractive to school groups. It's not the Outsiders, but again, it's based on a classic American novel. All of which does a great job in bringing the non traditional theater people into into the theatre. And the theatre people and the theater kids have been brought in by the compelling casting of the fantastic Jeremy Jordan and Eva Noblezado as well as the brilliant supporting cast around them. But certainly they are very popular among the theater children. Jeremy Jordan having been in Smash and having been in Bonnie and Clyde and Newsies at Paper Mill Playhouse and having, you know, made himself very popular for a whole host of adjacent projects as well, stuff like Hazbin Hotel, he's gained himself a huge number of fans who will be going to see the show just to see him perform and hear him sing with that incredible voice of his. Even Elbizada, likewise, fantastic singer, very popular because of Hadestown Prince To Plea, but has also been seen previously in Miss Saigon, which was also at the Broadway Theatre, funnily enough. And the final component of its Broadway success, I think really has been its social media marketing and the multiple people involved in this, including content creators working in a professional capacity on this show, have done a fantastic job in creating compelling, engaging, funny viral content, working with other collaborative content creators to come in and do dance trends and really trying to penetrate the zeitgeist and making these like semi viral moments among the theater community. That whole time when new money was going around everywhere and people were doing the dance with the all Money Chris money and that's not even the only Great Gatsby clip that got popular. But truly they have done a fantastic job and they have made sure that people beyond Broadway are aware of this show, which really is half the battle. And it means that, you know, a this run is going to be more successful for that, but also the show is going to have a legacy that survives and endures beyond this first Broadway run, including subsequent productions. Which brings us to the West End transfer. Now, while all of this was happening, the other Gatsby opened a little later at Art. By the time it was premiering, the Great Gatsby was already open on Broadway, which had made it basically impossible for Gatsby in American Myth to be able to transfer while the Great Gatsby was still there. They could hope at best that it might close early, but at this point it seems like it's doing unexpectedly well. So they're having to rethink. And this may have no basis in fact, but the rumor that has been circulating is that the show was making plans to go to London. Now, while the Broadway version of the Great Gatsby is quite traditional in its storytelling and in its approach, and quite glitzy and effervescent, this other one is considerably darker, from what I've heard. I haven't had the opportunity to see it yet, but it is scored by Florence Welch of Florence and the Machine, and it was directed at art by Rachel Chavkin. The rumour is that if it plans to transfer to London, this may be in a new production with a completely different creative team spearheaded by director Rebecca Frecknell, who was actually developing the project beforehand. Ms. Franklin is perhaps best known as the director of the ongoing West End and Broadway revivals of Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club. Which certainly qualifies her, I think, for a take on the Great Gatsby. Certainly one that retains this party atmosphere, but in a way that is a little darker and more brooding, which is something I would like to see. And for any naysayers about the concept of a British director taking on this inherently American story, Fregnall's best and most celebrated work has always been the work of Tennessee Williams. She does a fantastic job with Tennessee Williams plays. I loved her productions of Summer and Smoke and also A Streetcar Named Desire. So yeah, I'd be really excited to see her version of the Great Gatsby. Now, she has worked a lot at the Almeida Theatre and it wouldn't surprise me if this is exactly the kind of a venue where Gatsby in American Myth was trying to go in London. But having been beaten to Broadway by the other Gatsby, with them turning their attention across the Atlantic, what should happen? But the other Gatsby, the Broadway Gatsby realizes that they now have the opportunity to do the funniest thing and also beat them to London. And short of Gatsby and American Myth popping up very quickly between now and March of next year, that is exactly what is going to happen. So here is the news that we know. The Great Gatsby, a new musical, will play at the London Coliseum in the west end between March 17 and September 10. Those are the days I've been told they may be incorrect by the time this news has broken. I have not seen an official port press release, so I'm also gathering that there is not more information that has come out with that. I don't believe the casting has been divulged at this time. We are going to speculate, don't worry. But this is already very interesting for two reasons. One, of these reasons is that this is a very long run. This is six months at a very large theater. This is a really considerable West End arrival and they have an enormous number of tickets to shift for this show. The other interesting thing here is this is not the original musical I had heard rumored for this summer run at the Colosseum. In fact, the rumors I had been hearing quite heavily was that the musical adaptation of the film Burlesque was headed to the Coliseum, which I also thought was a slightly bold move. Not just because it's such a big venue, but also because I don't know if the audience for Burlesque and the usual audience at the Colosseum are necessarily. I don't think they live in the same Venn diagram. It seemed like an odd choice of venue for that particular show tonally, but then, who knows? The most successful thing recently seen at the London Colosseum was Spirited Away. That possibly brought in many new audience members who hadn't previously been to that venue before. Or maybe they had. But the Great Gatsby you can see there, and it's this stunning venue. It's this really classy, enormous auditorium. It is traditionally used for ballet and for opera, and because of that, the sound balance can be a little bit challenging, especially for an amplified musical. Here's to hoping that that is something they are able to navigate. But it being the size stage that it is, with any luck, this means that we will be getting the full Broadway production, which, if you haven't seen it, I don't plan to spoil it for you here. But there are exciting things that happen. There are pyrotechnics, there are big, big lush sets, there are automobiles. And that's really all I'm going to say. It's a show that looks stunning and I have seen it twice. I saw it at Paper Mill and I saw it on Broadway. They didn't make massive changes, but they improved the show in small ways. At this time, I haven't yet reviewed it here on my channel and I think now that it's been announced that it's coming to the West End, this is a perfect time. So I will be very shortly sharing my full thoughts on the Broadway musical version of the Great Gatsby and they might surprise you. Listen, I think it's the perfect show for non theatre people to go and see a Broadway musical, even if you are a theatre person. If you're looking for a Broadway musical with a capital B, this delivers on all of those fronts. There are big dance numbers, there are stylish glitzy costumes, there are gorgeous sets, they do cool things on stage. There are huge ballads with first rate world class vocalists and there is a love story and there are big emotions. And were it not for the fact that it was based on an incredibly rich novel with a lot of complex themes, then it might be really great. But does it do the best job in adapting the novel? That is a question that I will answer in my full review video. There are, there are many things that we can talk about. Of course the other consideration is that it might change further in transferring from Broadway to the West End. I'm not really expecting it to, but they implemented changes between New Jersey and New York so anything is possible. And I am pleased about this transferring. I'm certainly pleased for the UK musical theatre fans. I know there are many people I have spoken to who have been really wanting the Great Gatsby to come over. This I think is, you know, it's the influence of Eva and Jaremi. It's also the work of the social media team that has made this one of the shows from this season that is the most intriguing to UK musical theatre fans. I also, and I don't know what the story is here and then like they have had every right to come to the uk. I do have mixed feelings about them getting to Broadway first and also getting to London first. A part of it does feel like they're playing Whack a Mole with Florence Welsh and Gatsby and American Myth and every time they try and pop up in a different country, they're just hitting them with this hammer and making sure they get there first. But maybe that's just show business and I'm being a little precious about it. I would love to hear your perspective on this in the comments section. Finally. Then let's talk about the casting and what we can anticipate here because this is a Broadway transfer. And the next question I know from West End musical theatre fans is always going to be is the Broadway cast coming over with it? Are we going to see Eva and Jeremy? Are we going to see Samantha Pauley and the other fan favorite cast members from that Broadway production? And it's a possibility. It's something that could happen. Many of those stars have performed in the UK before. Jaremi has been doing concerts in the UK recently but has never done a full extended musical run. Eva of course really started her career in the UK with Miss Saigon, with playing Kim in the revival, opening that production, doing Les Mis, also Hadestown when it did its pre Broadway run at the National Theatre. So she is no stranger to London audiences. Hell, even Samantha Pauley played Eva Perron in the Jamie Lloyd directed production of Evita at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre, which is rumoured to be making a return next summer, although possibly in a slightly different version and certainly with different central casting and also sort of auspiciously. Jeremy Jordan has recently announced that he will conclude his run in the Great Gatsby early in 2025, which would give him time to transfer with the show to the West End. And certainly I think among the cast he would be the biggest draw and they need a big draw. They have a lot of seats to sell at the Coliseum. However, I have heard a rumor that he might be playing Floyd Collins in the upcoming Lincoln Center New York revival of Floyd Collins, which would clash completely and would preclude him from being able to transfer to London with the Great Gatsby. I sort of hope that this isn't the case. I mean, power to him if he wants to do Floyd Collins. But it would be great for UK audiences to get to see him in Gatsby and it would be great for the show as well. And you know, as hard as I try, I can't think of other casting that would necessarily be able to sell as many tickets because it's a hard role to put a name or celebrity into. It's very vocally challenging. It's a score that was really written seemingly around Jeremy Jordan's voice and this impressive, powerful high tenor range. I can't think of that many people that could obviously step into those shoes. And the talent that we have in the West End, many of them are unavailable. Jordan Lugage and Rob Pouchen are both going to be in Titanique. I was wondering, could they bring another Broadway star over? Even if it wasn't Jeremy Jordan? But Jonathan Groff is doing Broadway. He's gonna be opening the new musical just in time. Darren Criss is in the show. Maybe. Happy ending, possibly. There is no casting preordained at this time, but I'd be very intrigued to find out whether this is going to be a Broadway musical theatre star or a West End performer. For Daisy, my expectation is sort of that it will be a UK based performer and there's any number of former six Queens and Kims and Eponines and Eurydices that we could see playing this role. There are so many people who could do this. Just like Desmond de Cathabel off the top of my head, or Grace Moatt or Mayor Quantibris. Like there's so many people that could, that could play Daisy in the Great Gatsby. And the same for the same for the rest of the cast as well. I don't think that this is a hard show to cast in the uk. Maybe we'll see someone with a little bit more household name recognition playing Myrtle. Maybe we'll see as someone similarly playing Tom. Maybe in those supporting roles, that's where they'll try and put in some sort of celebrity names. Heck, maybe we'll see Francis Maylee McCann, who has already appeared once alongside Jeremy Jordan in the concert version of Bonnie and Clyde at Theatre Royal Drury Lane playing Daisy. That's casting. That wouldn't surprise me. And you know what? The team at the Great Gatsby will have been thinking about this as well, because whatever's happening, Jeremy Jordan is definitely departing the Broadway production. So you know he's going to need to be replaced over there. So possibly while they've been looking for Broadway replacement Gatsby's, they've had in their mind that they need to find a leading man for London as well. The reason why I wouldn't necessarily anticipate Samantha Pauley or even Oblizada or necessarily any of the rest of the Broadway cast transferring to London is that the show is still running on Broadway. And especially over there. People tend to stay in contracts and stay in roles for longer in the West End. A lot of people don't stay beyond the initial year, it's just the way things are done. But it would be strange for them to leave the Broadway production just to go and do a production in London that was always going to be a limited run while the Broadway production is still open ended. Unless of course, it's closed by then. But I don't think it will have. Actually, another factor to consider here is that performers are not paid nearly as well in London as they are in New York. Anyway, to sum up, the Great Gatsby happening in London at the London Coliseum, Big, big theatre between 17th March and 10th September, I'm excited for the show, I am excited for its fans. I'm intrigued to find out more about casting for both productions on either side of the Atlantic. And if you want to know all of my thoughts about this show artistically, then stay tuned for a full video review of the Broadway production coming very soon to my channel. Make sure you're subscribed with the notifications on so you don't miss it. In the meantime, though, I would encourage people to get tickets to see this if you are a fan of the cast recording which you can already go and listen to if you're a fan of that kind of a big splashy, glitzy musical, if that's the kind of a thing that you would love to take a group to take your parents to whatever. I think it's really a great and sort of traditionally entertaining musical especially for people who go to the theater to see something quite classic. Now that is everything I know about this news. As and when we find out more or as and when we find out about more Broadway to West End transfers or the other way around, I will be sure to be back here on YouTube giving you all the stagey updates. In the meantime, I hope you have enjoyed today's video video and I hope that everyone is staying safe and that you have a stagey day. For 10 more seconds I'm Mickey Jo Theatre. Oh my God. Hey, thanks for watching. Have a stagey day. Subscribe.