By Ernest Kearney — I am not big on immersive theatre. I prefer the security of the stage separating me from the dramatic narrative and when in the performance mingling among the actors it’s sorta difficult to scribble my notes.
In this refashioning of the first chapter from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel, The Great Gatsby, the audience is realigned as the embodiment of Nick Carraway, the book’s narrator, and he/we arrive at a dinner party thrown by Daisy and Tom Buchanan (Sarah Schulte and Colin Willkie.)
Chris Lanehart and Devon Michaels supply the voice for Carraway, while Ren Montoro lounges decadently about as Jordan Baker. The brief show ends with a cameo appearance by Bill Posley as Jay Gatsby.
Every moment of every performance of immersive theatre is fraught with the possibility of disaster.
One second actors can be engaged in emphasizing the environmental experience in seeking to deepen the interaction with individual audience members and the next, they find themselves at New Jersey’s Lakehurst Airfield in time to catch the Hindenburg’s arrival.
By a mixture of intelligence and craft, backed-up by a solid cast, Gatsy has avoided any such pitfalls.
Creators Kristen Boulé and Tiffany Asta, with production designer Madylin Sweeten, have nicely employed the courtyard and front foyer of the Anthony Meindl’s Actor Workshop to serve as Carraway’s Long Island bungalow in the village of West Egg as well as the dining room and grounds of the millionaire Buchanan’s estate.
Contributing to this achievement are the onsite musicians Leslie Baker and Paul Kriebich performing the works of composer Michael Teoli, the excellent costume work of Jen Derosa, and a solidly top-notch cast.
I don’t know if my experience of The Great Gatsby’s first chapter was any deeper or more profound due to its configuration as an immersive production, but the time I spent as a guest of the Buchanan’s was hands down the classiest forty-five minutes I’ve enjoyed at the Fringe and among the most fun.
To Boulé and Asta, and their whole crew, a Silver Medal.
* * *
Gatsy – an immersive illumubatuion
was presented at
Anthony Meindl’s Actor Workshop
during the 2021 Hollywood Fringe Festival
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