PBT’s ‘Gatsby’ depicts allure and beauty of bygone era
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s “The Great Gatsby” was published in 1925 at the height of the Roaring Twenties, which most people remember for flappers in short dresses and bobbed hair doing the Charleston, an overwhelming sense of prosperity and the pursuit of the American dream.
Mr. Fitzgerald also exposed the dark underbelly of that dream, its hypocrisy and over-indulgence through alluring prose, and created what many consider the Great American Novel.
But can the Great American Novel transform into the Great American Ballet? It’s something that Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre has been pursuing since 1987.
The company unveiled its fourth production, this one by choreographer Jorden Morris, on Friday at the Benedum Center, Downtown. There are three major reasons for that decision — the larger-than-life but ultimately troubled romance between Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan, the luxurious settings on Long Island and in New York City, and, as Mr. Fitzgerald first labeled it, the Jazz Age.
The jazz-inspired score by British composer Carl Davis was sweepingly cinematic in nature, and also included popular Latin tunes for the parties. (Yes, the tango was fancied by high society then.) It was all somehow familiar and comforting and played with great panache by Charles Barker and the orchestra, immediately elevating this new production above the others, which used a patchwork of existing ’20s music.
Another patchwork, however, could be seen in the set design, a combination of Peter Farmer’s drops, which depicted a subtle artistic motion all of their own, and the steadfast grand staircases, presumably by Andrew Cavanaugh Holland and most likely alluding to the separation of class in “Gatsby.” However, a continuing “thread” of excellence in the various productions came from costumier Janet Groom Campbell, who has been a real asset to the company over the years.
At PBT Mr. Morris has been notable for his attention to theatrical detail in telling stories, formerly “Peter Pan” and “Moulin Rouge: The Ballet,” and he remained true to “Gatsby” for the most part as well.
Audience members, though, had to work to see the dark underbelly of Mr. Fitzgerald’s novel. The choreography had large chunks of typical ballet steps, which sometimes interfered with the story’s progress and time frame. Perhaps there could have been the dramadrenched style of Antony Tudor, or, on a more contemporary note, the energizing power of Annabelle Lopez Ochoa would have amplified the narrative. Or Mr. Fitzgerald’s words could have been projected to add nuance. David Rousseve recently created a touching and
informative homage to Billy Strayhorn in that vein at the Kelly Strayhorn Theater.
The cast, led by an inspired Alexandra Kochis (Daisy) and lithe Lucius Kirst, wonderful in his breakthrough role as Gatsby, squeezed all they could from the choreography. But did we really see Daisy’s shallowness? Or did we get beyond Gatsby’s long meditations?
Not necessarily. Multiple jumps with beats and virtuoso turns are fun to watch, but they don’t provide clues to character. This “Great Gatsby” primarily depicts the beauty and allure of a bygone era. Mr. Fitzgerald, though, said it best, “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”