INTERVIEW: Paul Whitty finds the tragic heart of ‘The Great Gatsby’
Photo: Paul Whitty stars as George Wilson in The Great Gatsby: A New Musical, now playing the Broadway Theatre. Photo courtesy of Matthew Murphy and Evan Zimmerman / Provided by Vivacity Media Group with permission.
Paul Whitty is an actor who knows a thing or two about Broadway. The accomplished performer has appeared in numerous hit shows over the years, including Camelot, Come From Away, Once, Amélie, The Full Monty and Gettin’ the Band Back Together. Now he’s bringing his acting talents to The Great Gatsby: A New Musical, which is playing an open-ended run at the Broadway Theatre. The show, directed by Marc Bruni, stars Jeremy Jordan in the title role and Eva Noblezada as Daisy Buchanan.
In the musical, Whitty plays the crucial character of George Wilson, a working-class mechanic who gets involved somehow with the ritzy (and dangerous) shenanigans of the elite class who pass by his shop on their way from New York City to the estates farther east on Long Island. The actor, in a recent interview with Hollywood Soapbox, said he came to the project thanks to his connection to Nathan Tysen, who wrote the lyrics for The Great Gatsby and worked with Whitty on Amélie.
“He called me up and said, ‘Hey, would you able to do this reading?'” Whitty remembers the conversation going. “And months later, they did a reading. Originally I was really caught by the music. I thought Jason [Howland] did an amazing score.” Howland is also responsible for the music supervision and arrangements, while Kait Kerrigan wrote the book and Dominique Kelley is the choreographer.
It didn’t hurt that Whitty had faith in the source material. The Great Gatsby: A New Musical is, of course, based on one of the most famous books of all time: F. Scott Fitzgerald’s early-20th century novel, which is on the reading list of most high school and college students.
When Whitty signed up for the reading, he kept being asked back for new iterations, including an out-of-town tryout at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, New Jersey. Whitty said that the Paper Mill run was a work in progress, but the cast members knew they had a strong show on their hands. Many of the songs and choreographic moves have changed since moving to Broadway, but what remained during the transfer was this idea that The Great Gatsby may be decadent and visually astounding, but ultimately it’s a sad tale. “The story is a tragedy,” Whitty said. “And the Wilsons remind us of that tragedy.”
The class differences are on display as well, especially with the George Wilson character. Whitty sees his role as always attending to “people with the power and means.” Helping him embody this character is an amazing set piece by Paul Tate dePoo III, who is responsible for both the scenic design and projections design. For Whitty’s scenes, there’s a decrepit-looking garage with a lonely gas pump, plus an enormous billboard featuring all-knowing eyes staring down in judgment. Whitty called those eyes essentially another character in the show.
Whitty’s personal connection to the source material is an interesting one. “I did read it in high school,” he said with a laugh. “I don’t think I finished it, and maybe I used Cliffs Notes. Then I read it in college. I appreciated it more with age. Then I have revisited it [with this show]. … The American Dream as a subject matter seems to be an appealing subject.”
It’s an understatement to say that Whitty has “revisited” the novel for this Broadway engagement. He has a pre-show ritual that finds him reading a section of the book every night right before curtain. As of his interview with Hollywood Soapbox, he had already read Fitzgerald’s novel three times backstage. This ritual lets Whitty immerse himself in the language of the time period and Fitzgerald’s “verse-like sentences.” He wants the Roaring ’20s and the jazz to bleed off the page and inspire him. “I feel my responsibility is to tell this tragic story,” he said. “The cast is going through a physically taxing thing. I’m going through an emotionally taxing thing.”
Whitty added: “I’m always grateful. I’m very lucky to do what I love for a living. I don’t have a lot of ‘fun’ doing this show because it’s so serious. I love it, but it’s hard work.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
The Great Gatsby: A New Musical, featuring Paul Whitty as George Wilson, continues at the Broadway Theatre. Click here for more information and tickets.
