Broadway is buzzing today with the news that Florence and the Machine front woman Florence Welch will pen the music for a new production based on The Great Gatsby. According to Deadline, the musical is backed by Warner Music Group billionaire Len Blavatnik and onetime Epic Records head Amanda Ghost. Welch has signed on to write the lyrics, with Oscar-nominated producer and artist Thomas Bartlett.
The production, The Great Gatsby, A New Musical, will be written by Pulitzer-winning playwright Martyna Majok with Rebecca Frecknall directing and Robert Fox producing. Our burning question….who’s doing the costumes?! The much-hyped news of this production is the first Broadway-related announcement since the industry was shut down at the beginning of the COVID pandemic.
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While no timeline or casting decisions have yet been announced, Deadline reports that the producers said they will disclose a pre-Broadway engagement and production timeline shortly and that an original cast will be released on Warner Music.
In a statement, Welsh said: “This book has haunted me for a large part of my life. It contains some of my favorite lines in literature. Musicals were my first love, and I feel a deep connection to Fitzgerald’s broken romanticism. It is an honor to have been offered the chance to recreate this book in song.”
Notably, the British chanteuse performed the song Over the Love for Baz Luhrmann’s 2013 adaptation of the novel starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Carey Mulligan as Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan.
