The Great Gatsby Brings a Dazzling Musical Extravaganza Full of Glamour and Pizazz to the National Theatre
The Great Gatsby – A New Musical
Broadway at the National DC
Jordan Wright
May 13, 2026
Special to The Zebra
Cast of the First National Touring Company of The Great Gatsby. (Photo/Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade)
The Broadway hit musical The Great Gatsby is a razzamatazz retro showcase for the glitz and glamour of the Jazz Age. Set in the Roaring Twenties when flappers wore short skirts and thumbed their noses at the proprieties of the Victorian Era, danced the Shimmy and the Charleston too. All when Prohibition meant having a secret password to enter a speakeasy, where mobsters and rum-runners hobnobbed with robber barons and East Coast aristocracy. Opening with the allure of a green light from a lighthouse on the shoreline of the Long Island Sound where the bay separated the swells from the elite, this lavish production draws from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel of the same name.
Those with a proper pedigree lived in posh East Egg, a reference to the landed gentry of East Hampton, while the nouveau riche and their shady neighbors lived in West Egg, where the residents were new money. Knowing Fitzgerald’s life and works can deepen your connection to this story as it parallels his life in New York City and his passionate romance with the Southern belle and darling debutante, Zelda, his muse, whom he would later wed. Here is where I urge you to read the book and everything this iconic American author ever wrote. It will deepen your understanding of the period and Fitzgerald’s genius for capturing the gilded life.
Brought to the big stage after four movie versions (hello, Robert Redford and Leonardo DiCaprio who each played Jay Gatsby), the show manages to pack in 22 numbers, a 26-person cast, crime drama, emotional breakups, a murder, a mansion, slinky flappers and a massive chorus line backed by a terrific orchestra. In other words, it’s an extravaganza.
Jake David Smith (Jay Gatsby). (Photo/Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade)
Directed by Marc Bruni; with book by Kait Kerrigan, music by two Broadway veterans, composer Jason Howland and lyricist Nathan Tysen, this show is a paean to the big productions from that era from Florenz Ziegfeld to George White to Earl Carroll with all the elements of sass and pizazz from the Great White Way in its heyday.
Gorgeous Art Deco-influenced sets by the marvelous Paul Tate dePoo III, who earned a well-deserved Outer Critic’s Circle award for “Outstanding Scenic Design”, are stunning, and I’m tossing bouquets to costume designer Linda Cho, who won for “Outstanding Costume Design” for her designs of lavish silks, satins, feathers, hats and mountains of crystals and sequins to the switched up gangster dancers in black trench coats. And an armful of red roses to choreographer Dominique Kelly, who turned the dancers inside out with flips and throws, a knockout tap competition between two male dancers that lit up the theater, and a host of chorines’ legs kicked high into the stratosphere. Another wowza moment reveals a royal blue 1920’s convertible driven on stage and later a jaw-dropping yellow Rolls Royce.
All you need to do is sit back and watch the romances and marriages self-destruct while the fast set is feasting on lobster and champagne and burning up the stage like firecrackers. Ain’t it grand?
Flashy and splashy with buckets of pizazz!
Cast of the First National Touring Company of The Great Gatsby. (Photo/Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade)
Starring Jake David Smith as Jay Gatsby; Senzel Ahmady as Daisy Buchanan; Joshua Grosso as Nick Caraway; Leanne Robinson as Jordan Baker; Lila Coogan as Myrtle Wilson; Will Branner as Tom Buchanan; Tally Sessions as George Wilson; Edward Staudenmayer as Meyer Wolfsheim; Joann Gilliam as Catherine and Gilda Gray; Alli Sutton as Mrs. McKee; D’Marreon Alexander as Mr. McKee and Bystander #1; Anna Gassett, Josiah Hicks, Tyler Johnson-Campion, and Macy McKown as The Sugars; Shai Yammanee as Cop; Valeria Ceballos as Bystander #1; plus Joi D. McCoy, Maya Petropolis, Tim Quartier, Ryan Vogt in the ensemble. Partygoers include Kyle Caress, Rosie Granito, Kurt Kempner and Charlotte McKinley.
Lighting Design by Cory Pattak; Hair Design by Charles G. LaPointe and Rachel Geier; Orchestrations by Jason Howland and Kim Scharnberg.
Through May 24th at The National Theatre, 1321 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, DC 20004. For tickets and information call the box office at 202.628.6161 or visit www.BroadwayatTheNational.com