| re: NYT review of Gatsby | |
| Posted by: AlanScott 05:39 pm EDT 05/02/24 | |
| In reply to: re: NYT review of Gatsby - garyd 12:04 am EDT 04/30/24 | |
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| I agree with what you say. I seem to think the subject of musicalizing the novel came up here years ago, and I also posted about the difficulties — near impossibility — of successfully dramatizing the novel. I think Sondheim would have thought it impossible or useless, and perhaps that is how Guettel feels, if he has even thought about it. There was also (and this is mentioned above in the thread started by Musicals54, who also says some things I agree with, although he gets one important detail wrong) a musical version written by Carolyn Leigh (lyrics), Lee Pockriss (music) and Hugh Wheeler (book) announced for production in 1969, but of course it never happened. Later, Joseph Stein was brought in to rework the book. Artie Shaw was to produce. Shaw sued David Merrick when Merrick acquired the film rights from Fitzgerald’s daughter. He said that he and his producing partner owned not only the stage rights but motion picture and record rights that might come from the musical. He claimed that Merrick had convinced Fitzgerald’s daughter to break his contract for the rights. I am linking Lincoln Center’s posting of the official video of the 2014 Unsung Carolyn Leigh concert. If you go to 39:22, the extensive section of the concert devoted to the Great Gatsby score starts. Even though some of Leigh’s lyrics are, unsurprisingly, quite good as lyrics, I can’t say that she captured the characters whose songs we hear. |
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| Link | Unsung Carolyn Leigh |
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