The Great Gatsby

The Hong Kong Ballet performed The Great Gatsby a couple months ago. When I saw the introduction of the production, I learned about the preparation for the costumes. The program materials showed such sophisticated presentation of the costumes that I bought the ticket right away.

I saw the show in early November. This may have been my first time seeing a performance by the Hong Kong Ballet and it was fantastic.

The love story of Jay Gatsby came to life in a lavish reproduction that really brought forth the polarizing undercurrents of human desires and social class that characterized the Jazz Age in 1920s America. The show was meant to bring about “aspiration and disillusionment, romantic hope and moral failing, set against the landscape of wealth and idle dissipation.” And certainly, it did not disappoint.

The Story

The show was not just a ballet. It was a musical that featured ballet as the medium to convey a work of literature representative of the glory and the gloom of an exceptional time in history.  When the curtain was drawn Nick Carroway appeared first in a narration that introduced the audience to the story. The performance then moved forward in a rapid pace to introduce each of the main characters, with Jay Gatsby and Daisy Buchanan at the forefront.

In terms of character development, however, I found the choreography of Myrtle being the most memorable in the show. Her dance was sensual, sexy with a beauty that exuded decadence at the same time, luring the audience into all kinds of imagination about this character. And as we all know, she was the tragic character whose death would spark the revenge by her husband George to kill Jay Gatsby in the end.

Photo: Myrtle and Buchanan

Nick Carroway’s brief monologues would appear throughout the show to give the narrative context for the audience, and the actor has delivered this aspect of the show well, staying true to the typical elegance in original author F. Scott Fitzgerald’s writing.

The Dance

Certainly, ballet was a good form of art to bring out the elegance of 1920s, which by now is considered a classic era. Yet the 1920s being known also as the “Roaring 20s,” the notable strands of sentiments that symbolize this age were also suitable for other forms of dance, and the creators of the show did explore the creative room that the subject matter presents. Besides the classical ballet, I observed also jazz and tap dancing. Of course, the flapper and Charleston dances were also featured as the epitome of the era’s spirit of new money, materialism and social class divisions.

These different forms of dance were incorporated well into the narrative, and it was a great show because it presented the story and front and centre, with the dance as both the form and substance for plot development. I thought the New York street parade scene that appeared in the earlier part of the show was exceptionally staged, fully embodying the vivacity of a city blessed, even then in the 1920s, with a diversity of life within the homogeneity ideal of the melting pot.

This scene of frivolity would come to mind again when Mrytle’s own living space with George at the “Valley of Ashes,” which was essentially a garbage dump, was staged. In significant contrast, the show lends sympathy to the forgotten class living in desolation, bringing into full play the central tensions that drive the development of the story.

Photo: Daisy and Jay

The Music  

There was a live band of seven jazz players playing throughout the show, with music director Billy Novick composing the ballet’s score and also performing. Vocalists blues singer E. Faye Butler and James Seol sang through the iconic scenes of upper class parties and brought forth a deliberate sense of authenticity.

Overall, the Hong Kong Ballet has made an all-rounded and exceptional production with the Great Gatsby. Every aspect of the performance showed creativity, thoughtfulness and faithfulness to the original story. I thought the greatest success of the show was the innovative fusion of different forms of art, in its music, choreography, costume design, narration and staging. The front stage actors and the backstage staff have performed perfectly well and created a great cultural experience for the audience.

Given this great experience, I would certainly sign up for more shows by the Hong Kong Ballet in the future.

Sources

The Program of The Great Gatsby.