Co-Created and Produced by Stuart Couzens and Craig Ilott, Caper & Crow. Inspired by the book ‘The Great Gatsby’ by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The Studio, Sydney Opera House. 16 Dec, 2023 – 24 Mar, 2024.
Jazz age-themed burlesque meets acrobatics, dance and circus tricks in a 75 min blast of sultry excitement. This is GATSBY at The Green Light, taking over the Studio at the Sydney Opera House with an international cast and the sliver of a classic story.
You can barely move these days without hitting a new adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s most famous work, The Great Gatsby. It has been turned into numerous ballets, operas, graphic novels, films and stage musicals (two headed to Broadway at the moment). It’s even been turned into a computer game more than once. But GATSBY at The Green Light (created by Craig Ilott and Stuart Couzens) is something different, using the story of wealth, class and obsession as more of a backdrop to a range of modern vaudevillian performances.
The vibe of the evening is “excess” and the Studio has been turned into ‘The Green Light’, a late-night supper-club and bar, complete with cabaret seating. Staff provide table service (a small array of snacks and cocktails are on offer), but things take on a life of their own as the wait-staff double as dancers, hyping up the room and supporting the series of main acts who take over the top of the bar – which transforms into a stage.
From here the aerialists take flight in a series of performances that defy gravity, as well as human anatomy (I don’t think hips, backs and necks are supposed to be able to do the things they do here). Miranda Menzies is breathtaking as she takes to the sky in mind-boggling hair-obics – I want to know what strengthening shampoo she uses. Zac Smith and Jemma Crump make things a bit more romantic with their acrobatic duo, and Oscar Kaufmann performs a mid-air striptease that would make Magic Mike blush.
It’s not all aerial work. Florian Brooks serves as a juggling bartender with flair to spare. Bettie Bombshell brings the burlesque and Bayley Graham oozes charm as he tap-dances with an energy rarely seen. They are often accompanied with live vocals by Odette who covers a number of contemporary and classic tunes like The Flying Lizards “Money” and Robyn’s “Dancing On My Own” (though the absence of Lorde’s “Green Light” feels like a missed trick).
If you’re wondering, where is Jay Gatsby in all of this? Then, well, you’re probably far too worried about the concept of a linear plot. The inspiration is more thematic than narrative. A brooding Gatsby (Beau Sargent) is seen on the fringes of the party before disrobing for a sexy acrobatic performance with his lover, under a green light no less. This show’s version of Daisy is a bit more “Gypsy Rose Lee” than any wilting flower.
Book lovers who were horrified by Baz Luhrmann’s screen adaptation should beware, this show plays even faster and looser with the source material. GATSBY at The Green Light is basically as faithful to its source material as Netflix’s horny YA Riverdale was with the kid-friendly Archie comics it was based on. The names are the same, but there is an abundance of non-story-related skin on show and with bodies like these no one is complaining. It’ll probably provide you with ample gym-spiration to get you through the festive season.
GATSBY at The Green Light is a thrilling circus show in 1920s drag with a 2020s soundtrack. It’s a sexy performance that winks in the direction of its literary origins but is more likely to make you log onto OnlyFans than GoodReads, if you know what I mean.
Cultural Binge 
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