家族から「『ギャツビー』やってるよ。でもチケットは売り切れだって。」との情報。フィッツジェラルド作の「グレート・ギャツビー」はアメリカ文学を代表する作品の一つで、そのミュージカル版が上演中であることを知りました。ニューヨークでも同名の別のミュージカルを上演中で二つは競い合っているとのこと。ボストンの方はフローレンス・ウェルチ（Florence Welch）というイギリス人のシンガーソングライターが音楽を担当しているのがもっぱらの話題になっているとか。
観たい！という私の欲望が募って、劇場の窓口に行けば何とかなるのではと土曜でも仕事に出るという娘に帰りに窓口に行ってもらうことに。昼ごろ、ウエイティングリストで待っていたらチケットが買えた！との連絡が入り急ぎ劇場へ。
席に着く前に携帯を使えないように特殊な袋を渡されロックされるという初めての経験。オープンステージはメタルの岩肌の装置の中央少し低い所にピアノ。そこから左上に向かって岩に隠れるようにオーケストラの楽器が見え隠れしています。
娘によると「グレイト・ギャツビー」は高校で教材として使われて名文が多いとのこと。作品を知らないない私は開演前に大体の物語を聞いておきました。長くなるので省略しますが、ひとことで言って「今」のアメリカのミュージカルを観たという印象です。演出はトニー賞受賞者、レイチェル・シャブキンで、装置、照明、音楽、ダンス、演技の全ての力が２時間４０分に集結した舞台でした。歌もダンスの振りもかなり難しそうでしたが、主要人物やアンサンブル一人ひとりの実力は言うまでもなく凄かったです。
終わってのスタンディングオベーションと歓声に加わりながら、切符を取ってくれた我が娘っ子に感謝しました。
I got information from my family that "Gatsby" is being performed by ART now, but the tickets are all sold out. "The Great Gatsby" is a 1925 novel by F.Scott Fitzgerald and it represents American literature. The musical version was created and has been showing in Boston. Another Gatsby has been showing
in New York by a different production and people say that these two are competing with each other. There is also a hot topic that Florence Welch who is a British singer songwriter made music and lyrics in Boston's Gatsby.
Even though I heard that tickets were all sold out, I couldn't control my desire to watch it, so I asked my daughter to stop by the window of the theatre on her way back from her work to check if they still had available seats. Then she sent a message to me that she could get tickets from the waiting list. It was a Saturday at noon. I went to the theatre in a hurry.
At the theatre, we were handed a small bag which was for a cell phone and we should put the phone there so that we would not use it during the show. It was my first experience.
I saw a piano in the middle of the open stage, and it was on the stage set of which the surface looked like rock made of metal. I saw parts of other instruments which were at the upper left on the set.
My daughter told me that she read The Great Gatsby in her high school and she learned many excellent excerpts in it. Since I haven't read the book yet, I learned the story of the book before the musical started. I cannot write about the story of the stage performance in detail here but I thought that it was different from musicals I have seen previously. It was directed by a Tony award winner, Rachel Chavkin, and each theatrical role such as stage sets, lights, music, costumes, dance and acting showed their artistic talent in the 2hours 40 minutes-long musical stage performance. Both the main characters and ensemble were powerful and amazing.
I enjoyed it very much. The audience, including myself, gave a standing ovation at the end of the stage. I also thank my daughter who got the tickets.
