Bringing the glitz and glamour of the Roaring Twenties, the Montana Repertory Theatre will showcase their live adaptation of the American classic,“The Great Gatsby” Thursday evening.
The play will incorporate the same motifs and thematic concepts of the movies and novel, but it will provide a different vantage point for the audience, said OPAS student chair and urban and regional planning senior Rachel Fisher.
“That’s the great thing about the theater — you have this whole different medium,” Fisher said. “It’s not just reading words on a page or seeing things on a screen — there are live actors in front of you playing out these roles and bringing [Fitzgerald’s] words to life, so I really hope that it resonates with people and makes them think twice about the way they look at things.”
Jordan Scoville, OPAS member and civil engineering senior, said with the name recognition and star quality of the Montana Repertory Theater, the audience should be able to take away as much from the play as they would from the novel.
“[Everyone] should come see the show because it is going to be great, obviously,” Scoville said. “If you’ve ever read ‘The Great Gatsby’ or seen the movies, everyone knows it a great story and it’s going to be a great performance with the Montana Repertory Theater.”
While the flamboyant style of the Roaring Twenties is featured in “The Great Gatsby,” Fisher said she hopes people will understand the message about American capitalism that Fitzgerald and the Montana Theater Company express.
“It definitely has this side that money doesn’t buy happiness and you have to be true to your character and you can’t waver in your values because you can lose sight of who you are, but I definitely hope that people will walk away with the image Fitzgerald was trying to convey,” Fisher said.
The show begins at 7:30 p.m. Thursday evening in Rudder Theatre. Tickets can be purchased online, at the MSC Box Office, by phone or at the door.