The original script was short at just 35 pages, and the sets, mostly made from scavenged furniture, were improvised and minimal. Audiences entered via the fire escape, over the roof, through the back of the building, and into a replica drugstore liquor store. In 2015, he was scheduled to run for only four weeks, but the following year he resumed with two new spaces. In 2017, it was featured as part of the Vault Festival in London. The show continued, first in a former carpet factory and then in an upscale building on Bond Street, and ran through January, barring a temporary hiatus due to the pandemic. Fragments have also sprung up in Belgium, Ireland, Wales and South Korea.
Wright and his producer, Immersive Everywhere, have long preferred to bring the show to New York to bring “Gatsby” to life, using both group scenes and more intimate scenes, opting for one-on-one encounters. I was hoping for a while. When the novel entered the public domain, it finally became possible. Executive producer Louis Hartshorn explored a number of abandoned office buildings, closed music venues, factories and warehouses before settling on this Midtown ballroom, a 16,000-square-foot stark, dusty canvas. visited the space. The central location and high ceilings appealed. Multiple exits and existing toilets were a plus. The Park Central Hotel is also where the gangster Arnold Rothstein, who inspired the novel’s evil Meyer Her Wolfshiem, was mortally wounded in his 1928. Hartshorn signed the deal in May last year. He was given the keys in July. Previews he was due to start in December.
“It’s amazing, it’s moving, it’s humble, it’s a little intimidating,” said Wright about bringing Gatsby to the city. It was also challenging. Recreating the glory of the 1920s requires very modern permitting processes and technology, and can face supply chain issues, which helps explain the six-month delay. .
“There’s a lot of infrastructure behind all this luxury,” Hartshorn says.
The ballroom electrical system needed an upgrade. There were some bad surprises (such as learning that the ballroom needed new air conditioning, too), but there were also some good ones. The space was carpeted, but workers removed the carpet to reveal an elegant terrazzo floor. It was also too expensive to replace the less dated chandelier, but could be reused as part of the lighting design.
