GATZ FAQ

1. Why is it called GATZ?

Gatz is Jay Gatsby's real name. “James Gatz — that was really, or at least legally, his name,” chapter 6.

2. How long is it?

The entire performance, including a 1-hour dinner break between Parts I & II, lasts about 7 1/2 hours. Each of the two parts is split in half by a 10-minute break:

Chapters 1, 2, 3	2:00
— break —	0:10
Chapters 4, 5	1:10
— dinner —	1:15
Chapter 6, part of 7	1:25
— break —	0:10
End of 7, Chapters 8, 9	1:25

3. Do you really read every single word of “The Great Gatsby” during the show?

Yes, every printed word in the 9 chapters of the novel, excluding the chapter titles themselves (“Chapter 1,” etc).

4. Which edition of the novel do you use?

The 1995 Scribner Paperback, ISBN 0-684-80152-3.

5. Is there any text in GATZ that is not from “The Great Gatsby”?

Only the lyrics to “The Love Nest,” a song Klipspringer plays on the piano in chapter 5, and some low muttering and background conversation here and there not really meant to be heard.

6. What are the lyrics to “The Love Nest”?

Just a love nest
Cozy and warm
Like a dove breast
Down on the farm
A veranda with some sort of clinging vine
Or a kitchen where some rambling roses twine
In a small room
Tea set of blue
Best of all room
Dream room for two
Better than a palace with a guilded dome
Is a love nest you can call home

7. Why don't you do GATZ in New York?

GATZ has had confirmed offers from both the New York Theater Workshop and the New York Public Theater, but the Fitzgerald Estate has withheld permission for any performances in New York, giving priority to a play called “The Great Gatsby” by California playwright Simon Levy.

8. I heard that narrator guy actually knows the whole book by heart. Is that true?

Yes.

UPCOMING PERFORMANCES

• American Repertory Theater, Boston: Jan 7-Feb 7, 2010

• Singapore Arts Festival, Singapore: May 21-23, 2010

James Gatz — that was really, or at least legally, his name.

One morning in the low-rent office of a mysterious small business, one employee finds a ragged old copy of The Great Gatsby in the clutter of his desk and starts to read it out loud. And doesn't stop.

At first his coworkers hardly seem to notice, but then weird coincidences start happening in the office, one after another, until it's no longer clear whether he's reading the book or the book is doing something to him. . . .

6 hours long and with a cast of 13, Gatz is by far ERS's most ambitious endeavor yet — not a stage adaptation of Fitzgerald's novel but a verbatim reading of the entire book, accomplished by the staff of a small office in the midst of their increasingly bewildering business operations.

REVIEWS

Breathtakingly good theater. In what is an especially successful edition of the Holland Festival anyway, this is a high point . . . the multiple layers are played with unbelievable cleverness by the thirteen actors. Scott Shepherd as Nick is a masterful narrator who carries the hypnotic rhythm of this marathon performance with seeming ease . . . leaves the audience with that melancholy emptiness that comes with the end of something great.

— Het Parool, Amsterdam

Shepherd gives as fine a reading of these lines as one could imagine...

"Gatz" creates its own dramatic universe. It illuminates a familiar text, breathing strange new life into it while honoring its inherent completeness. One is left not primarily with the expected exhaustion, but with a unique and lasting texture of amusement, insight and possibility.

— Variety

In a staging that teems with good ideas, John Collins pulls off an incredible gamble, transposing this story of passion and new riches on verdant Long Island into a world of filing and paperwork.

— Le Soir, Brussels

A theatrical tour-de-force from the New York Company Elevator Repair Service . . . [Gatz] is fascinating to watch: exciting and funny and extremely well thought out.

— De Volkskrant, Amsterdam

"Gatz" is not the kind of interpretation one expects in the theater, but God, how precisely it captures the novel... "Gatz" ought be mandatory for all people of the theater.

— Klassekampen, Oslo

PAST PERFORMANCES

• May 2009 Brisbane Powerhouse, Brisbane

• May 2009 Sydney Opera House, Sydney

• Nov 2008 Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago

• Nov 2008 EMPAC, Troy NY

• Sep 2008 Ulster Bank Theatre Festival, Dublin

• Sep 2007 On The Boards, Seattle
• Sep 2007 PICA TBA Festival, Portland
• Sep 2007 Live Arts Festival, Philadelphia
• Jun 2007 Culturgest, Lisbon
• Jun 2007 Vienna Festival, Vienna
• Dec 2006 Studio Bergen/Teatergarasjen, Bergen
• Dec 2006 Trondelag Theater, Trondheim
• Dec 2006 Black Box Theater, Oslo
• Sep 2006 The Walker Art Center, Minneapolis
• Aug 2006 Zurcher Theater Spektakel, Zurich
• Jun 2006 The Holland Festival, Amsterdam
• May 2006 KunstenFESTIVALdesArts, Brussels

PRESS

Chicago Tribune 17 November 2008
At six-plus hours, stage take on 'Gatsby' a great one indeed by Chris Jones

The Point Magazine Spring 2009
Review: Gatz by John Beer

Time Out Chicago 13-19 Nov 2008
Fitz of Passion by John Beer

Chicago Sun-Times 15 November 2008
Baring the heart, soul of 'Gatsby' by Hedy Weiss

Irish Times (Dublin) 4 October 2008
'Gatz' is great, but 'Metamorphosis' has altered too much by Fintan O'Toole

The Independent (London) 3 October 2008
Observations: A joyful day in the company of the Great Gatsby by Larry Ryan

Irish Times (Dublin) 29 September 2008
Review of Gatz at the Project by Peter Crawley

ArtForum: Best of 2007 December 2007
On the Ground: New York by Debra Singer

The New York Times Magazine 9 December 2007
The Unadapted Theatrical Adaptation by Jason Zinoman

The New York Times 16 September 2007
This Week Ahead: September 16-22 by Jason Zinoman

The Village Voice 12-18 September 2007
Avant-Garde, PA by Alexis Soloski

The Bulletin 4 September 2007
Technical, Classical Brilliance Opens Festival by Jim McCaffrey

Publico (Lisbon) 4 July 2007
The Great Gatsby in the Theatre: A Brilliant Marathon by Rita Martins

Die Presse (Vienna) 17 June 2007
A Triumph of Literature over Time by Anne-Catherine Simon

Klassekampen (Oslo) 12 December 2006
The novel as novel by Therese Bjørnboe

Variety 1 October 2006
Gatz by Quinton Skinner

Neue Zürcher Zeitung (Zurich) 28 August 2006
A Slice of Happiness in the Tristesse of the Roaring Twenties by Alexandra Kedves

Landboote (Zurich) 28 August 2006
Under the Spell of a Novel by Stefan Busz

Tages-Anzeiger (Zurich) 28 August 2006
Textual Fidelity Reborn Through the Medium of Soap Opera by Tobi Müller

The New York Times 16 July 2006
'Gatz' and 'The Great Gatsby' Vie for Broadway Stages by Jason Zinoman

Het Parool (Amsterdam) 16 June 2006
Seven Hours of Tremendous Theater by Simon van den Berg

8Weekly (Amsterdam) 16 June 2006
Gatz — Elevator Repair Service by Mieke Zijlmans

Trouw (Amsterdam) 16 June 2006
Wonderfully Intoxicated by the Sober Language of Fitzgerald by Hanny Alkema

Walker Art Center interview 8 June 2006
Elevator Repair Service's Gatz

NRC Handelsblad (Amsterdam) 2 June 2006
She Only Loves Me by Kester Freriks

De Volkskrant (Amsterdam) 29 May 2006
Gatsby Marathon: Reading It Out Loud by Karin Veraart

Le Soir (Brussels) 24 May 2006
A Very Digestible Brick

Yale Alumni Magazine Nov 2005
Gatsby, Every Last Word Of It, On Stage by Alejandra O'Leary

CAST

• Nick, Scott Shepherd
• Jim, Jim Fletcher
• Lucille, Kate Scelsa
• Jordan, Susie Sokol
• (also Sibyl Kempson)
• Daisy, Victoria Vazquez
• (also Lucy Taylor)
• Tom, Gary Wilmes
• Chester, Vin Knight
• Wilson, Aaron Landsman
• (also Frank Boyd)
• Catherine, Annie McNamara
• (also Kristen Sieh)
• Michaelis, Ben Williams
• Myrtle, Laurena Allan
• Klipspringer, Mike Iveson
• Henry C. Gatz, Ross Fletcher
• 
  Bob Cucuzza originated the role of Tom, 2004-07.
  

• Directed by John Collins
• Associate Director Steve Bodow
• Set by Louisa Thompson
• Lights by Mark Barton
• Sound by Ben Williams
• Costumes by Colleen Werthmann
• Stage Manager Sarah Hughes
• Daya Wolterstorff 2004-06; Ariana Truman 2006-07
• Production Management B.D. White
• Company Manager Ariana Truman
• Assistant Company Manager (2007) Shannon Beeby