Florence Welch of Florence + the Machine will write the music and lyrics for a new Broadway-bound musical version of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic novel “The Great Gatsby.”
Martyna Majok, who won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for her drama “Cost of Living,” will write the book for the show, with Jeanie O’Hare serving as story consultant and Thomas Bartlett as co-lyricist with Welch. British director Rebecca Frecknall is attached to direct the production.
Producers include Len Blavatnik and Amanda Ghost for Unigram in association with Robert Fox; Hannah Giannoulis and James Orange will executive produce. Access Entertainment will co-produce.
Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel, about a young Midwesterner in New York’s posh Long Island who gets caught up in the world of his mysterious nouveau riche neighbor Jay Gatsby, has been adapted for the stage and screen before — including a short-lived Broadway drama in 1926 directed by a young George Cukor.
There have also been multiple film versions, including a 1974 adaptation starring Robert Redford and Mia Farrow as well as Baz Luhrmann’s 2013 version with Leonardo DiCaprio and Carey Mulligan.
“This book has haunted me for a large part of my life,” Welch said in a statement. “It contains some of my favorite lines in literature. Musicals were my first love, and I feel a deep connection to Fitzgerald’s broken romanticism. It is an honor to have been offered the chance to recreate this book in song.”
Majok added, “I’m thrilled, honored, and inspired to work with this company of extraordinary artists, and to get to live in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s transcendent, gorgeous words. I’m also overjoyed to be reunited with Rebecca Frecknall, with whom I had the most wonderful experience working on my play, ‘Sanctuary City.’”
For the record: A previous version of this story incorrectly spelled Martyna Majok’s name.
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