“So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.” So wrote F. Scott Fitzgerald in his masterpiece The Great Gatsby, the great American novel selected by The Ridgefield Playhouse, in partnership with Ridgefield Library, for Ridgefield’s town-wide participation in The Big Read. Gatsby has been the focus of the town-wide celebration of reading in America and will culminate at The Ridgefield Playhouse -- where it all started on October 10 with the music of the Gatsby era -- on Sunday, November 23, with two free-to-the-public movie events. The 1974 version, which stars Robert Redford and Mia Farrow, will be shown on Sunday, November 23, at 4 p.m. That same day at 7:30 p.m., the 2013 film version, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Carey Mulligan, will be screened. The Great Gatsby, published in 1925, has become, way after F. Scott Fitzgerald’s death in 1944, one of the most read novels in high school and colleges and by devotees who pick it up time and again due to the beautiful language that portrays an irresistible dream.
And thus will conclude the celebration of The Big Read, with two aspirational versions of the tale of “…men and girls [who] came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars.”
In the 1974 Gatsby movie, Robert Redford plays the self-made millionaire Jay Gatsby, who uses his vast (and implicitly ill-gotten) fortune to buy his way into Long Island society. Did you know that "gat" is underworld slang for “a pistol”? Most of all, Gatsby wants to win back the love of socialite Daisy Buchanan (Mia Farrow), now married to "old money" Tom Buchanan (Bruce Dern). Calmly observing the passing parade is Nick Carraway (Sam Waterston), Gatsby's best friend, who narrates the film. Francis Ford Coppola's screenplay is meticulously faithful to the original novel.
In the 2013 film version, Academy Award® nominee Leonardo DiCaprio (Titanic, Blood Diamond, Aviator) plays Jay Gatsby, with Tobey Maguire starring as Nick Carraway. Joel Edgerton and Oscar® nominee Carey Mulligan (An Education) star as Tom and Daisy Buchanan; Isla Fisher and Jason Clarke play Myrtle and George Wilson, and newcomer Elizabeth Debicki is Jordan Baker. As the story goes, Nick leaves the Midwest and comes to New York City in the spring of 1922, an era of loosening morals, glittering jazz and bootleg kings. It's Nick Carraway's voice that pulls us in and keeps the story going. Oscar® nominee Baz Luhrmann (Moulin Rouge) directed and produced the 2013 film in 3D from a screenplay co-written with frequent collaborator Craig Pearce, based on Fitzgerald’s book.
The Big Read is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts designed to revitalize the role of literature in American culture and to encourage citizens to read for pleasure and enlightenment. The Playhouse, in partnership with Ridgefield Library, is one of 77 not-for-profit organizations to receive a grant to host a Big Read project between September 2014 and June 2015. The NEA presents The Big Read in partnership with Arts Midwest and support from Connecticut Humanities (CTH), a non-profit affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities, and from Liz and Steve Goldstone.
This is a free event; general admission. For more information, visit ridgefieldplayhouse.org or call the box office at 203-438-5795. The Ridgefield Playhouse is a not-for-profit performing arts center located at 80 East Ridge, parallel to Main Street, Ridgefield, CT; ridgefieldplayhouse.org. Visit www.ridgefieldlibrary.org for a complete listing of The Big Read events.