As ifThe Great Gatsby needed more drama! LA Theater Works’ The Great Gatsby is a condensed audio adaptation (2 hours) of Fitzgerald’s original that focuses primarily on the relationships between Nick Carraway, Jay Gatsby, Jordan Baker, Tom Buchanan, and — of course — Daisy Buchanan. It features an ensemble cast, with at least one recognizable name in Rufus Sewell. If you do not know his name, you probably know his face: he’s good at characters who stand partially in shadow and menace, like Alexander Hamilton in John Adams and John Smith in The Man in the High Castle. Here, he features as Jay Gatsby himself. My experience with this was conflicted: while it’s been nearly five years since I read the actual book, I did see the movie only a few months ago and retained a lot of familiarity with the characters and stories. I was thus mostly listening for the voice acting and sound design, both of which were quite good. I especially liked the atmospheric sound effects, like jazz music playing in the background of party scenes, highball glasses clinking when one character is prepping drinks, and phone conversations sounding like phone conversations. The Great Gatsby, for those unfamiliar, is the story of a young man named Nick who moves in next door to an eccentric and fabulously wealthy chap named Jay Gatsby; Gatsby has a little advanced knowledge of Nick in that he knows Nick has a cousin named Daisy. Gatsby, as it turns out, is madly in love with Daisy and dated her some years ago, only to lose her between war and his own poverty. Now he’s loaded, and he wants a second chance. Only problem? Daisy’s married. Drama ensues! I enjoyed this audio production, though I cannot say why the story haunts me so: most of the characters are horrid, but that’s the charm of art. Sometimes it resonates in ways and layers we can’t readily identify.

“So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.”