MITCH LILLIE

The Venetian Theatre
253 E Main St., Hillsboro

Eight figures contort their bodies slowly in some kind of Prohibition-era tai chi. Their limbs don’t spell out “Gatsby,” but their flapper dresses, three-piece suits and the crackling blues music fairly scream it. Such is the opening scene of Bag&Baggage’s The Great Gatsby, adapted by Simon Levy and directed by Scott Palmer. Most have plodded through F. Scott Fitzgerald’s story again and again since seventh-grade English, but, especially in light of Baz Luhrmann’s recent critical flop, the B&B team manages to add a welcome gaudiness of its own. Colin Wood plays a little too soft and kind for the role of the violent, racist Tom Buchanan, but Ty Boice has perfected his slow, drawling “old sport” as Jay Gatsby. Upon meeting Gatsby, Cassie Greer’s eyes gleam robust joy and excitement, and though she shows little of Daisy’s impressionability, she owns the role and pulls it off. The company even imparts glitziness to the stagecraft: A fly system whisks Gatsby’s fine shirt collection on and then off the stage, projected quotes from the novel add a sense of poetry and a huge wooden dock protrudes from stage left. The only thing missing is the green light at the end of the dock—and an instructional DVD for flapper tai chi.

Where: The Venetian Theatre
Phone: 693-3953
Address: 253 E Main St., Hillsboro
Website: https://bagnbaggage.org/