A new adaptation of “The Great Gatsby” comes to the Miller Theater April 26.
It’s a Broadway-style ballet. It’s a unique mix of genres that allow the audience to truly immerse themselves in the story,” said Gulya Hartwick, co-founder of the World Ballet Company which debuted the ballet in February. The Augusta performance begins at 7 p.m. Go here for tickets.
That Broadway style brings together acrobatics and a singer performing on stage and mingles it with classical and neoclassical dance.
Los Angeles-based film and TV composer Anna Drubich has created a score just for this production, and it was recorded by a symphony orchestra. Hartwick said audience members are sure to be drawn in by the music and expects some of them to be humming it the next morning.
That immersive experience Hartwick hopes to create for audience members doesn’t start when the performers take the stage. It begins when they enter the theater, and for some, it starts earlier as some patrons wear 1920s’ costumes to the ballet.
“The music of the 1920s will be playing in the lobby. They can see and feel it before the show starts,” she said.
The World Ballet Company will bring 40 dancers to the Miller as part of its 100-city tour.
The F. Scott Fitzgerald novel turned 100 on April 10, and the ballet stays true to its storyline, she said.
“It’s challenging to tell the story without using Fitzgerald’s words,” she said, but she believes audience members will be able to follow along.
For many in the ballet company’s audience, it’s their first experience attending a ballet performance.
“Our ballets are not boring,” she said. “About 60% are seeing ballet for first time. Our task is to make it so it wouldn’t be their last.”
Charmain Z. Brackett, the publisher of Augusta Good News and Inspiring: Women of Augusta, has covered Augusta’s news for more than 35 years. Reach her at charmain@augustagoodnews.com. Sign up for the newsletter here.
