PEQUOT LAKES — This year, 2023, marks 100 years since F. Scott Fitzgerald’s story “The Great Gatsby” took place.
Even though that decade was called the Jazz Age and the Roaring '20s, it was a horrible time in America — 20 million people had been killed worldwide in The Great War and over twice that number had died from the Spanish flu, the worst pandemic the world had ever seen.
Not only that but congressman Andrew Volstead of Minnesota and the ladies of the Anti-Saloon League and the Women's Christian Temperance Union had made liquor illegal in America, kicking off a nationwide crime wave.
On the wealthy north side of Long Island, New York, a mysterious multimillionaire threw lavish parties with food, music, dancing and — even though it was the era of Prohibition — lots of alcohol.
His mansion was open to everyone without invitations, yet he himself never attended his own parties. In fact, few people had ever met him except for his neighbor, Nick Carraway, who saw him at night staring across the bay from his balcony at a mysterious green light in hopes of attracting his lost love, Daisy Buchanan.
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Greater Lakes Area Performing Arts celebrates this masterpiece with “The Great Gatsby” adapted for the stage by Simon Levy under the direction of C. J. Anderson and featuring a talented cast.
The production that opened last weekend will conclude this weekend with three more performances — 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Feb. 24 and 25, and 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 26, in the Pequot Lakes High School auditorium.
Audiences are invited to attend in 1920s dress with the option of taking a photo on stage with the set and cast members after each performance.
Tickets are $15 for adults, $13 for seniors and $10 for students. Call 218-568-9200 or visit glapa.org.
The Trust Project
