Great Gatsby fever grips the UK
9th February 2012 - 1:20pm
Interest in F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic tale The Great Gatsby is set to spike this year, with three different stage adaptations opening, Baz Luhrmann's new film version being released and Tom Carson's spin-off novel Daisy Buchanan's Daughter being published.
This week it has been announced that Gatz will premiere at London's Noel Coward Theatre in June, The Great Gatsby will open at Wilton's Music Hall in April and a new musical adaptation of the novel, aptly titled The Great Gatsby Musical, will debut at the King's Head Theatre in Islington in August.
Frequently named one of the greatest works of the 20th century, Fitzgerald's novel has been the subject of several adaptations since its publication in 1925, but never so many in one calendar year.
Baz Luhrmann is currently putting the finishing touches to a new musical film version starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan and Tobey Maquire, while Tom Carson's Daisy Buchanan's Daughter, which traces the fortunes of the original novel's Pamela, will be published in the UK before the end of the year.
A 1974 Oscar-winning musical version of The Great Gatsby starring Robert Redford sparked a boost in sales of Fitzgerald's novel and the new stage and screen adaptations and spin-off novel are expected to cause a similar spike in interest in 2012.
