Type – Cabaret, Immersive, Sexy
If you liked – L’Hotel, Spiegeltent Experiences, The Great Gatsby
Gatsby at the Greenlight: Begins confident and stays sexy, in it’s full-throttled, outrageous appeal.
Gatsby at the Green Light effortlessly includes you into its cabaret world of wonder. A raucous, raging ‘Gatsby’ party is in full swing and you are right in the middle of it. The show begins confident and stays sexy, in it’s full-throttled, outrageous appeal, with the assuredness of the performers leaving the audience happy to let loose and relax into this crazy, party world.
This show isn’t a retelling of The Great Gatsby by any means, it is a Cabaret Variety show with a mesmerising array of aerial, juggling, singing, dancing, hilarity and spectacle.
What is wonderful about this performance, is how ‘lived in’ the space feels. There is a bit of magic to the way the performers (particularly the ensemble as they mingle and servethe audience throughout) feel so at home in the stage-cum-nightclub. We buy into the sense that this is their world, and we are only allowed in for a night.
The first half of the show sizzles with excitement. Miranda Menzies and Oscar Kaufman leave you positively agape at their skills and in awe at the expertise with which they manipulate their craft. Thomas J. Egan brings bucketloads of energy and buzz with his impressive tap-routine, and Betty Bombshell knits it all together with her masterfully sexy, hilarious Hostess.
The lighting design by Matt Marshall is epic. In a world where they are many things happening at once – such is the nature of a party – creating focus for your audience among the chaos is key, and it is done here with effortlessness and fun. The shifting of focus between acts feels lively, as if we ourselves being thrown around the space.
The choreography by Lucas Newland is integral to this world being created and the allusions to Fosse matched with the pace and exacting ‘attack’ of the movements, feels encouragingly modern and fresh. The ensemble is refreshing in its lack of self-consciousness.
The second half of the show leans more into the romantic sadness of Gatsby and Daisy. These players aren’t introduced as readily in the first act and as a result, the transition to the finer points of the Gatsby story involving grief, passion, and love are harder to connect with.
The later acts rely on a change in atmosphere from nightclub to a more pensive, reflective mood. These acts are incredible, and to be as immersed and enthralled as one would like, a clearer storyline and connection to these characters – and why we should invest in them- would have helped continue and solidify the immersion and audience engagement that is so readily available in the first half.
Is Gatsby at the Green Light Worth Seeing in Sydney?
Gatsby at the Green Light is a fun night out, full of spectacle, excitement, and certainly things you have never seen before, or will rarely see.
Tickets and Practical Info for Gatsby at the Green Light in Sydney 🎟️
Co-created by Craig Ilott and Stuart Couzens, directed by Craig Ilott.
Season 13 December 2025 – 28 March 2026
Tickets: https://www.sydneyoperahouse.com/musical-theatre-cabaret/gatsby
