Assuming the title role in a blockbuster Broadway musical after it was originated by none other than Jeremy Jordan is no easy feat. Thankfully the pedigreed musical theater brilliance of Ryan McCartan allows for what will surely be a seamless regime change at ‘The Great Gatsby‘, currently running at the Broadway Theatre. McCartan has made a habit of stepping into some famous theatrical roles and making them his own – witness his work as Fiyero in ‘Wicked’ and Prince Hans in ‘Frozen’. He has also originated the role of Jason “J.D.” Dean in ‘Heathers: The Musical’. As he parades into the enormous shoes of Jordan’s Jay Gatsby starting January 21, 2025, McCartan looks poised to perfectly shift the musical into the enigmatically magnetic atmosphere the source material so deftly demands. This coronation as Dazzler of the Day is one more leaf of laurel in his crown.
