Three Broadway Shows in Three Days: An Honest Review
By Parker “Park” Hawley
For some reason, when I looked at my calendar for the week of April 28, 2025, I found three Broadway shows scheduled for back-to-back-to-back days. While the conscience was weird, I welcomed it as it gave me a chance to observe two of the newer plays on Broadway and one musical I’d been missing. Here is my honest review of the three I saw, ranked from worst to best:
3. The Great Gatsby (Saturday, 5/3/25)
The Great Gatsby as a musical can be summed up in what I said after leaving the theatre: “As a fan of the book, I hated it; as a Broadway fan, I tolerated it.”
I fell in love with The Great Gatsby novel when I read it earlier this year. However, I was greatly ashamed to see that the musical butchered the story. Instead of making it a critique of the American dream and what divides us, it turned it into a story of what people will do for love, which is a smaller theme in Gatsby but not the main point. To me, it just felt like they abandoned what made the novel so great in order to avoid making a darker show.
Now, as a musical itself, disregarding its source material, it was fine. There were one or two songs I enjoyed, but overall it felt very cookie-cutter. Any innovations they made on stage, i.e., driving a car, they overused, and everything else about it just felt very bland.
2. Oh, Mary! (Thursday, 5/1/25)
If you are a fan of history, looking for a historically accurate comedy, this is not the show for you. But that’s not to say that it is a bad one.
Oh, Mary! is a musical based around the life of Mary Todd Lincoln as her mental health and driving problems worsened as the Civil War came to a close. Now, “based on” I use very loosely here as the show is incredibly historically inaccurate, obviously changing history in order to gain laughs.
All that being said, it does work. The writer of the play and the main actor, Cole Escola, plays with history so obviously that it doesn’t offend any historians in the audience. Also, the jokes, while some feel slightly Millennial, do land, and it is a show that is simply a good time.
1. Good Night, and Good Luck (Friday, 5/2/25)
If there was ever a show that people need to see right now, it is Good Night, and Good Luck. The incredibly historically accurate show that was written by and stars George Clooney portrays the life of Edward Murrow and his news team during their crusade against Senator McCarthy and his torment of the American public during the Red Scare.
The show combines camera work that is projected onto TVs, historical clips, and incredible acting in order to show an incredible story, and one that is similar to some conflicts facing modern-day America.
The only critique I could give this show is that they didn’t pay the academy enough to get a Tony nomination for Best Play because Good Night, and Good Luck deserves it more than any other play on Broadway.
