Jay Gatsby Takes Issue with New Podcast

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Apr 25, 2023, 15:00 ET

COLUMBUS, Ohio , April 25, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- "It puts me in a bad light," says the fictional character and American cultural icon of wealth and excess. "It's not that it's poorly done – on the contrary – the actors are top notch, the sound effects and music are brilliant. But it makes me out to be a perfect fool!" Mr. Gatsby's comments came as a response to the now-popular podcast radio play of F. Scott Fitzgerald's great American novel, The Great Gatsby, that now has been downloaded over 20,000 times. The novel, which was adapted by Richard John Albert (author of Bad Actors: True Crime Theatrics) and performed by the Columbus Civic Theater, has been available for free on the theater's website, columbuscivic.org since January of 2022.

The Columbus Civic Theater's adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby is available for download from the theater's website.

Gatsby's objections seem to stem from what is written about him, and not in the portrayal of him by Zak Bainazarov (Timmy Cleary in The Subject was Roses). The narrator of the four-part recording, Joe Lusher (MacBeth in MacBeth) portrays Nick Carraway, Gatsby's confidant. The cast includes Abby Dorn as Daisy Buchannan, and Shane Egan as her husband, Tom. All the performers are veteran actors from Civic productions: Britt Kline, Vicky Welsh-Bragg, Harold Yarborough, Julia Cannell, Tracy Tupman, and Todd Taylor.

Funding, in part, is provided by the Greater Columbus Arts Council, the Columbus City Council, and Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther. But most of the support for this work comes from patrons of the Columbus Civic Theater. To join their haloed ranks, go to columbuscivic.org/angels.html, as the Civic depends on donations to continue their work.

About the Columbus Civic Theater

A little Civic history will explain a lot. The Columbus Civic Theater performed live theater for over eleven years in a facility they renovated themselves. 94 productions were mounted there and they grew a loyal following. (Publicity photos representing these shows may be viewed at columbuscivic.org/civic-history.html.) Then the pandemic hit. Without audiences, the income disappeared, and the company was forced to shutter the theater. That year, the actors recorded their annual production of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol and posted it on their website as a podcast radio play. It was received with great enthusiasm, and the struggling company saw it as an opportunity to continue to make more. See and hear more by visiting columbuscivic.org.

Media Contact:
Callie Pechacek
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SOURCE The Columbus Civic Theater