The Tony Award-winning musical The Great Gatsby is making a two-week stop in the Windy City and bringing the Roaring Twenties to life for Chicago audiences. The classic American novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald is set on Long Island during the Prohibition era and the musical version opened on Broadway in 2024. Prepare for lavish parties, upbeat jazz music and flapper fashions all onstage at the Cadillac Theatre, 151 W. Randolph St., this spring.
Narrated by Nick Carraway, the story follows a millionaire named Jay Gatsby, determined to reunite with his former lover, Daisy Buchanan.
Out actor Edward Staudenmayer plays Meyer Wolfsheim, a sinister businessman with a tendency to be “Shady.” Gatsby is not his first national tour following his portrayal of Vlad in Anastasia and Monsieur André in The Phantom of the Opera.
In school, Edward was destined for greatness and won the Carol Burnett Endowed Undergraduate Scholarship in Musical Theater at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television.
He made his Broadway debut in Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me and continued on The Great White Way as the White Rabbit in Wonderland.
Staudenmayer called from his hotel room while out on the road to talk about his adventures with The Great Gatsby.
Windy City Times: You are originally from California?
Edward Staudenmayer: Yes, Southern California, Palm Springs, the gay mecca. It was noticeably gay when I was growing up, but not like it is now.
I went back there and all the places I ate lunch at in high school are now gay bar central.
WCT: Did you always want to be in theater?
ES: I sang Barry Manilow’s “Copacabana (At the Copa)” in the living room for my family in the ‘70s. In high school, I played football, but I also did the spring musical. We did The Music Man and I just fell in love with it. I knew every line.
I eventually quit football, much to the chagrin of my parents and coaches, to focus on plays instead. I got into UCLA and went on to start a professional career.
My high school drama teacher gave me the bug and still sees me in shows today.
WCT: I heard about you receiving the Carol Burnett Award in college.
ES: It is a competition at the school where I had to create a 10-minute scene onstage and I won. I used the money she gave me to take private singing lessons. Every time I run into Carol, I thank her because she legitimately paid for that. Paying for lessons at UCLA was a great gift and I learned from one of the best music teachers in Southern California.
WCT: So Carol changed your life and the trajectory of your career?
ES: Yes. She sponsored the award because she went to UCLA and she had a benefactor there. She never found out who it was, but the anonymous person left a message for her to pay it forward. She fostered that award for many years, including this last November.
WCT: Talk about your role in The Great Gatsby.
ES: I play Meyer Wolfsheim, who is based on a real-life person who they say fixed the World Series back in the ‘20s. F. Scott Fitzgerald saw him and added him to the storyline.
I am a gangster and I am in cahoots with Gatsby. That’s how he makes his money in nefarious ways, and he’s rich. Gatsby gets overwhelmed with Daisy and getting her back. He lets the ball drop on our business deals and things get spicy with us.
It’s a great part. I have the opening act two song “Shady,” and I love it. While it’s a simple part, it’s an important character. I don’t have a ton of stage time. I enter, say a few things, change my clothes, come back and I have that song in act two, which is great. I also say some pretty famous lines from the book.
WCT: After doing the role in South Korea, it must be a breeze.
ES: Yes, I just got back from spending four months in Korea. It was life-changing. I had the time of my life and made so many Korean friends. We are having a little time off and I might go back because it was so fun.
Audiences there loved the show and our producer Chunsoo Shin wanted to bring it there to share it with people in Korea, where he is from.
WCT: Was The Great Gatsby performed differently in Korea?
ES: No, but I will say we are happy to be in the United States with American audiences. Korean audiences can be very polite and the audiences here are going crazy. It’s such an American story that it plays well here. Every kid in school here has to read the book or has seen the movie, so people are familiar with the material.
It’s a thrill to bring it around the country and have them experience it. Culturally, it is cool and if you type “The Great Gatsby” in your phone, a little champagne bottle appears randomly.
WCT: Why do you think The Great Gatsby turned into a phenomenon?
ES: One of the things we were taught in our dramaturgy of the show is that the book wasn’t a hit at first. They sent it to all of the servicemen and the soldiers took it with them when they went to World War II. It was a story about a guy going off to war and losing the love of his life.
After the war, many people went into teaching, so then kids read it. I remember it was the first book that I read in 9th grade that felt adult, with themes of bootlegging and adultery.
WCT: There are adult themes in The Great Gatsby. Is there subtext where Nick Carraway and Jay Gatsby have some sort of queer relationship?
ES: They certainly do in our version of the show, so there is a potential love situation going on there. Their sexuality is ambiguous and not in the book explicitly, but is implied a bit. Scholars have debated it.
It is the same with Jordan Baker. She wears pants and wants to be a bachelor. They might have a marriage of convenience, but that is up to interpretation.
WCT: What should ticket holders wear when coming to see The Great Gatsby?
ES: They should wear whatever they want, but it’s exciting for us to see people dressed up. There are usually people fully decked out in flapper dresses and headbands. The guys are sometimes dressed to the nines. It adds to the fun and makes it more of an event.
I always enjoy dressing up for things, especially the theater. People are paying good money to come see us and it’s a big party with a little tragedy at the end.
WCT: You have done several national tours with Phantom and Anastasia. Do you like the traveling part of your job?
ES: I do. I am so grateful for the work. After what we went through with the pandemic, I am very happy to travel around the country and do what I love.
I feel like I have friends in every city and I have been out here doing this for a long time. I have a really good time visiting a new city.
It is sad, I used to have my dog with me, but he passed. I drive everywhere now with a car rental, so I can really live in these cities. I play pickleball wherever I go.
For Chicago, we are going to a Cubs game and to Sidetrack for Musical Monday.
WCT: What is your favorite musical?
ES: Every baritone loves Sweeney Todd and I would love to play that part. Stephen Sondheim is the best.
I enjoyed being in period pieces like The Scarlet Pimpernel and Beauty and the Beast. I recently did South Pacific at the Guthrie Theater and I did The Music Man as my first show, so I love the classics.
WCT: How was your experience in Martin Short: Fame Becomes Me?
ES: We played Chicago at the LaSalle Bank Theatre, which is now the CIBC Theatre, in 2006. I was an understudy for Brooks Ashmanskas, who is famous for The Prom.
We took the show to several cities before New York. It was like a one-man show, but it had sketches with other people in scenes.
Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman wrote the music and lyrics. They had just come off of Hairspray. It’s a great cast album if you get a chance to listen to it.
Marty was so generous and I learned so much about comedy by watching him every night. It was also terrifying during rehearsals because sometimes we were interviewed by Jiminy Glick.
The Great Gatsby parties until May 3 at the Cadillac Palace Theatre, 151 W. Randolph St. Find tickets at www.broadwayinchicago.com before the Gatsby gang travels on.