In 10 weeks it will be the twenties once more, and I’ll be glad to be able to name the decade again. After the nineties, what decade were we in? The aughts, naughts, the ohs? And then that decade was followed by what, the tens? The teens?
None of these labels seemed to have caught on that much. Radio stations still refer to “the music of the eighties, nineties, and now,” even though “now” has been almost 20 years long.
Lately, I’ve been busy with the previous twenties, the Roaring Twenties of the 20th century. Working as producer of the Clarkston Village Player’s production of The Great Gatsby, opening Nov. 8 at Depot Theatre, I’ve become familiar with the story and why it’s endured for so long.
Written by F. Scott Fitzgerald in 1925, it could be set now, with young tech billionaires running around creating lots of drama and making bad decisions, instead of the bondsmen and bootleggers of the original.
Fitzgerald’s bombastic character Tom Buchanan seems to me like a modern MAGA -hat-wearing caricature, arrogant, racist, sexist, flaunting his wealth. Tom is convincingly portrayed on the Clarkston stage by local actor Cody Barger, even though Cody is definitely not the MAGA type. Acting!
The themes of the show certainly still applies – money can’t buy happiness, true friendship, or love. And it makes you do stupid things. Love does, too.
I’m also working with CVP on the Clarkston Area Chamber of Commerce’s annual murder mystery dinner, this year also set in the 1920’s, with a gangster theme. Andiamo’s, at 7228 N. Main Street, will become a speakeasy for the event starting at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 29.
I’m helping out in The Great Gatsby by playing a policeman, writing up a report on the first of several tragedies befalling the characters in that play. In the chamber show, I’m playing the opposite, a gangster enforcer under the employ of the local godfather. Folks are invited to come in costume, which means zoot suits, fedoras, and sequin fringed flapper dresses.
Check out Clarkston.org for ticket info, and Clarkstonvillageplayers.org for info on Gatsby.