Heads up, Shirley Friedman and folks from the Potomac River Jazz Society!  You're in for a treat!  Get ready to go to the ballet - but this isn't your Grandmother's Ballet.

Preview:  We were privileged Tuesday, February 4th, at the Sherborn Inn to get a glimpse of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby that will be brought to life by Septime Webre and the artists of the Washington Ballet on February 24-28 at the Eisenhower Theater, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C.  Music composed by Billy Novick.

Billy Novick acted as narrator, telling the story, sans ballet dancers, and playing the hot, passionate Traditional and Dixieland Jazz that was the rage in the 'Gatsby' era of the 1920's.  Billy Novick on clarinet and alto sax, John Clark-clarinet, tenor and bari sax, Mike Peipman-trumpet, Dan Fox-trombone, Ross Petot-piano, Stu Gunn-acoustic string bass and tuba, and Bill Reynolds-drums.

Billy ingeniously blended his own compositions with some of our favorite early Jazz tunes and came up with an extraordinary presentation, with the help of beautiful and talented Sunny Crownover, (she's not coming to DC - busy making a CD with Duke Robillard.) 

The ballet  begins with What'll I Do, a silky, melodic waltz, with Billy on sweet, low register clarinet, John Clark harmonizing on bari sax, and Ross making that piano sing, as the story enfolds and the rich and influential Gatsby falls in love with the very rich, the very elegant, and the very married Daisy

 In Billy's composition, Cityscape, the instruments cunningly reproduce the haphazard cacophony of a busy New York thoroughfare; while in a tennis match scene, Billy's drumming replicates the sound of tennis balls being batted back and forth.  Brilliant.   A scene where a couple are dining at the Waldorf was portrayed by  Broadway Tango. Then to fill in a gap in the action where 20 ballet dancers need to change from white into red tap shoes, Billy wrote Maid to Order. It takes a while for 20 dancers to change into new shoes!

Yellow Dog Blues and the Charleston recalled some wild parties that were held in Myrtle's apartment and Gatsby's mansion.   Billy did the vocal on Tight Like That, which he will NOT be doing in DC!  He needed a wartime tune for a scene where somebody goes into the army, but had difficulty finding an American World War I march.  Diligent probing paid off when he discovered a tune from an old vintage phonograph, We're All Going Calling on the Kaiser.   (We're going to make him wiser.)

Bill Reynolds had the final scene, with George stalking Gatsby, his anger building with the drumming,  as he finds him swimming in the pool, and then the final single drum beat - the gun shot.   The epilogue returns to the heartrending waltz, with Billy on clarinet and Ross piano, with a plaintive What'll I Do.

Billy managed to fit in many of the old tunes that are very familiar to us, Old Blues, Jazz Me Blues, Swipsey Cakewalk, East St. Louis Too da Loo, I'll See You In My Dreams, Happy Feet.  Most of these will be 'new' to the audience in DC.  Maybe, just maybe, this new old jazz will catch on!

Shirley and the other PRJS folk, you most fortunate Jazz Fans, get to see the REAL thing, complete with Septime Webre and the artists of the Washington Ballet.  But get your tickets quickly, because most of the prime and side orchestra seats are already sold out!

Tickets $25-$125.

Performance Dates and Times::
Wednesday, February 24 at 8 PM (preview)
Thursday, February 25 at 8 PM (opening)
Friday, February 26 at 8 PM
Saturday, February 27 at 2:30 PM and 8 PM
Sunday, February 28 at 1 PM and 5:30 PM

Also: Making the Great Gatsby February 8th - Get a rare opportunity to see a great dance work come together. Artistic Director Septime Webre and Artistic Associate David Palmer lead this hour-long fascinating dialogue on how to dissect a story and build a ballet.

See the Music, Hear the Dance April 6th - An engaging, hour-long lecture/demonstration for dance and music lovers alike, this inthewings focuses on the intrinsic connection between the two art forms. Dancers and choreographers will illustrate the importance of being able to “see the music and hear the dance.” (George Balanchine)