Broadway in Boston's "The Great Gatsby" brings a modern take to the 101-year-old classic

More than a century after F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby" was first published, the glitz and glamour endure.

Broadway in Boston lives up to its name, bringing the national tour of the musical to the Citizens Opera House, while the show still plays on Broadway.             

This production is pure spectacle, with show-stopping costumes and sets, all creating a modern take on the story.

"It's always scary doing adaptations, because people have these ideas in their heads of what they think the character is like," said actor Senzel Ahmady.

She is putting her own stamp on the iconic Daisy Buchanan.

"It's exciting for me because in our show, the women get a lot more agency," said Ahmady.

"In the novel and in certain portrayals," said actor Jake David Smith, "Daisy is sort of perceived as a little bit of a brat or spoiled, and I think you get to hear a lot more of Daisy's inner thoughts in our story."

Smith portrays the title character and explains that the songs in the musical provide new insight.

"As the story moves along and I get to be more vulnerable and you get to spend more time with Jay on stage alone and hear his inner thoughts, I get put more flavor into the character and evolve him a little bit more than I think he has been in other mediums," Smith explained.

Smith knows he is in the footsteps of some of the greats.

"It's a huge responsibility, I think, to portray a character like Jay Gatsby that's first of all had one hundred years in the public eye in the novel, and then also such legendary actors portray the character, Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert Redford," said Smith.

The costumes help make the connection.

"That black velvet smoking jacket that I wear, that's the first thing people see me in. I feel like James Bond," says Smith. "It's like when I put it on and I know that I'm about to go say my first lines, I really do feel like Gatsby."

Ahmady added, "The costumes are amazing in this show. It's the one Tony Award that we have. Our costume designer, Linda Cho, did such a beautiful job melding the style of the 20s and making it a little bit more modern."

While Gatsby is synonymous with "party", Ahmady told WBZ-TV that audiences can expect much more than just surface sparkle.

"They think of like champagne glasses and pretty outfits, and then people come and see the show, and they're like, oh, that story's really dark. And so I think that always shocks people. "

You can see Broadway in Boston's production of "The Great Gatsby" at the Citizens Opera House through July 19th.