were comments that the play was
too long. There’s always a danger when changing a show that
has received good reviews, but
the creative team paid close attention to what people responded to
favorably in the original production and did their best to preserve
those elements while tightening
the overall play.
King is thought to have inspired
nearly as much of Fitzgerald’s
writing as his wife Zelda. In The
Underclassman, you get to know
the one that got away — the
woman who haunted Fitzgerald
throughout his career. The play
captures the youthful energy of
the young lovers during a period
of time in which the world was on
The Triangle Club was my first experience
writing songs for musical theatre
or writing songs at all for that matter
“Peter and Cara have done a
great job because F. Scott’s style
of writing is so poetic,” said Dengler. “If you read This Side of Paradise, there are huge poems and
passages with flowery imagery.
The work sort of lends itself to
music and their lyrics are spot on.
They drew from his poetry.”
They say you never forget your
first true love. For F. Scott Fitzgerald, that was certainly the case.
New Jersey Stage
the verge of World War I. It’s an
era in which the members of the
Lost Generation were just beginning to come into their own.
The Underclassman is
running now through
November 30 at
229 W. 42nd Street
New York City.
November 2014
pg 98