Ryan McCartan on returning to the title role of ‘The Great Gatsby’ on Broadway: 'It feels like a completely different show'

Back for a third time at the musical based on the classic Jazz Age novel, he embraces how he and each new group of co-stars make the story their own.

Summary

• Ryan McCartan is currently playing his third run as Jay Gatsby in The Great Gatsby on Broadway
• He reflects on how each new group of co-stars makes the show different and the energy at each of his first performances
• He plays the mysterious, lovestruck New York millionaire from F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1920s novel

Good things come in threes. Ask stage and screen actor Ryan McCartan, who’s roaring back for his third go-around in The Great Gatsby on Broadway alongside a new cast.

McCartan (Heathers, Wicked, Frozen), appreciates the dynamic vibe of this musical based on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1925 novel. All the more so since creators Kait Kerrigan (book), Jason Howland (music), and Nathan Tysen (lyrics) encourage individuality.

“It's really important to them that everyone brings themselves to these characters,” said McCartan, whose current co-stars include China Anne McClain as Daisy Buchanan, Corbin Bleu as Nick Carraway, John Behlmann as Tom Buchanan, and Naturi Naughton-Lewis as Jordan Baker. All four first joined the Broadway show earlier this year.

"Any time you get to work with new actors or work with a new cast, the show changes, and it can change pretty drastically," McCartan said. "That's good."

“It’s my third stint playing the same role,” he added. “But it feels like a completely different show, and I love that. It’s really exciting. The thing I love most about theatre is how much it can change by the slightest factors.”

McCartan’s first run as Jay Gatsby, a Jazz Age millionaire determined to win back his lost love, Daisy, began in January 2025 and lasted about nine months. He next stepped in for a monthlong run this past March, and he returned in late July. Looking back at his tenures, he recalls a feeling of giddy exhilaration each time he’s stepped into the character.

“I'm always bubbling with adrenaline, even when I know I've done this show 300 times,” he said. “But this is a new opening, so I'm super buzzy and super nervous.” Multiply that by three.

“I’ve started and then returned and then returned again,” he said. “The start and those two subsequent returns always have so much energy.” That’s as intoxicating as the cocktails at one of Gatsby’s famous soirees at his Long Island mansion.

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Gillian Russo contributed reporting to this story.

Photo credit: Ryan McCartan and the cast of The Great Gatsby on Broadway. (Photos by Evan Zimmerman for MurphyMade)