The Great Gatsby

ACT I

SCENE I – OUTSIDE GATSBY’S MANSION ON LONG ISLAND’S WEST EGG

Jay Gatsby gazes longingly across the bay at the flashing green light which marks Daisy Buchanan’s home, yearning for the love they once shared. Nick Carraway arrives at his rented bungalow on the rambling Gatsby estate as one of Gatsby’s raucous parties spills across the lawn.

SCENE II – DAISY AND TOM BUCHANAN’S HOME ON EAST EGG

Nick has been invited to his cousin Daisy’s house. Не renews his acquaintance with her husband, Tom, whom he knew briefly at Yale, and meets their friend Jordan Baker, a noted professional golfer. Their merriment is interrupted by a phone call from Tom’s mistress, Myrtle.

SCENE III – THE VALLEY OF ASHES

On a trip to New York City, Tom and Nick stop in the squalid Valley of Ashes, a desolate strip of land between West Egg and New York. There, Nick meets Tom’s mistress Myrtle and her unsuspecting husband, George Wilson. Tom and Myrtle arrange a secret rendezvous in the city.

SCENE IV – MYRTLE’S NEW YORK APARTMENT

Still accompanied by Nick, Tom and Myrtle arrive at the garish apartment Tom keeps for her in New York. Nick discreetly leaves them alone to enjoy their clandestine affair, and Myrtle’s friends gather for a party.

SCENE V – THE GATSBY MANSION

Revelers gather at another of Gatsby’s all night summer parties. Jordan and Nick arrive. Jordan introduces Nick to their host, and Gatsby asks Nick to arrange for an afternoon tea with Daisy.

SCENE VI – AT NICK’S COTTAGE

The next day, Daisy is expected for tea, and Gatsby’s staff invades Nick’s home to make preparations for her arrival. Gatsby has lived for this moment. He waits tensely. When Daisy finally arrives, Gatsby make a desperate bid to revive their love by sharing his treasures with her. He has collected the trappings of wealth for one reason-to win her love. As Daisy departs, Gatsby, in his own dream, believes he has recaptured their love.

ACT II

SCENE I – THE STORY OF DAISY AND GATSBY

During a golf date, Jordan tells Nick of how, five years earlier in Louisville, Daisy met and fell in love with a young soldier named Jay Gatsby. But ‘rich girls don’t marry poor boys, and when Gatsby went off to war, she married the wealthy playboy Tom Buchanan. But Gatsby never stopped loving Daisy.

SCENE II – THE GATSBY MANSION

Tom and Daisy, accompanied by Jordan and Nick, attend one of Gatsby’s revelries. Tom, absorbed in his flirtations with the lively girls present, does not see Daisy and Gatsby steal a rapturous moment.

SCENE III – TOM AND DAISY’S HOME

Gatsby, Nick and Jordan have been invited to the house where Gatsby discovers that Daisy and Tom have a child. To relieve tension, Daisy proposes an excursion to New York.

SCENE IV – THE PLAZA HOTEL, NEW YORK

In a heated moment, Gatsby confronts Tom with his and Daisy’s affair. Gatsby pleads with Daisy to say she never loved Tom, but he asks too much of her, and Daisy cannot bring herself to do that. Triumphant, Tom insists that Gatsby drive Daisy home.

SCENE V – THAT NIGHT, IN THE VALLEY OF ASHES

George overhears Myrtle telephoning a man he suspects to be her lover. In the ensuing quarrel, he threatens to lock her up. She escapes into the road and is killed by Gatsoy’s speeding car, driven by Daisy. George sees Gatsoy and assumes he killed Myrtle. In his desperate grief, George loses his mind.

SCENE VI – THE GATSBY MANSION

Gatsby resolutely still believes Daisy will come to him. As he prepares for a swim, George enters the estate and kills Gatsby.

Kansas City Ballet Premiere: May 8, 2026, Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts