Washington Ballet presents ‘The Great Gatsby’

Fans of both great American literature and modern ballet should be interested in the Washington Ballet’s next big show, “The Great Gatsby,” which has a preview on Wednesday and opens on Thursday at the Kennedy Center.

For the ballet’s Artistic Director Septime Webre, bringing to life one of the 20th century’s seminal works was a work of love.

“It’s the great American novel and one of my favorite books,” he said.

For those who were never required to read “Gatsby” in high school — or didn’t bother — F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel was published in 1925 and is set in the early part of the 1920s, an era of indulgence known as the “Roaring Twenties” that has often been compared with recent years.

“We’ve just come out of a time of excess and the byproduct it created,” Webre said of the modern resonance “Gatsby” has.

An essential ingredient to the ballet’s staging of “Gatsby” will be the music, bringing to life some of the biggest tunes of the time.

“The story has so much movement with the depiction of flappers and gangsters who are well-realized in the book,” Webre said. “Virtually every sentence suggests music. The music is so intrinsically danceable.”

Composer Billy Novick helped contribute the music to “Gatsby,” which is a combination of original works by the likes of Duke Ellington and new compositions that fit the mood.

“Septime wanted something from the era,” Novick said. “We went through a lot of existing material. It came out pretty well.”

Scenes in the novel such as a party at Gatsby’s mansion helped to guide the direction of the music. Novick estimated it took three months to put it the score together.

“It’s really a celebration of American jazz music,” Webre said. “It helps to tell the story as well.”

One of the challenges Webre said was translating the rich work of “Gatsby” into ballet, as too-complicated characters don’t work well in the format. Also looming large was the status of work in the American literature canon.

“So many people are familiar,” Webre said, adding that fans of the book, movie and ballet in general should be pleased. “The book is iconic. People come with a preconception of what they might expect.”