Florence Welch is helping to turn ‘The Great Gatsby’ into a Broadway show.
The Florence + the Machine frontwoman has announced she’s penning the music and lyrics for the upcoming stage adaptation of the 1925 F. Scott Fitzgerald classic.
She said in a statement: “This book has haunted me for a large part of my life.
“It contains some of my favourite lines in literature. Musicals were my first love, and I feel a deep connection to Fitzgerald’s broken romanticism. It is an honour to have been offered the chance to recreate this book in song.”
The 34-year-old musician has reunited with Thomas Bartlett, who she collaborated with on ‘Jenny of Old Stones’ for the finale season of ‘Game of Thrones’.
The musical’s producers, Amanda Ghost and Robert Fox, added in a joint statement: “Florence’s passion for ‘Gatsby’ and exceptional musical storytelling will bring this iconic love story to life in ways we have never experienced before.
“Martyna and Rebecca are two of the most exciting theatre artists of their generation and, together, this extraordinary team brings a thrilling new perspective to one of the most culturally significant books of all time. It’s been 100 years since ‘The Great Gatsby’ was published and there could be no better time for a new musical adaptation of the greatest party America ever threw.”
It’s not the first time ‘The Great Gatsby’ has been adapted, as Leonardo DiCaprio and Tobey Maguire starred in Baz Luhrman’s 2013 big screen adaptation.
Meanwhile, Florence previously admitted she felt lucky to be given a second chance to perform a song for ‘Game of Thrones’ after rejecting an offer to record a track for the HBO series during her “wild years”.
At the end of episode two of Season 8, ‘A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms’, Florence + the Machine perform the haunting ballad over the end credits, a song about a doomed woman who had an affair with Prince Duncan Targaryen.
However, Florence had been approached by the fantasy drama’s creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss to provide her distinct vocals to a track for the end credits of ‘The Rains of Castamere’ in Season 2 but she declined the offer.
Florence couldn’t remember ever being asked to contribute a song to the show because the offer came when she was going through her hard partying phase.
She recalled: “I think that was during my quote-unquote wild years. If I’m being super honest, there are a lot of things that are a bit blurry. I wasn’t as … involved, or, shall we say, as focused as I am now … I’m glad that they came back to me. I feel really touched to be on the last season, to be the last singer. And I’m grateful that I get to be a bit more present for it, to celebrate the ending of ‘Game of Thrones’ in a clear place.”
‘Jenny of Oldstones’ also featured in the episode itself, performed by Podrick (Daniel Portman) after Tyrion Lannister (Peter Dinklage) asks someone to sing ahead of the imminent Battle of Winterfell and it seemingly predicts the dark fate awaiting many of the characters.