Gatz

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s masterpiece is notoriously thorny where film and stage adaptations, even the recent premiere that inaugurated the Guthrie’s new theater, are concerned. Leave it to a group of avant-garde New Yorkers to set aside the adaptation imperative and take on the whole enchilada: Basically, Elevator Repair Service’s Gatz is an unabridged audio version of The Great Gatsby performed, word for word, onstage. The conceit is that an ordinary office worker has cracked open the book and, as he gets drawn in, prevails upon coworkers to play out the scenes; the goal is to have certain Gatsby images spring to life onstage as they do, so indelibly, in the minds of readers. And apparently these Service folks have hit on something, receiving wondrous reviews in Brussels, Amsterdam, and Zurich (this is Gatz’s American premiere). While the onstage antics do add some humor that F. Scott never intended, be aware that this undertaking goes for six and a half hours—no joke. View it on consecutive evenings or take it all in during one marathon performance. 612-375-7600; www.performingarts.walkerart.org