The Great Gatsby Jukebox Musical a resounding success

The Great Gatsby hit the school stage last Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday night to rave reviews. Actors, musicians, choreograhers, tech, set and stage hands from across year groups 7-13 performed in Cheney's jukebox musical production of the 1925 F. Scott Fitzgerald novel.

There was a matinee performance first on Tuesday to the cast of the Headington Rye School production who enjoyed the live music from the fantastic singers and orchestra performing songs such as Empire State of Mind, Dancing Through Life, I'm Feeling Good, Mr Gatsby (an original), Sir Duke, Make You Feel My Love, Valerie, Love Me Like You Do, A Million Years, My Way and Skyfall - really lifting the production. Their reaction to the performance gave the cast a great confidence boost ahead of the evening shows.

The production was a real triumph, but don't take our word for it, we recieved this lovely message from grandparents after watching Wednesday's show:

"My wife and I attended the Wednesday (12.03.25) evening performance of “The Great Gatsby” and were so impressed I felt compelled to say “thank you”.

As a parent, grandparent and former Chair of Governors of an 11-16 academy I have attended many school plays and concerts over the years, but the slick and polished performance of “The Great Gatsby” set a standard I would not have thought possible.

The actors must have practiced and practiced, with no stumbled words and despite the size of the cast, not even a hint of being wrong footed during the entire performance.  I am not sure I could find enough superlatives to do justice to the outstanding performance of the orchestra and singers, as clearly there was some real talent there which will no doubt serve them well in the future.

Clearly none of that happened without some exceptional work and dedication by the teachers and support staff involved and they should be very proud of what they achieved, even though they have set themselves a challenge – how to do even better next time! 

As an aside may I add as to how impressed I was at the behaviour and decorum of the students in the audience, and particular so when they were leaving hall after the performance.  No pushing, shoving, or shouting, just very happy “kids” displaying courtesy to those of us visitors.

On our drive home to Worcestershire, we were still marvelling at having enjoyed such a marvellous evening at Cheney School. Thank you to all concerned."

Indeed, a massive congratulations to the Creative Arts Department teams who put this all together and have been working on this since last autumn - it was fantastic to see the outpouring of love at the end of the musical, as all the performers excitedly cheered and applauded their teachers on stage.

To hear the actors and teachers talking about their prodution, listen to their podcast here.