The Diamond as Big as the Ritz

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The musical The Diamond as Big as The Ritz is a theatrical adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1922 satirical novella of the same name. The show has a book by R. C. Staab, and music and lyrics by him and Seth Bisen-Hersh. It is a tale about John, a young man of modest means from Mississippi, spending the summer with Percy, his extremely wealthy friend and classmate from an Eastern boarding school. The Percy family’s wealth derives from his great-grandfather having found a diamond as big as a mountain in Montana. It is a story of how wealth can be used to manipulate the values and institutions that shape society. It is a testament to the destructiveness of greed, not only on the social order but on the lives of the people who possess the wealth.

This adaptation, directed by John Hickok, uses the Fitzgerald story as a counterpoint to a tale of a couple caught in the legal vagaries of the United States and Canadian immigration laws. The connection between their experiences at the border and the satirical nature of the Fitzgerald piece does not work even with the addition of musical numbers. It would be better to make a show of the original story without the contemporary border issues thrown into the mix.

The show opens with a young couple being led into a visually sterile waiting room. They are Yash (Ethan Yaheen-Moy Chan), a late 20-year-old tech worker with an H-1B for work in the US, and Mira (Johana Gracia Lara), a young woman in her late teens or early twenties who is with Yash but has a fake visa for the U.S. Chan and Lara will play two other characters in the show, John and Kismine, two of the three main characters in the Fitzgerald side of the story.

Two other characters are present in the room: a Man in a trench coat who is being detained and a Canadian immigration officer. Bobby Barksdale plays the Man and a fully realized Percy and later an Aviator in the connecting story. The Canadian immigration officer is played by Megan Lomax, who transitions solidly into Gypsum, a slave maid, and Mrs. Washington, the mother of Percy and Kismine, in the Fitzgerald segment.

Chan and Barksdale, as John and Percy, lead off the transition to the Fitzgerald story with the song “Best Summer Yet” as they travel to Percy’s parents’ Montana hideaway. The lyrics provide information about Percy’s family that will become important later in the show. The performers are in good voice, given the acoustics of the performance space.

A critical element of musical theater in what is considered a true musical is that the lyrics of the song are integrated with the storyline, so taking a song out of the play leaves a hole in the dramatic arc. In this production, each musical number provides details about the characters and the play’s structure that move the story forward. For example, “The Life I Lead,” sung by Chan, provides solid insight into John’s vision of how this experience will shape his life.

THE LIFE I’D LEAD,

FRIENDS AT THE TOP!

CAN I SUCCEED,

WHERE OTHERS FLOP?

I’LL TAKE NOTES WHILE I CAN,

A CORDIAL YOUNG MAN, FORMING A PLAN,

SO WHEN I’M THROUGH,

I CAN LIVE AS THEY DO!

Lara sings another example as Kismine, a 16-year-old girl who longs to spend time alone with a boy.

I’M WAITING… WAITING TO BE ALONE… WITH A BOY.

I’M ALWAYS ON MY OWN, BUT NEVER ALONE WITH A BOY.

IT’S SOMETHING I’LL CHERISH,

UNTIL I PERISH,

IT WILL FILL ME WITH SUCH JOY,

TO FINALLY BE ALONE…WITH A BOY!

As Gypsum, Lomax sings “I’d Give This All Up” about her life in the Percy family’s mountain hideaway. It reveals she is a slave owned by the family. While Lomax’s tone is good, her projection is weak, making it difficult to appreciate the song’s point about slavery. This song establishes some historical context to the fantasy world that Percy’s great-grandfather created with the South winning the War of Rebellion and slaves not being freed. At the end of the song, she sings:

NO MATTER WHAT, A SLAVE I’LL ALWAYS BE

I’D GIVE THIS ALL UP,

ALL OF IT UP.

I’D GIVE THIS ALL UP TO BE FREE.

Other songs fit well into the storyline and give historical context to the events shaping the play. Richard Rowan, solidly plays Braddock, the reclusive owner of the Montana estate. Rowan also plays the U.S. Immigration officer in the parallel story. Braddock sings the title song, “The Diamond as Big as The Ritz,” while telling the story of how the family became so wealthy.

There is also a dark side to the story, born of a fear that the discovery of their source of wealth from a limitless supply of diamonds will reduce the value of the gems to dust. From Percy’s great-grandfather to his father, the members of the family have done everything to conceal the source of their wealth through political manipulation, falsification of deeds and maps, imprisonment of trespassers, and murder. Anybody from outside the family or slave staff who visits the property never leaves, which will include John.

While the play tries to connect the immigration situation of a present-day immigrant couple with the satirical musings about corruption and greed in a story from one hundred years ago, it misses making any substantive political or social comment. It would have been better to focus on the original novella and find a different way of making a point.

The show’s closing song makes a powerful statement about the present-day political environment. It was used in 2018 as a song in the Get Out the Vote efforts by the Democratic Party. The song “Enough Already” addresses the unfairness and  inequality at all levels in the society, as an example, the third stanza:

WHEN THE RICH GET RICHER, AND THE POOR STAY POOR.

WHEN THERE’S REAL INJUSTICE YOU CANNOT IGNORE.

WHEN THE SCALE’S UNBALANCED, YOU CAN TAKE NO MORE.

ENOUGH ALREADY. ENOUGH ALEADY.

The music is provided by a trio composed of Mitchell Brownell, music director, on piano, Ana Lei on cello, and Ethan Gueldenzopf on drums. Their work is perfectly balanced for the performance space. Although there is limited choreography, Jen Turey’s choreography direction works well in support of the storyline. The lighting design by Parker Jenkins was effective in shifting the dramatic focus from the harsh lighting of the immigration room to the softer lighting of the various Montana settings. Costume designer Georgia Evans devised costumes that worked well with the multiple transitions in characters.

The sets are limited to tables and chairs, but even so, the actors are able to use them effectively to develop a scene. However, more could have been done to enhance the various scene changes. A projection used late in the show demonstrates that a resource exists that could have been used more effectively to support the story.

The Diamond as Big as The Ritz (through September 29, 2024)

ATA Sargent Theatre, 314 West 54^th Street, in Manhattan.

For tickets, visit https://ritzmusical.brownpapertickets.com/

Running time: 90 minutes without an intermission