''The Pursuit of Persephone'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Peter Mills and book by Cara Reichel. The show details F. Scott Fitzgerald's time at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

, and his love for

Ginevra King Ginevra King Pirie (November 30, 1898 – December 13, 1980) was an American socialite and heiress. As one of Chicago's " Big Four" debutantes during World , she inspired many characters in the novels and stories of writer F. Scott Fitzgerald ...

. Elements of the plot are loosely adapted from ''

This Side of Paradise ''This Side of Paradise'' is the debut novel by American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald, published in 1920. It examines the lives and morality of carefree American youth at the dawn of the Jazz Age. Its protagonist, Amory Blaine, is an attractive ...

'' (Fitzgerald's own fictionalized account of his time at Princeton).

Productions

The show premiered at the Connelly Theatre in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

in 2005, featuring Chris Fuller as F. Scott Fitzgerald and Jessica Grové as Ginevra King. In 2006 much of the original cast returned for a concert reading of the show at the Lucille Lortel Theatre. That same year, a production of the show was staged at the University of Michigan, starring

Justin Paul Justin Paul (born January 3, 1985) is an American theater and television composer and lyricist best known for his works ''The Greatest Showman'', ''La La Land'' and ''Dear Evan Hansen'', all of which he co-wrote with his songwriting partner, Ben ...

as F. Scott Fitzgerald. In 2014 the show was reworked and presented by the Prospect Theater Company under the name "The Underclassman".

Cast

Reception

The show received some praise for its music, costuming, and casting, but often received criticism for its book. The 2014 production similarly was praised for its music, while critics felt the underlying story was not interesting enough to captivate audiences.

Awards

External links

''The Pursuit of Persephone'' Review
from Broadway World

from Paradise Revisited

from ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

References

Off-Broadway musicals Musicals inspired by real-life events 2005 musicals Cultural depictions of F. Scott Fitzgerald {{musical-theat-stub