Clooney, a two-time Oscar winner and one of Hollywood’s most familiar faces, served as a writer and director on the film version of “Good Night, and Good Luck,” which was released in 2005 to rave reviews. It was nominated for six Oscars including two for Clooney’s screenplay and directorial work.

The story centers on conflict between Murrow and Sen. Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin during the Republican lawmaker’s far-reaching mid-20th century crusade against Communism and suspected Communist sympathizers.

The real-life Murrow said McCarthy’s chief achievement was “confusing the public mind as between internal and external threats of Communism.” McCarthy castigated Murrow’s network, CBS, as “dishonest” and “arrogant” when it refused to grant him air time.

In the movie version, Clooney played Fred Friendly, a leader at CBS. In the stage adaptation, the actor is to portray Murrow, the role originated by David Strathairn.

“Good Night, and Good Luck” is set to reach Broadway in spring 2025. It is not clear which theater will host the production.

In a statement, Clooney, 63, said he was “honored, after all these years, to be coming back to the stage and especially, to Broadway, the art form and the venue that every actor aspires” to reach. Clooney is an alum of the Beverly Hills Playhouse Acting School and also cut his teeth with Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre Company.

David Cromer, who directed “Prayer for the French Republic” this winter, has been tapped to lead the stage version of “Good Night, and Good Luck.”

“Edward R. Murrow operated from a kind of moral clarity that feels vanishingly rare in today’s media landscape,” Cromer said in a statement. “There was an immediacy in those early live television broadcasts that today can only be effectively captured on stage, in front of a live audience.”

Gates, 51, was struck at approximately 9:12 a.m. near the South Orange Station by a Morris & Essex Line train, NJ Transit confirmed to the Daily News on Thursday. About 60 people were onboard the train, though no other injuries have been reported.

“Thom was the center of ‘Illinoise’ on Broadway, a beloved friend and collaborator,” read an Instagram statement shared by the musical. “We are devastated for his husband Rick, another member of the ‘Illinoise’ community. These two amazing human beings led our company on our journey since the beginning. We dedicate the run of ‘Illinoise’ to Thom and his loving memory.”

Wednesday night’s performance of “Illinoise” at St. James Theatre was canceled, but the production resumed Thursday.

Gates had been working as a stage manager on Broadway for two decades. He was part of the backstage operation of “Hairspray,” “Newsies” and “Waitress,” among several other shows.

“He was gentle. He was funny, usually without meaning to be. He was soft spoken. Reliable. Generous. Loving. Compassionate. Tired and overworked, but I never heard him complain. He was the first one in and the last one out,” wrote actress and artist Sara Bareilles, who worked alongside Gates on “Waitress.”

“He has been a stage manager for many shows over the years and taken care of countless others … but he’s the only one I made my first show with who took care of me,” she added.

Gates’ newest project was “Illinoise,” based on the 2005 Sufjan Stevens album of the same name. “Illinoise” has been praised for its atypical nature and ability to capture the unclassifiable energy of Stevens’ music. The show was nominated for Tony Awards for Best Musical, Best Choreography, Best Orchestrations and Best Lighting Design.

Actress Liana Hunt, who starred in “Newsies,” paid tribute to Gates on Instagram.

“I’m heartbroken. Thom put me into ‘Newsies’ and ran our ship at the Nederlander with grace, kindness, professionalism and humor,” she wrote Thursday. “This is a deeply felt loss in our community. I’m shocked and sad and sending so much love to his family.”

Free

Strength of a Woman Summit

The Glasshouse — 660 12th Ave., Hell’s Kitchen

Sat. May 11 from 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.

Queen of Hip-Hop Soul Mary J. Blige reigns supreme in her hometown of New York City this weekend. Her Strength of a Woman three-day festival includes concerts, a gospel brunch and a free community summit.

The nine-time Grammy winner (and two-time Oscar nominee) assembled a who’s who of celebrity notables — such as Taraji P. Henson, Angie Martinez and best-selling author Bevy Smith for a day filled with panels focused on female empowerment through personal style, finance, small business development, health and wellness. Actors such as Larenz Tate, Michael Rainey Jr. and Wu-Tang Clan’s Method Man will be on hand as well.

Free with registration.

Theater

“All of Me”

The Pershing Square Signature Center — 480 W. 42nd St., Hell’s Kitchen

Through June 16

“The Closer” star Kyra Sedgwick — last seen on Broadway in a 1998 production of Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” — returns to the stage in the new Laura Winters play “All of Me,” a romantic comedy about a wheelchair-using boy who meets a girl who uses a scooter.

The young couple use text-to-speech technology to connect to the world around them in a story that explores how class and disability play out in America today. Lily Mae Harrington, Florencia Lozano, Brian Morabito, Madison Ferris and Danny J. Gomez also star; Ashley Brooke Monroe directs.

Tickets start at $29.

Film

31st New York African Film Festival at Film

Elinor Bunin Munroe Film Center — 144 W. 65th St., Upper West Side

Through May 14

The theme of this year’s African Film Festival, produced with Film at Lincoln Center, is “Convergence of Time.” The festival features more than 50 films from more than 25 countries exploring “the intersection of historical and contemporary roles played by individuals representing Africa and its diaspora in art.”

The New York City premiere of Darryl Pitts’ “The Rhythm and The Blues” on May 11 at 5:30 p.m. is a highlight, starring Leon as influential blues guitarist and singer Eddie “Playboy” Taylor. In the hourlong drama, the actor and musician plays the Mississippi-born sideman who lived in obscurity after being an integral part of the post-World War II Chicago Blues scene of the 1950s and 1960s.

Ticket are $17 with discounts for students, seniors and persons with disabilities.

Art

“Endless Night”

Institute of Arab and Islamic Art (IAIA) — 22 Christopher St., West Village

Through Aug. 25, Wed. through Sun., 12 p.m. – 6 p.m.

Nabil Kanso‘s first institutional solo exhibition in New York recently opened showcasing his expansive collection of art investigating the intersection of social injustice, myth, memory and medium.

The Beirut-born artist, who died in 2019 at 79, was renowned for his emotionally evocative murals, paintings, sketches, and watercolors. “Leaves from the Theater of War (1980-1992),” features a series of 242 ink drawings chronicling his personal account of the realities of war. But the centerpiece of the exhibit is Kanso’s large, unstretched oil paintings — such as 1988’s “Soaring Load” (pictured above) — created in response to the Lebanese Civil War.

Free.

Music

Mother’s Day Brunch with the music of Bill Withers

City Vineyard — 233 West St. at Pier 26, Meatpacking District

Sun. May 12 at 12 p.m.

Bill Withers’ youngest daughter Kori Withers is hosting a special Mother’s Day brunch celebrating the release of the children’s book, “Grandma’s Hands”, which brings her father’s famous song to life.

The singer-songwriter, who followed in her dad’s footsteps, will be joined by Valerie Simpson, Marcus Machado and Everett Bradley performing Withers’ classics such as “Lean on Me” and “Lovely Day.”

The 32-page illustrated book will be on sale at a specially marked price.

Tickets start at $30. 

Dance

“This Is The Part When You Go Woo”

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum — 1071 Fifth Ave., Upper East Side

Sun. May 12 and Mon. May 13

Award-winning dancer, choreographer and teacher Caleb Teicher introduces their latest performance-presentation with a script and concept developed in partnership with Michael Benjamin Washington.

Offering an inside look at the range of relationships that take place in theaters between artists and audiences, Teicher’s presentation also features visuals by interdisciplinary artist Ameya Marie Okamoto.

Tickets are $35, with Choose-What-You-Pay option

Family

“Tall Timber Towers: Family Program”

The Skyscraper Museum — 39 Battery Place, Battery Park City

For the new exhibit, “Tall Timber: The Future of Cities in Wood,” architectural historian Carol Willis examines recent tall buildings made of Mass Timber and the material’s role in a more sustainable, eco-friendly future.

The exhibit seeks to demonstrate in a multimedia format how mass timber is better than steel or concrete. A model of software company Atlassian’s forthcoming 42-story hybrid timber tower in Sydney is a standout.

All ages are welcome for the guided tour for Saturday’s family program, where kids can also imagine their own timber skyscrapers. The exhibit runs through Aug. 31. Wed-Sat. from 12 p.m.- 6 p.m.

Free. RSVP required. 

If you have an upcoming weekend event you’d like to submit for consideration in an upcoming roundup, please email: nycevents@nydailynews.com with the full details. Consideration does not guarantee inclusion.

The 59-year-old actor, who recently won an Oscar for his supporting role as Lewis Strauss in Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer,” will headline Ayad Akhtar’s “McNeal” later this year.

“Good writers borrow, great writers steal,” reads the official synopsis of the play. “Jacob McNeal is a great writer, one of our greatest, a perpetual candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature. But McNeal also has an estranged son, a new novel, old axes to grind and an unhealthy fascination with artificial intelligence.”

Described as “a startling and wickedly smart examination of the inescapable humanity — and increasing inhumanity — of the stories we tell,” the play is set to begin performances at Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont Theater on Sept. 5.

The production is helmed by Tony Award winner Bartlett Sher, known for directing 2008’s Broadway revival of “South Pacific” and 2018’s “To Kill a Mockingbird.”

Akhtar, a native of Staten Island, is the creative mind behind the Tony-nominated play “Junk: The Golden Age of Debt” and the 2013 Pulitzer Prize-winning drama “Disgraced.”

Downey’s film credits include “Iron Man,” “Tropic Thunder” and the 1980s cult classic “Weird Science,” among many others. The Manhattan native previously performed onstage in the Off-Broadway musical “American Passion” in 1983.

Complete casting of “McNeal” will be announced at a later date.

Music

“Wall to Wall: Prince”

Symphony Space — 2537 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10025

Sat. May 4 at 3 p.m. to 11 p.m.

Curator Monique Martin produces a daylong tribute to the late creator of “Purple Rain” which is celebrating its 40th anniversary.

The eight-hour event will feature artists such as Kendra Foster, Felice Belle, the Rakiem Walker Project and the Hawtplates performing works from the Minneapolis native’s expansive music catalog.

An exclusive conversation with the team bringing “Purple Rain” to Broadway is also planned — alongside live DJ sets from Stormin’ Norman throughout the day at the Peter Jay Sharp Theater.

Free.

Art

“Enter Andrew Wyeth”

Schoelkopf Gallery — 390 Broadway Third floor, New York, N.Y. 10013

Through June 28. Mon.- Fri. 10 a.m. – 6 pm, and Sat. 12 p.m. – 5 p.m. for walk-ins and by appointment.

The fine art gallery, which recently relocated to a space in Tribeca, presents 25 pieces from one of America’s most famous painters.

Wyeth, known for his regionalist style, was the first painter to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963. His works are currently featured in permanent collections at the Museum of Modern Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Whitney Museum of American Art.

But you can experience some of his finest — including 1939’s “Bradford’s House” (pictured above) and 1985’s “Study for “Trammel” — for free at a gallery that promotes scholarship and research of American masters.

Free

Food

“Condiment Wars: A Wrestling Match featuring EWA and Choke Hole”

Times Square — Broadway & W. 46th St., New York, N.Y. 10036

Fri., May 3, 6–8 p.m.

Following Tuesday’s unveiling of a 65-foot-long hot dog that shoots confetti as it periodically ascends toward the sky in Times Square, organizers are commemorating the six-week installation with a Friday night smackdown.

Drag queens from Choke Hole: XXXtreme Queer Wrestling will square off with members of the Eastern Wrestling Alliance (EWA) in a condiment themed wrestling match at the foot of the eyebrow-raising “Hot Dog in the City.” Only in New York!

Brooklyn-based conceptual art duo Jen Catron and Paul Outlaw created the sculpture — which is on view to the public for free through June 13 — “to talk about the politics of street vending, immigration, consumption, capitalism, and class.”

Executives from the Times Square Alliance encourage people to get in a “New York State of Mind” and also purchase hot dogs at existing street vendors while watching the event.

Free.

Theater

“The Keep Going Songs”

Claire Tow Theater — 150 W. 65th St., New York, N.Y. 10023

Through May 26. Various showtimes.

Abigail and Shaun Bengson’s COVID-19 quarantine era streaming concept comes to the stage this week at Lincoln Center.

The Bengsons, in a production directed by Caitlin Sullivan, tell stories through song with an uplifting and encouraging message in a show producers have described as “part concert, part wake, part theatrical extravaganza.”

The soulful indie folk-rock duo sold out last year’s “Next@LCT3” concert series and performed music for the Off-Broadway play “Where The Mountain Meets the Sea” at New York City Center in 2022.

Fashion

“The People’s Ball”

Brooklyn Public Library — 10 Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn, N.Y. 11238

Sun. May 5 at 7 p.m.

Brooklyn Public Library has an answer to the Met Gala, which is held annually at Manhattan’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. And theirs is free and open to all.

“The People’s Ball,” at BPL’s central branch, is an annual celebration of fashion, personal style and individuality, purposely held on the eve of Anna Wintour’s star-studded (and pricey) fundraising fete.

In contrast, hundreds of everyday New Yorkers flock from across the city to strut their stuff the runway in their favorite duds, with DJs and performers entertaining the crowds between hourly catwalks.

Co-curated by Souleo, the event is hosted by actress Delissa Reynolds and celebrity stylist Robert Verdi, with a performance from drag icon Kevin Aviance and beats by DJ Spinna.

The event also features a special tribute to late street photographer Bill Cunningham. A group of his models — Lauren Ezersky, Jean Stone, Lana Turner and Amy Collins — will hit the catwalk in his honor.

Free

Outdoor

“Hope Against Hope “

Center for Art, Research and Alliances (CARA) — 225 W. 13th St., New York, N.Y. 10011

Austrian-born textile artist Ines Doujak spearheads the first year of a woman-led, two-day gathering of community conversation, food and performances and interactive installations in New York City.

Awe-inspiring sculptures like “Woman with Goat” (pictured above) and costumes created by the artist will have a presence on the West Village streets during Saturday’s parade, which begins at W. 13th St. and moves toward the New York City AIDS Memorial/St. Vincent’s Triangle (76 Greenwich Ave.). The event will also feature performances by the Blacksmiths, Christen Clifford, and Pamela Sneed.

Free

Family

Stone Street’s Cinco de Mayo Street Festival

Stone Street Historic District — New York, N.Y. 10004

Fri. – Sun. 12 noon to 12 midnight

The Financial District comes alive in vibrant splendor with the three-day Cinco de Mayo Festival on the very first paved street in New York City (circa 1658).

Once again this year, Stone St. invites you to celebrate the holiday that recognizes the Mexican victory over France during the Franco-Mexican War in the 1860s.

Visitors can partake in a smorgasbord of Mexican street food, complimentary tequila and beer tastings, live music by a Mexican artist, dance performers, a mariachi band during the free-to-attend full day events.

Free

If you have an upcoming weekend event you’d like to submit for consideration in an upcoming roundup, please email: nycevents@nydailynews.com with the details. Consideration does not guarantee inclusion.

Alicia Keys’ Midtown-set musical “Hell’s Kitchen” and the 1970s-era, music studio-set play “Stereophonic” led the way with 13 nominations each. The winners are due to be announced at a June 16 ceremony broadcast by CBS from Lincoln Center in Manhattan.

Here is a full accounting of the contenders across 26 awards categories.

Best Play

• “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding”
• “Mary Jane”
• “Mother Play”
• “Prayer for the French Republic”
• “Stereophonic”

Best Musical

• “Hell’s Kitchen”
• “Illinoise”
• “The Outsiders”
• “Suffs”
• “Water for Elephants”

Best Revival of a Play

• “Appropriate”
• “An Enemy of the People”
• “Purlie Victorious: A Non-Confederate Romp Through the Cotton Patch”

Best Book of a Musical

• “Hell’s Kitchen”
• “The Notebook”
• “The Outsiders”
• “Suffs”
• “Water for Elephants”

Best Original Score

• “Days of Wine and Roses”
• “Here Lies Love”
• “The Outsiders”
• “Stereophonic”
• “Suffs”

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play

• William Jackson Harper, “Uncle Vanya”
• Leslie Odom Jr., “Purlie Victorious”
• Liev Schreiber, “Doubt: A Parable”
• Jeremy Strong, “An Enemy of the People”
• Michael Stuhlbarg, “Patriots”

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play

• Betsy Aidem, “Prayer for the French Republic”
• Jessica Lange, “Mother Play”
• Rachel McAdams, “Mary Jane”
• Sarah Paulson, “Appropriate”
• Amy Ryan, “Doubt”

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical

• Brody Grant, “The Outsiders”
• Jonathan Groff, “Merrily We Roll Along”
• Dorian Harewood, “The Notebook”
• Brian d’Arcy James, “Days of Wine and Roses”
• Eddie Redmayne, “Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club”

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical

• Eden Espinosa, “Lempicka”
• Maleah Joi Moon, “Hell’s Kitchen”
• Kelli O’Hara, “Days of Wine and Roses”
• Maryann Plunkett, “The Notebook”
• Gayle Rankin, “Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club”

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play

• Will Brill, “Stereophonic”
• Eli Gelb, “Stereophonic”
• Jim Parsons, “Mother Play”
• Tom Pecinka, “Stereophonic”
• Corey Stoll, “Appropriate”

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play

• Quincy Tyler Bernstine, “Doubt”
• Juliana Canfield, “Stereophonic”
• Celia Keenan-Bolger, “Mother Play”
• Sarah Pidgeon, “Stereophonic”
• Kara Young, “Purlie Victorious”

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical

• Roger Bart, “Back To The Future: The Musical”
• Joshua Boone, “The Outsiders”
• Brandon Victor Dixon, “Hell’s Kitchen”
• Sky Lakota-Lynch, “The Outsiders”
• Daniel Radcliffe, “Merrily We Roll Along”
• Steven Skybell, “Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club”

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical

• Shoshana Bean, “Hell’s Kitchen”
• Amber Iman, “Lempicka”
• Nikki M. James, “Suffs”
• Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer, “Monty Python’s Spamalot”
• Kecia Lewis, “Hell’s Kitchen”
• Lindsay Mendez, “Merrily We Roll Along”
• Bebe Neuwirth, “Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club”

Best Scenic Design of a Play

• “Appropriate”
• “An Enemy of the People”
• “Purlie Victorious”
• “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding”
• “Stereophonic”

Best Scenic Design of a Musical

• “The Outsiders”
• “Hell’s Kitchen”
• “Water for Elephants”
• “Here Lies Love”
• “Lempicka”
• “Back To The Future: The Musical”
• “Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club”

Best Costume Design of a Play

• “Appropriate”
• “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding”
• “Stereophonic”
• “Purlie Victorious”
• “An Enemy of the People”

Best Costume Design of a Musical

• “Hell’s Kitchen”
• “The Great Gatsby”
• “Water for Elephants”
• “Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club”
• “Suffs”

Best Lighting Design of a Play

• “An Enemy of the People”
• “Prayer for the French Republic”
• “Stereophonic”
• “Appropriate”
• “Grey House”

Best Lighting Design of a Musical

• “llinoise”
• “Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club”
• “Hell’s Kitchen”
• “Water for Elephants”
• “The Outsiders”

Best Sound Design of a Play

• “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding”
• “Mary Jane”
• “Grey House”
• “Appropriate”
• “Stereophonic”

Best Sound Design of a Musical

• “Here Lies Love”
• “Merrily We Roll Along”
• “Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club”
• “Hell’s Kitchen”
• “The Outsiders”

Best Direction of a Play

• Daniel Aukin, “Stereophonic”
• Anne Kauffman, “Mary Jane”
• Kenny Leon, “Purlie Victorious”
• Lila Neugebauer, “Appropriate”
• Whitney White, “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding”

Best Direction of a Musical

• Maria Friedman, “Merrily We Roll Along”
• Michael Greif, “Hell’s Kitchen”
• Leigh Silverman, “Suffs”
• Jessica Stone, “Water for Elephants”
• Danya Taymor, “The Outsiders”

Best Choreography

• “Here Lies Love”
• “Hell’s Kitchen”
• “The Outsiders”
• “Illinoise”
• “Water for Elephants”

Best Orchestrations

• “Illinoise”
• “Stereophonic”
• “The Outsiders”
• “Hell’s Kitchen”
• “Merrily We Roll Along”

The nominations announcement arrived after the ceremony’s 44-member nominating committee scoured Broadway’s third season since COVID to pluck out the strongest performances and sharpest productions.

The packed season has brought back familiar shows, including “The Wiz” (which was not nominated for any Tonys on Tuesday), and surfaced popular new arrivals such as “Suffs,” a musical about suffragists fighting for the vote, which picked up six nods.

Tuesday’s nominations were headlined by some household names, largely appearing in star-studded revivals. Those nominees included the velvet-voiced Leslie Odom Jr. in a nonsinging role in “Purlie Victorious,” the intense Jeremy Strong in a revival of Henrik Ibsen’s “An Enemy of the People,” Liev Schreiber in “Doubt” and Rachel McAdams in “Mary Jane,” a new play that hauled in four nominations.

Daniel Radcliffe and Jonathan Groff also scored nods for their starring roles in a hugely popular revival of Stephen Sondheim’s “Merrily We Roll Along.” Eddie Redmayne picked up a nomination for “Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club,” which received a strong nine nominations despite checkered critical reviews.

Tuesday was also a bright day for a musical interpretation of the Oklahoma coming-of-age story “The Outsiders,” which scored 12 nominations, and a revival of the sidesplitting, boundary-pushing “Appropriate,” which is led by an impressively gruff Sarah Paulson and earned eight nominations.

The five nominees for the Best New Musical honor were “Suffs,” “The Outsiders,” “Hell’s Kitchen,” “Illinoise,” which is inspired by the 2005 Sufjan Stevens album and received four nominations, and “Water for Elephants,” about life in a traveling circus (seven nominations).

The 13 nods for “Stereophonic” made it the most-nominated play in Tony Awards history. The show, beloved by critics, is centered on a fictional band as it records an album in 1970s California.

“I think the play has many resonances,” said Juliana Canfield, who plays Holly and was nominated in the Best Featured Actress category.  “I think it speaks to people who make art. I think it speaks to people who have ever been in love or had their heart broken. So, that’s basically everyone.”

It is seen as the favorite to take home the Best New Play honor.

This year’s ceremony will be held June 16 at Lincoln Center’s David H. Koch Theater. The Tonys, which have often been held at Radio City Music Hall, have never been held at the Koch Theater, the home of City Ballet.

The relocation represents a continuation of the Tonys’ broadening geographic horizons. A year ago, the awards show was held at the United Palace in Washington Heights. Ariana DeBose is set to host for the third straight year.

A team of 836 voters has been tapped to select the winners, according to the Tonys. CBS broadcasts the ceremony.

After a bustling season, 36 shows were eligible for Tony Awards consideration this year. A flurry of productions arrived in April ahead of the nominations announcement.

“This season is so abundant with so many beautiful stories and expressions of art, and I hope that it just keeps going that way,” said Eden Espinosa, who snagged a Tony nomination for “Lempicka.” In the show, she morphs into Tamara de Lempicka, an influential Polish painter.

“I think people after the pandemic are hungry for art,” she said, “And for substance. And for escape.”

Even as New York theater has survived the pandemic with a parade of productions and attendance near the pre-COVID years’, Broadway has also changed.

Ticket sales have sagged and grosses have failed to keep up with inflation. More suburban theatergoers, who may have more money to throw at shows, now seem to stay home, according to Broadway League data. And producers, who face a financial high-wire act even in the best of times, have made some not-to-subtle calculations.

Many of today’s Broadway productions — even the most tantalizingly innovative and impressively executed — are scaled down. Some have sets more reminiscent of small-town productions. Others, such as last year’s revival of “A Doll’s House,” hardly have sets at all.

Since Broadway reopened after closing for 16 months due to COVID, there have been only scattered attempts to conjure the ambitious, broad-shouldered Broadway musical of yore. The rare showy productions — including “The Music Man,” “Funny Girl” and “Sweeney Todd” — have mostly been low-risk revivals.

But in seeking to channel the glitz, glamour and grandiosity of New York’s roaring 1920s, a musical adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel “The Great Gatsby” has bucked the recent trend.

This “Gatsby,” driven by old-school ballads and backed by a producer who has said he’s not worried about losing money on Broadway shows, is brimming with bells and whistles.

Like Jay Gatsby as he woos his former lover, Daisy, the production team behind “Gatsby” plainly spared no expense in its drive to deliver 150 minutes of razzle-dazzle to theatergoers.

“When people think of ‘The Great Gatsby,’ they think of opulence and excessiveness and over-the-top and just glam for days,” said Cory Pattak, the planner of the show’s intricate lighting. “We really wanted to deliver on that.”

The goal, he added, was to create a show that feels “larger than life.”

Among the musical’s 42 scenes are trips to Gatsby’s gilded and labyrinthine Long Island mansion, a downtrodden and industrial Valley of Ashes in eastern Queens, and a flowery cottage that serves as the setting for Gatsby and Daisy’s reunion.

“Each one of them is uniquely opulent,” Marc Bruni, the show’s director, said of the sets, before clarifying, “and not opulent when it needs to be,” such as in the rusted-over Valley of Ashes.

There are 26 cast members, a 19-piece orchestra, two large retro automobiles and two types of fireworks that crackle above dancers’ heads. One visually arresting 1,644-square-foot LED video screen ties together the succession of complex set pieces that shuttle across the stage.

Sustaining the muscular musical, which opened Thursday at the cavernous Broadway Theatre, requires a “superhero team of stage managers and deck hands and electricians and props individuals,” said Paul Tate dePoo III, the show’s scenic designer.

“It’s kind of a marvel,” said Jeremy Jordan, who plays Gatsby and described the production as the biggest he has done “by far.”

Behind it all: A single pulsing tungsten light bulb, encased in green gel. It’s the green light at Daisy’s dock that Gatsby peers at longingly across Long Island Sound — and that, for decades of readers, has represented the elusive American Dream.

The story centers on Gatsby’s efforts to eclipse class differences in his romantic pursuit of the old-money Daisy, who loved him when she was younger but got married while he was away in World War I.

“Gatsby is a man with a big dream,” Bruni said. “And so that is something that very much lends itself to music.”

His production may not be the only or most successful musical interpretation of Fitzgerald’s handiwork headed to Broadway. A second show, titled simply “Gatsby” and directed by the Tony-winning Rachel Chavkin, is due at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Mass., next month, with Broadway seen as its likely next stop.

There has been a mad rush to bring “Gatsby” to the stage after the novel’s copyright protection expired and the book entered the public domain in 2021, giving producers a green light to bend it into a musical.

One South Korean producer, Chunsoo Shin, immediately saw an opportunity in the material and recruited a team to take it to Broadway. Shin has had success as a producer in his home country. He has had a tougher go in the U.S., persevering through a series of flops, including this season’s Britney Spears-inspired “Once Upon a One More Time.”

But where “Once Upon a One More Time” recycled well-worn songs, “Gatsby” has its own original score from Jason Howland, who was behind the music for “Little Women” and “Paradise Square.”

Most Broadway shows do not turn profits. And Shin has said he’s less concerned with making money than with helping to elevate the Asian theater market on the world stage, in part by being a player in his own right on Broadway.

It’s unclear if Shin’s “Gatsby” will run long enough to cover its expenses. Critics have offered mixed appraisals. The Daily News’ Chris Jones deemed its scale “massive” and its score “lush” but its storytelling ultimately cold.

Even if “Gatsby” careens quickly offstage, it will have succeeded in reviving a degree of ambition that can sometimes seem relegated to Broadway’s boom-time past.

In that way, it may have something in common with its title character, who offers a defiant reply when another character, Nick, tells him one “can’t repeat the past.”

“Why, of course you can,” Gatsby says.

Stevens always had a fervent fan base, increased of late by the appearance of music from his 2005 album “Illinoise” in the hit TV show set in Chicago and known as “The Bear.”

“Took my bags, Illinois,” he wrote in his most alluring ditty. “Dreamt the Lake, took my boy. Man of Steel. Man of Heart. Turn your ear to my part.”

And there’s my favorite Stevens lyric of all: “All things go. All things go.” Always good to remember that, friends.

“Illinoise,” a very late entry to the Broadway season after runs at Chicago Shakespeare Theater (where I first reviewed it) and the Park Avenue Armory, is Justin Peck’s choreographic response to the album “Illinoise,” as explored with the writer Jackie Sibblies Drury — who has not written a traditional book to a musical but merely a loose and serviceable scenario where a group of friends gather in a rural clearing and tell through their movements their various stories of self-actualization, roughly corresponding to tracks on the album.

If you remember Twyla Tharp’s “Movin’ Out,” a response to the music of Billy Joel, or can imagine “A Chorus Line” in the cornfields of the Prairie State, you’ll have a sense of what goes on here.

Those tracks include such esoteric, perchance eccentric, subject matter as John Wayne Gacy Jr., the Black Hawk War, Carl Sandburg and zombies. Stevens initially said he was going to release an album for all 50 states, but, in the end, he got bored with the project and managed only “Michigan” and “Illinois.” Too bad for the other 48.

On Broadway, you’ll hear a top-drawer group of live musicians and singers (Elijah Lyons, Shara Nova and Tasha Viets-Vanlear, ) who mostly had or have existing relationships with Stevens’ music. So to some extent the aural experience is like streaming the album, although the theatricalized orchestrations are not identical to what Stevens did in the studio.

Stevens groupies, whose obsession with detail has much in common with people who followed the Grateful Dead, will be fascinated. There probably will be enough of them for this show to find its audience for a good while, although this is hardly a mainstream attraction within the Broadway penumbra.

Those walking in off the street without advance hipster credentials will most likely focus on Peck’s work. This choreographer of immense stature in the dance world is theatrically ambitious, a major player when it comes to blurring the boundaries of ballet and Broadway, modern dance and production numbers, and his work here is sensual, clearly personal and very cool, especially when it comes to the trajectories of yearning and longing.

His egalitarian ensemble, vulnerable to a person, does not have to sing, of course, and thus they can concentrate on their spectacular specialty: Kara Chan, Ben Cook, Jeanette Delgado, Gaby Diaz, Brandt Martinez, Christine Flores, Rachel Lockhart, Craig Salstein, Ahmad Simmons, Byron Tittle, Ricky Ubeda and Alejandro Vargas all are quite beautiful to watch.

“Illinoise” is thus far from a typical Broadway musical, and if you’re headed to this 90-minute show, be aware that you are in for a sensorial experience primarily, even if the emotional underpinning of Peck’s work occasionally reaches out from the stage and grabs your heart. The piece sits very comfortably in the St. James Theatre, a more intimate venue than “Illinoise” enjoyed either in Chicago or on Park Ave. It’s not a show for all tastes but it certainly makes the case that it belongs on Broadway.

Those old-fashioned components might be enough for this title (now helpfully in the public domain) to find an audience.

There’s unceasing public appetite for the characters in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s great American novel, a racy story of decadence, infidelity and lies. Every time I’ve seen some version of it — and there have been many — I’ve seen at least some audience members dressed to the nines in suits and gowns. People raise their game when they’re taking a date to “The Great Gatsby,” even if they’re far from Broadway.

That said, this new musical, as penned by Kait Kerrigan with music composed by Jason Howland and lyrics by Nathan Dylan, makes you feel very little, except when Howland’s lush melodies are reaching their climax. Even then, the feelings that flow are more admiration for Howland’s craft than the kind of emotion that flows back into an embrace of story.

While it’s a massive show at the Broadway Theatre, Marc Bruni’s production, first seen at New Jersey’s Paper Mill Playhouse, doesn’t really convey the sense of flapper-age decadence that created the adjective “Gatsbyesque.” This isn’t an especially sensual show; no one seems to pulse with sexual desire, notwithstanding the huge bed that rolls onstage at one point. (As does an automobile).

Why the strange remove? A decision was made here to convert everything into dialogue and eschew the famous narrative voice of Nick Carraway (Noah J. Ricketts). It has the effect of making you wonder what Nick is even doing in the show, given his peripheral relationship to the central story of Jay Gatsby (Jeremy Jordan), Gatsby’s pursuit of Daisy Buchanan (Eva Noblezada) and the impact of that quest on Tom Buchanan (John Zdrojeski), Myrtle Wilson (Sara Chase), Jordan Baker (Samantha Pauly) and George Wilson (Paul Whitty).

Ricketts plays Nick as a bland, observational dude, not so different from Cliff in “Cabaret,” which makes some sense, but not so much when he’s shorn of his ability to share his thoughts about what he sees and experiences. Without that, stuff still happens, but little in this show helps an audience put it into any kind of fresh context.

There’s a lot of plot to get through, of course, and “Gatsby” covers the familiar ground reasonably well.

Howland is one of the most gifted young American composers, one still waiting for the right material to fully break out. He has written some lovely ballads for Jordan, whose voice soars to the back of the giant theater, and for Noblezada, who’s appealing but still needs more definition to fill out the role of Daisy.

Another problem with the book and the staging, though, is that it tends to treat everything on the same temporal level. Time does not slow down before the climactic accident and, while it sure comes as a surprise, it also verges on the unintentionally comic.

Dominique Kelley has created some serviceable party dancing, but the show, in my view, is under-choreographed. These are talented performers who could do so much more than what is mostly social dance, not so different from someone’s Gatsby-themed shebang.

The passion of Jay and Daisy somehow never moves. Jordan mostly plants himself and sings his face off, which is great as far as it goes, but the show’s lack of fluidity is a big problem.

Audiences don’t exactly need their hand held by Nick or anyone else through “Gatsby,” but given the familiarity of this territory, we do crave a distinctive point of view. Beyond exploiting this famously beguiling title, it’s never clear what this telling really wants to say.