Austin Colby takes over as Jay Gatsby on the North American tour of The Great Gatsby from Wednesday, October 21, at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia, for what the production calls a strictly limited engagement.
The tour arrives in Philadelphia from Charlotte, North Carolina, where it plays the Belk Theater at Blumenthal Arts Center through October 18. The Academy of Music engagement runs October 20–November 1, so Colby joins a day after the engagement opens. The production announced his casting on October 13 and has not given an end date.
He covers the leave of absence of Jake David Smith, who has been leading the tour as Gatsby and begins his leave this month.
Colby comes to the role with years inside the show. He was part of the original Broadway company in 2024, in the ensemble and understudying both Gatsby and Tom Buchanan, and went on to play Tom on Broadway from March 2025 to March 2026. On the road, he has played Hans in the national tour of Disney's Frozen.
The touring company also includes Senzel Ahmady as Daisy Buchanan, Joshua Grosso as Nick Carraway, Leanne Robinson as Jordan Baker, Lila Coogan as Myrtle Wilson, Will Branner as Tom Buchanan, Tally Sessions as George Wilson and Edward Staudenmayer as Meyer Wolfsheim.
The musical has a book by Kait Kerrigan, whose new musical The Heart is now playing Off-Broadway, with music by Jason Howland and lyrics by Nathan Tysen. Marc Bruni directs and Dominique Kelley choreographs.
After Philadelphia the tour moves to the Providence Performing Arts Center in Rhode Island (November 3–8), Shea's Performing Arts Center in Buffalo (November 10–15) and the Fisher Theatre in Detroit (November 17–29). The full route is on the production's official site, BroadwayGatsby.com.
