HOW DOES GATZ WORK?

HOW DOES GATZ WORK? I got one of the last two tickets to a performance of Gatz (which apparently is now sold out for its entire run.) I was enthralled and so was the whole audience. Nobody left. Gatz (created and performed by Elevator Repair Service) is six and a half hours long (Mary Jane said her back wasn’t up to six and a half hours.) A young man in what appears to be the office of a warehouse comes across a copy of THE GREAT GATSBY and begins to read it aloud. He reads with little inflection at first and then with increasing interest. His coworkers drift in and out and gradually begin to portray the characters in the book. Every word in GATSBY is read or performed. Elmer asked me how or why it worked. I don’t know. Obviously, one reason it works is that it’s a great book. Some people have said that the play captures the experience of reading. The only other thing I can think of is that the narrative voice, Nick Carraway’s voice, is so important, and the play captures that voice.