For Her (Reprise) Lyrics – Great Gatsby, The

Song Overview

Review and Highlights

Quick summary

1. Act II lament for Gatsby on the The Great Gatsby - A New Musical (Original Broadway Cast Recording) - track 20 on the album.
2. Studio cut features Jeremy Jordan with Noah J. Ricketts and Paul Whitty in a tightly staged cross-cut with George Wilson’s prayer.
3. Music by Jason Howland, lyrics by Nathan Tysen; book by Kait Kerrigan. Album released June 28, 2024 on Masterworks Broadway.
4. The lyric braids Gatsby’s unwavering fixation with Wilson’s fatal mission, setting up the pool scene.
5. Motivic recall: the “green light” returns as faith-in-future, now cracked and dangerous.

Review

“For Her (Reprise)” is the quiet coil before the spring snaps. The music trims to heartbeat piano, suspended strings, and low reeds as Gatsby convinces himself that Daisy will return. His language is vow-like - “I’ll take any blame” - while the harmony holds on unresolved chords that refuse to deliver comfort. Then the stage splits: Wilson’s mantra enters from another room, another world. The counterpoint is simple and brutal - one man begs for mercy, the other chants her name. By the final exchange, the piece feels like a prayer intercepted.

The arrangement avoids excess, and that restraint is the point. Where the earlier “For Her” roared, this reprise breathes in short phrases and half-cadences. The refrain “The light is still green” lands less as triumph and more as superstition - a talisman he refuses to drop. According to Playbill’s release coverage, the album captures the Broadway production’s lean, actor-first approach, and this track is the proof.

Creation History

The cast album dropped digitally on June 28, 2024 via Masterworks Broadway with the full 23-track sequence; physical release followed soon after. Apple Music and Spotify list the featured voices for this cut as Jeremy Jordan, Noah J. Ricketts, Paul Whitty, and company. A short official clip of the reprise circulated on the show’s YouTube channel around the album rollout.

Song Meaning and Annotations

Plot

After the Plaza confrontation and the fatal hit-and-run, Gatsby waits at his mansion, convinced Daisy will call. He rewrites the night as destiny - “we have a date with fate” - while across town George Wilson latches onto a different destiny. Wilson’s chant - “God sees everything… forgive me for being his hands” - resolves his plan. The split-scene tightens until both voices occupy the same musical space, points on a collision course.

Song Meaning

It is a portrait of obsession turning sacrificial. Gatsby’s love language is bargaining - bricks, flames, walls built “for her” - while his belief system reduces the world to one signal: the green light. The reprise reframes that symbol from beacon to blindfold. Meanwhile Wilson’s theology justifies violence. Two faiths, two absolutes, one tragedy.

Annotations

“I’ll take any blame for her.”

That line pre-writes Gatsby’s fate. He shields Daisy for Myrtle’s death - a choice that invites his own. Your read that he is effectively offering his life is spot on.

“The light is still green.”

A callback to the show’s earlier number. Here it is denial masquerading as hope, a ritual phrase meant to hold chaos still.

“God sees everything… forgive me for being his hands.”

Wilson’s mantra folds the previous song’s title into action. He recasts murder as duty. The phrasing is chillingly specific - not God’s will, but God’s hands - making himself the instrument.

“Daisy.”

He starts the show calling for her and dies the same way. The reprise compresses that circle into a handful of syllables.

Style and instrumentation

Lean pit colors - piano pulse, tremolo strings, shadowed woodwinds - leave air for breath and dread. No grand swell, just gravity.

Emotional arc

Beginning: certainty rehearsed as mantra. Middle: patience curdles into fixation. End: the other voice takes over, and we feel the pool’s cold surface before we see it.

Historical touchpoints

Fitzgerald’s green light becomes the American wish-object that never delivers. As NME magazine has written about Gatsby-era pop culture, Jazz Age glitter often hides a moral hangover; the number leans into that hangover hard.

Key Facts

• Artist: Original Broadway Cast of The Great Gatsby - A New Musical
• Featured voices: Jeremy Jordan (Gatsby), Noah J. Ricketts (Nick), Paul Whitty (Wilson) on the album cut
• Composer: Jason Howland
• Lyricist: Nathan Tysen
• Release Date: June 28, 2024
• Genre: Pop theatre; Broadway
• Label: Masterworks Broadway
• Mood: devotional, fatalistic, hushed
• Track #: 20 on the album
• Length: about 2:10 - 2:15 on most services
• Key & Tempo: mid-tempo dirge feel; streaming metadata varies on key, but the cut sits in a dark minor center with suspended cadences
• Instruments: piano, strings, low reeds, light percussion
• Language: English
• Album: The Great Gatsby - A New Musical (Original Broadway Cast Recording)
• Poetic meter: free-verse declamation with anaphora; short isochronous phrases

Canonical Entities & Relations

Questions and Answers

Where does “For Her (Reprise)” sit in the story?

Late Act II, after Myrtle’s death and the Plaza blowup, when Gatsby waits for Daisy and Wilson resolves to avenge his wife.

Why bring back the “green light” here?

To show belief hardening into delusion. The symbol that once meant possibility becomes an anchor that drags him under.

How is this different from the earlier “For Her”?

The first is a declaration fueled by bravado; the reprise is a vigil fueled by faith and fear. Smaller band, bigger stakes.

What function does Wilson’s counterline serve?

It collapses distance. Instead of cutting away to another scene, the music lets both men speak at once - inevitability in stereo.

Which performers are on the album track?

Jeremy Jordan leads, with Noah J. Ricketts and Paul Whitty credited on the cut alongside the cast.

Is there an official clip?

Yes - a short video titled “For Her Reprise (Jeremy Jordan) | The Great Gatsby on Broadway” appears on the show’s channel.

Does the track change keys or tempo?

It mostly hovers - a held center more than a modulation map - which matches the lyric’s waiting-room tension.

Awards and Chart Positions

Tony Awards: The Broadway production won Best Costume Design of a Musical for Linda Cho at the 2024 Tony Awards - the show’s headline honor that season, as widely reported at the time.

How to Sing For Her (Reprise)

Treat it like a vigil, not an aria. Text clarity and breath economy outrank volume. Wilson’s lines should feel recessed but inevitable.

• Tempo & feel: steady mid-tempo, sustained lines; think slow heartbeat with spoken interjections.
• Suggested vocal range: baritenor lead (Gatsby) sitting around C3–A4; Wilson in a grounded baritone.
• Common issues: over-singing the mantra lines; losing pitch on soft onsets; letting vibrato widen under quiet dynamics.

1. Tempo: Practice on a click around 68–72 to keep phrases long without dragging.
2. Diction: Keep consonants inside the legato - no pecking. The word “Daisy” should release like a sigh, not a punch.
3. Breath: Map micro-breaths at caesuras. Silent nose inhales maintain the prayer-like quality.
4. Flow/rhythm: Sit slightly behind the bar line; resist crescendo until Wilson’s entrance.
5. Accents: Lean on “blame,” “wait,” “fate” - the moral nouns - rather than volume peaks.
6. Ensemble: If Wilson is offstage, keep him dry and close; Gatsby stays warmer but contained.
7. Mic craft: Ride proximity for intimacy; a small pullback on Wilson’s last “forgive me” preserves headroom.
8. Pitfalls: Do not treat the green-light line like a showstopper. It is a superstition whispered to oneself.

Additional Info

Apple Music lists the track with Jeremy Jordan, Noah J. Ricketts, and Paul Whitty credited, matching what you hear on the cut. Spotify mirrors the lineup. According to Playbill’s reporting, the album bowed June 28, 2024 alongside the Broadway run at The Broadway Theatre. And for production context, coverage around the Tonys underlined Linda Cho’s design win - a nod to the show’s glossy visual storytelling that frames songs like this with period precision.

Sources

Playbill; Apple Music; Spotify; Tony Awards; YouTube; Broadway.com.