One-Way Road Lyrics – Great Gatsby, The

Song Overview

Review and Highlights

Quick summary

1. A mid-tempo solo for Myrtle Wilson that pivots the show’s tone from glitz to peril at the start of Act II.
2. Music by Jason Howland, lyrics by Nathan Tysen; featured on The Great Gatsby - A New Musical (Original Broadway Cast Recording) released June 28, 2024.
3. Performed on the album by Sara Chase as Myrtle; track 18, running about 3:16.
4. Style fuses show-pop writing with a pulsing groove and conversational verses that crest into a belting hook.
5. Staging frames Myrtle’s crossroads literally: a walk toward the Plaza that becomes fatal. According to Playbill, the cast album dropped digitally June 28 with CDs following in August.

Creation History

Howland and Tysen position Myrtle’s number as a reckoning, not a detour. The music keeps steady forward motion - short phrases like quick strides, syncopation like a heartbeat speeding up. On the cast recording from Masterworks Broadway, studio clarity spotlights Myrtle’s internal monologue as it tilts from swagger to self-doubt to resignation. The track arrived with the album’s digital release in late June 2024 - a summer drop that helped the show’s post-opening momentum, as noted by Playbill. Production-wise, the broader design team’s award-winning visuals - from Linda Cho’s gowns to Paul Tate dePoo III’s Deco vistas - give the number its cruel shimmer: the dream is gorgeous and it will run you over.

Song Meaning and Annotations

Plot

Myrtle heads for the Plaza to blow up her secret - she is pregnant and wants Tom Buchanan to choose her. Transport has stalled, so she goes by foot and by fantasy. In her mind: champagne, a proposal, a new surname. Reality: a speeding yellow car and a life cut off. The number ends with a choice she cannot make fast enough - and a choice the world makes for her a scene later.

Song Meaning

This is a reckoning with class, autonomy, and appetite. Myrtle talks herself into a fairytale, then undercuts it with a sharper truth: the system was never built for her. The title phrase doubles as metaphor - a road where the traffic only goes his way - and as staging, since she is literally on a dangerous path. The mood cycles from brash to brutally clear. The hook’s repetition lands like headlights coming on.

Annotations

“Though I’m not showing, a baby’s growing”

The spark for her daring trip. She pictures financial protection, but the lyric leaves room for what Tom would actually offer: hush money and distance.

“Watch the road, asshole!”

A bit of gallows foreshadowing. The line plants the crash in our heads long before it happens.

“I will be a rich man’s wife - With a rich man’s baby and be set for life”

The myth she was sold as a girl. The show ties that fantasy to Daisy’s gilded cage, letting us clock how similar dreams sour at different price points.

“When the new shiny thing becomes - The one who wears the ring”

Myrtle almost talks herself out of the fantasy, clocking Tom’s pattern: upgrade, discard, repeat. That near-breakthrough aches because she is close to seeing the whole machine.

“One-way road - Where the choices are his - And it dead-ends in a cage”

The thesis line. Her agency is conditional, her outcomes pre-routed. She can be adored or ignored, but not free - not here, not now.

Style and instrumentation

Mid-tempo pulse around the low-80s BPM mark; piano and kit drive a steady march, with strings coloring the fantasy beats. Verse-to-hook lift mirrors Myrtle’s escalating stakes. The harmony centers in E flat major on most releases, lending brightness that rubs against the lyric’s dread.

Emotional arc

It starts with bravado, detours into a princess story, then swerves into a clear-eyed self-audit. By the tag, the bravado is gone - only the road remains.

Key Facts

• Artist: Original Broadway Cast of The Great Gatsby - A New Musical
• Lead vocal: Sara Chase as Myrtle Wilson
• Composer: Jason Howland
• Lyricist: Nathan Tysen
• Release Date: June 28, 2024
• Genre: Show tune with pop phrasing
• Instruments: Piano, drums, bass, strings, ensemble vox
• Label: Masterworks Broadway
• Mood: defiant, conflicted, tragic
• Length: 3:16
• Track #: 18 on the cast album
• Language: English
• Album: The Great Gatsby - A New Musical (Original Broadway Cast Recording)
• Music style: narrative solo that crests into belt
• Poetic meter: mixed iambic with syncopated stresses

Canonical Entities & Relations

Jason Howland - composed - the song. Nathan Tysen - wrote lyrics for - the song. Sara Chase - performed - Myrtle Wilson’s vocal on the album. Masterworks Broadway - released - the cast recording. Kait Kerrigan - wrote - the musical’s book. Marc Bruni - directed - the Broadway production. Dominique Kelley - choreographed - the Broadway production. Linda Cho - designed - costumes for Broadway. Paul Tate dePoo III - designed - scenery and projections. Broadway Theatre - hosted - the Broadway run. F. Scott Fitzgerald - authored - the source novel.

Questions and Answers

Where does this number land in the show’s structure?

Act II, just before the Plaza confrontation sequence. It reframes the stakes through Myrtle’s eyes.

What musical devices sell the “road” idea?

Meter that never quite relaxes, stepwise melodies that feel like walking, and a hook that repeats like a flashing sign.

How does the lyric balance fantasy and reality?

It toggles between wish-lists and warnings. Every dream image (“bottle,” “ring,” “debutante”) gets shadowed by a harsher line (“cage,” “choices are his”).

Is Myrtle naive or strategic?

Both. She understands the calculus - money buys safety - but underestimates the cost and who pays it.

Who sings it on the album?

Sara Chase, originating Myrtle on Broadway. Her delivery leans conversational until the final lift, where the belt cracks the fantasy.

Any production elements that inform the reading?

Costumes and Deco visuals do double duty - aspirational sparkle that also reads like hazard lights. As stated on the Tony Awards site, the costume design won its category in 2024.

How does this song speak to the novel’s themes?

It refracts desire and class through Myrtle, echoing the book’s critique of wealth as a shield that hurts everyone outside it.

Does the melody sit high?

Mostly mid-range for a mezzo, with a few peak notes near the top of mix - expressive rather than acrobatic.

Awards and Chart Positions

Tony Awards 2024: Best Costume Design of a Musical - Linda Cho - winner (official record).

Drama Desk 2024: Outstanding Scenic Design of a Musical - Paul Tate dePoo III - winner.

Outer Critics Circle 2024: Outstanding Costume Design - Linda Cho - winner; Outstanding Scenic Design - Paul Tate dePoo III - winner (tie).

How to Sing One-Way Road

Essentials: Approx. key E flat major. Tempo ~81 BPM. Time signature 4/4. Duration about 3:16. Written for a mezzo with a mix-friendly top; sits mostly mid-range with brief lifts near C5.

1. Tempo: Practice at 78-84 BPM. Keep the gait steady; resist rushing the fantasies.
2. Diction: Crisp consonants on the list phrases (“bottle,” “ring,” “debutante”). Let vowels bloom on the hook to contrast the clipped verses.
3. Breathing: Map quick snatch-breaths before each new thought unit. Use low rib support to keep the belt centered, not pressed.
4. Flow & rhythm: Think “walking phrases.” Land beat-1 verbs; float pickups like thoughts arriving mid-step.
5. Accents: Lean the moral pivot lines (“choices are his,” “dead-ends in a cage”). They are the scene turns.
6. Ensemble/doubles: If doubled, match cutoffs on the title tag. Avoid bright S sounds that can read as hissy over the groove.
7. Mic craft: Cardioid at 6-8 inches. Step off slightly for the final tag; keep plosives soft on “baby,” “bottle.”
8. Pitfalls: Over-belting the fantasy section. Save true weight for the last refrain so the arc reads.

Practice materials: Loop the chorus vamp at ~81 BPM; rehearse dynamic swells from piano confession to mezzo-forte resolve.

Additional Info

On Broadway, Myrtle was originated by Sara Chase; during her summer 2024 medical leave, other actors covered Myrtle before Chase returned to the role. IBDB’s materials also map the song order, placing this cut at 18 in Act II. Masterworks Broadway’s coverage of the album details the track lengths and confirms the show’s sonic palette. According to the Tony Awards site, the production’s costume design win underlines how the show’s look is part of the storytelling engine here - glamour that doubles as hazard.

Sources

Playbill; Masterworks Broadway; Apple Music; Tony Awards; Drama Desk; Outer Critics Circle; IBDB; The Great Gatsby on Broadway (YouTube)