Before there was Zelda, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s heart belonged to the beautiful young Ginevra King. Jessica Grové stars as the 17-year-old debutant in The Underclassman, a romantic new musical about Fitzgerald and King’s courtship. Grové has starred onstage in The Little Mermaid, Sunday in the Park with George, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Les Miz and the big Wizard Oz stage production in the late ‘90s—she played Dorothy opposite Roseanne Barr and Eartha Kitt’s Wicked Witches. (Video is too good not to include.) Below, Grové talks all things The Underclassman: literary romances, Gatsby and her own 17-year-old adventures.
1. F. Scott Fitzgerald character I am most captivated by:
I hate to sound cliché but Daisy Buchanan is quite captivating. And knowing that she is inspired by Ginevra makes her even more fascinating to me.
2. If I lived in 1915, I would have been all about:
The clothes and the parties (if I was rich like Ginevra).
3. My favorite literary romance has to be:
Jane Eyre.
4. Three adjectives to describe me at 17 are:
Enthusiastic, boy-crazy, adventurous.
5. If they wrote a novel about my 17-year-old romance, it would be titled:
Forbidden Fruit.
6. Musical theatre song I was obsessed with when I was 17:
Someone Else's Story (from Chess).
7. My favorite costume in the show:
My gold dress I wear for "To Beat the Band". It was one of the costumes that was made for me, and I think it is stunning.
See Jessica Grové in the lush, romantic new musical The Underclassman at the Duke on 42nd St.
