Aisha Jackson on Playing The Great Gatsby’s ‘Complex Girly’ Daisy Fay Buchanan on Broadway

Aisha Jackson is proud to break barriers on Broadway yet again with her nuanced portrayal of Daisy Fay Buchanan in The Great Gatsby, the musical adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s canonical Jazz Age novel, now running at the Broadway Theatre. In the musical, with music by Jason Howland, lyrics by Nathan Tysen and a book by Kait Kerrigan, the romance lives front and center, with an emphasis on the raucous love triangle between Daisy, her husband Tom and long-lost love, Jay Gatsby. Still, with stirring solos “For Better or Worse” and “Beautiful Little Fool,” Jackson captures Daisy’s longing and mines the humanity of the often-divisive character.

When Jackson auditioned for the national tour of Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, she booked the swing on Broadway and has been gracing Broadway stages ever since, joining the original casts of Waitress and Frozen—and making history in the latter as the first Black woman to play the role of Anna on Broadway. The effervescent Georgia native, who was last seen on Broadway as The Notebook’s Middle Allie and recently starred opposite Anika Noni Rose in Encores! Wonderful Town, stays mindful of her roots and mentors, especially the brilliant Black women who guided her. Just about a month into her run as Daisy, Jackson spoke about diving into the community of a long-running production, sharing insights into her complicated character and the treasure of finding her space on Broadway.

Did you have any relationship with the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel before accepting the role of Daisy?

I picked the book up again because I was involved in the pre-Broadway workshops back in 2022. So, it's really special to revisit after helping to build some of the foundational pieces of Daisy and the story. For me, this time reading it, I'm starting to ponder. Daisy has a letter that she receives the night before her wedding [to Tom Buchanan]. I'm like, “Ooh, OK, did she find an old letter from Gatsby that her dad had hidden? Or did a letter from Gatsby finally make it to her?”

Very much in line with the story in The Notebook, in which you played Middle Allie on Broadway last year!

It's so funny. We were in rehearsal, and I was like, this feels oddly familiar! Man goes off to war. Girl doesn't know if he survived. He writes letters. The parents are, like, “No, you can't have these letters.” Even: Noah builds a house for Allie. Gatsby builds this mansion for Daisy. Both of them have parental interference that keeps them apart because of wealth or class.

What’s it like bringing such an iconic—and often divisive—character to life?

She's a complex girly. I'm sure there are so many people that leave the theater hating her because she is manipulative, she is selfish, but at her core, she's just unhappy. She's lonely, she's in this relationship where she doesn't feel loved or seen—she's trapped. Women in that day, they were considered property of their husbands, so it's like, “What can I do in this situation?” I just challenged myself to dig more into her humanity. She has this beautiful life of luxury, but what's going on underneath there? At her core, she's a little damaged, and she's trying to figure out what she can do to make herself happy, and she has this societal expectation of being this good wife and a good mother, and she's not doing very well at either. Then she discovers, “Oh my goodness, the man I used to love is still alive, and he's so close—what do I do with that? Do I break the societal norm of being faithful to my husband? He's not being faithful to me.”

You’re still only a few weeks into your run, but is there a moment that you especially love or look forward to every night?

We have a lot of traditions backstage. Dariana Mullen, one of the ensemble members, circles everyone up for breath work before the show. Eric Anderson [who originated and plays the role of Meyer Wolfsheim] and I did Waitress together years ago. He has a little moment on stage left where he's singing and dancing in the wings while the opening number is happening. So I'm over there with him dancing and scatting along. Matt [Wiercinski] in our ensemble give us jokes before the big green light scene at the end of the show. They're original jokes! New ones every night.

You started your Broadway career as a swing. How do you think that prepared you for where you are in your career today?

It taught me so much. I was swinging in Beautiful: The Carole King Musical. I went on to standby in Frozen and Paradise Square. And I respect covers so much. They are the lifeline. And there are certain choices [standbys, swings, alternates and understudies] make that cause you to think differently about the interpretation of a line. And encourage you to be present. You can't be on autopilot. Just having the opportunity to perform on Broadway—I'm pretty grateful for that. And it's always lovely to meet my chocolate drops at the stage door that are like, “I love seeing you bring this to life. I see myself in it. And I'm inspired by it.”

Your bio states: “Thank you to every Black woman who has shone their light and paved a way for me to be here.” Who are your mentors?

Moving to the city, I got to do readings with Lillias White. There was one day [in rehearsal] I wore a skirt that was a little too short. She was like, “Here, I bought you these leggings!” Just having a legend like her on my side, in my corner, on my journey, it's irreplaceable.

I went to high school with Joaquina Kalukango, and I got to be her standby in Paradise Square, which is full circle because I understudied her in high school in a production of Aida. She's a storyteller, through and through. And to watch her build this original Broadway show and then go on to get a Tony Award, all the while remaining so humble and beautiful and open. It's a gift. All of these beautiful women that I've been able to cross paths with and learn from, and now I get to pass that on to future generations. Sometimes you have to see somebody doing what you desire to do to know that you're capable and there's space for you.