Here we are: the final run before opening. It’s been a wild and exciting tech week, with many changes, many discoveries, and now we’re about ready to present these odd magical stories to people that have not been living and breathing this show for the last few months.
I feel all tingly at the thought of it.
The show is called A Gogolplex. It’s a deft and humorous adaptation by the inimitable Matthew Rovener of two short stories (The Nose and The Overcoat) by 19th century author Nikolai Gogol. Tickets, etc. can all be found here.
The first act follows an ambitious and privileged young man (played by yours trulyisimo) who is in the midst of pursuing his dream of status and respectability in the Big City when his nose vanishes. To reclaim his missing proboscis, the young man plunges into the uncertain world of bureaucracy and social immobility, all the while trying to hold on to the idea of the world that he’s so carefully constructed.
The second story centers on a man on the opposite end of the spectrum. Akaky Akakievich (say it out loud – it’s a treat) is past middle age and still just a lowly clerk scrimping to survive. His only overcoat is patchworked and threadbare, more suitable for a nightgown than outdoor wear. And biting winds herald winter’s swift approach. Pigeons, ghosts, pigeon ghosts, drunken tailors, crooked authorities, and the simple Akaky all whirl through St. Petersburg to create the world of The Overcoat for Act II of the show.
Best wishes to you wonderful people. I hope to see you at the show.
-Parmatt