Word: gogol
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Based on the novel by Gogol, the opera has all the marks of a major work except memorable music. Gogol's irresistible tale of the scheming Chichikov (the splendid high baritone Igor Morozov), who would "buy" dead serfs in order to build a bogus prosperity on their collateral, holds the stage splendidly. The handsome duplex set by Designer Valery Levental is a sky- above, mudslinging-below construct. But beyond the "aria portraits" that graphically limn each of the principal characters, Dead Souls contains every cliche in the state manual, including the obligatory lament for the suffering people that has been...
...cast proves itself a collection of superb storytellers, and as each runs about playing a multiplicity of roles, their combined performance steers the audience quickly and humorously through Gogol's absurdist terrain...
Diary introduces the darker side of Gogol's oeuvre. Like Nose, it traces the daily struggles of a St. Petersburg bureaucrat. Diary's audience, however, does not get a humorous look at a silly, petty outsider but dwells within the mind of a man tortured by his own lowly position within the inflexible class lines of Russian society and accompanies him on his gradual descent into a hell of madness and self-torment...
...juxtaposition of these two stories as stage adaptations is a brilliant stroke of dramatic creativity, and the result is an effective representation of Gogol's strange genius. The cramped plainness of Leverett's D-entry basement (cleverly dubbed the "Gogol Space" for this production) is well-utilized in both pieces, first as a basement room heaped with junk for the adult storytellers to use as props, then as a cell in an asylum...
...never experienced a Gogol short story, The Nose and From a Madman's Diary prove a superb introduction to his work. Even if you are a longstanding Gogol fan, this creative production may offer some pleasant surprises...