| Instrumentation: | 3 actors, piano |
| Duration: | 20' & 40' versions |
| Year Composed: | 2001-02 |
| Book & Lyrics: | John Gregor after the story by Nikolai Gogol |
Poster for New York International Fringe Festival, 2002. Drawing & design by John Gregor.
“How I Love to Copy”
(Akaky, Clerks)
“Clerks Tease Akaky”
(Akaky, Clerks)
“Friend, You Need a Coat”
(Akaky, Mr. and Mrs. Petrovich)
“The Mugging”
(Akaky, Thugs)
A drab office in drab mid-19th-century Russia. At his desk, Akaky Akakievich silently copies documents...
The Overcoat is a moving and entertaining new musical based on Nikolai Gogol's tragicomic short story about a timid clerk, Akaky Akakievich, who seeks revenge after his prized possession is stolen. When his corpse begins to roam the streets of St. Petersburg, no one's coat is safe. Bureaucracy and justice collide in this dark and haunting yet optimistic story. A show that embraces and breaks the conventions of traditional musical theatre storytelling, The Overcoat's dialogue is crisp and its characters colourful. The music is tuneful but with the edge and bite of a Prokofiev symphony and the occasional lapse into jazz and rap.
“An airtight musical treatment that can't be faulted.”
— curtainup.com (New York)
“The piece makes its point in a subtle and poignant way.”
— What's On in London
“A lightly melodic score by Robert Rival is matched by John Gregor's clever lyrics in the clerk's pathetic paean to the letters of the alphabet he most likes writing and in a patter song for co-workers [...] betrays the influence of Sondheim, with musical echoes of Sweeney Todd.”
— Gerald Berkowitz, Stage Newspaper (London)
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