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Gogol

adapted by Jason Craig and Sean Owens
SF Bay Guardian Review June 13, 2001 (Brad Rosenstein)

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Exit's 'Gogol'-plex

As arts spaces in San Francisco continue to drop like flies, the
opening of a brand-new theater in the heart of the city is little short
of a miracle. But Christina Augello and Richard Livingston have
managed it with Exit on Taylor, an attractive, expansive black-box
space that joins Exit's three other theaters just around the corner
on Eddy Street. The new theater opened last week with the
premiere of Gogol, one of four new plays currently filling all the Exit
stages – another significant achievement.

The show, adapted by Jason Craig and Sean Owens from Nikolay
Gogol's most famous stories, is a delirious musical whirl that
captures the Russian master's lyrical absurdity if not his peculiar
resonance. Strands of "The Nose," "The Overcoat," and "Diary of
a Madman" are interwoven using an adept cast of clowns,
musicians, and lunatics, with particularly sharp work by Craig,
Owens, and Thessaly Lerner. In his farewell performance in San
Francisco, Christopher Kuckenbaker is nebbishy perfection as the
clerk in "The Overcoat," an inspired physical turn climaxed by the
brewing of hot tea in his mouth. David Malloy's live music is festive
and eclectic, and director Meredith Eldred imbues the madness
with playfulness and precision. It's an ideal opening for this vital
theater's latest asylum.
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