Gogol – The Gothic Musical

Review: Gogol – The Gothic Musical.

Director: David Sidwell.
Date: 18 August, 2012.
Venue: Clarence Street Theatre.

The anticipation of waiting to see whether a premiere concert performance is going to go well is intense. With David Sidwell as the director for Gogol however, one has some assurance the performance was sure to be great.

Gogol is a gothic-styled concert performance set in the 1800s. Coupled with actors that tell the story through song and a 10-piece orchestra, this production was breathtaking and beautiful.

Nevsky Prospekt is the title of a dark but romantic short storywritten by Nikolai Gogol. Three Wintec School of Media Arts academics, David Sidwell, Wayne Senior (orchestrations) and John Mandelberg (new and adapted text) have taken the first story from Nevsky Prospekt and created a visual and aural masterpiece that is both exciting and new.

There is the role of Gogol (David Artis) who is the narrator of the musical but the majority of acting was done through what seemed like continuous song. Minimal spoken words meant the audience really had to listen but the beautiful illustrations of Nevsky Prospekt done by Mikhail Bychkov helped immensely with moving the storyline along.

The story begins with Gogol describing what Nevsky Prospekt is like as a community. What one can expect to hear and see on a day-to-day basis. Then the story turns to a soldier and a painter and their discussion about chasing two different women.

Piskarev (Nick Wilkinson) is the young and romantic artist who follows a dark-haired woman (Tina Bergantinos) to a brothel. He is deterred by her profession and returns to his own home where he envisions her as wealthy and proper. After developing insomnia out of fear of losing the perfect image of this woman, he decides to marry her.

After proposing to her at the brothel she mocks him and he returns to his house where he takes his life.

Nick Wilkinson sang most of the performance and was able to connect and provide the necessary emotion to keep the audience captivated. With Tina Bergantinos at his side they sang a story of love that ends in tragedy. With a Disney quality in the sound of her voice, I found it very easy to drift into a dream-like state at some points.

With Wayne Senior as musical director it was understandable that all eyes would be on him. His conducting skills and sheer passion provided a performance all on its own.

There is nothing like listening to a live orchestra whether big or small, and having the appreciation for excellent pieces of music.I found myself infatuated by the way a brilliant cello player handled his instrument and equally fixated by the talents of one of the violinists.

I’m not a person who would choose to listen to orchestrated music but my hand went to my heart at the pure sound of sadness that I heard.

It is expected that a minimum budget of $300,000 is now required to complete the rest of this musical and from the small taste we were provided with, I will definitely be going to watch the full production once it is completed.