The Overcoat

Loosely based on the homonymous book by Nikolai Gogol, this libretto explores the psychological and literal achievement of one of the greatest literary minds Russia ever produced. It is the revisited story of the life and death of Akakiy Akakievich, an unremarkable, and pathetic, middle-aged clerk. Though cruelly picked on by his coworkers, Akakiy displays no discontentment with his plight; he is focused on his copying work in which he appears to find enjoyment and some interesting world of his own. Akakiy has lived his life unconsciously; he never really lived: only existed. His life is thrown into disarray, however, when he finds that he must buy a new overcoat…