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in An End to Dreaming
(Courtesy of the company)
An End to Dreaming , playing at the The Robert Moss Theater @ 440 Studios, is a Gothic cabaret fairytale teeming with grand, emotional pop, reminiscent sometimes of similarly theatrical-minded rock acts like Meatloaf or Muse.
This concept concert performance is by Geppetto (comprised of Australia’s Emma Dean and Jake Diefenbach), who alternate on piano and keyboard while sharing vocal duties. Singing and playing their song cycle while wearing hooded robes and brandishing black nail polish, the pair appear at first to be members of a particularly gifted cult of Aussie Goths. But as the show progresses, they shed their coverings and reveal two vulnerable, tow-headed youths, a kind of Hansel and Gretel braving the woods of life with no one but each other for support.
Over the course of the performance, Geppetto take us through five stages (each consisting of two songs), starting with “The Darkness,” then moving on to “The Awakening,” “The Reckoning,” “The Healing,” and concluding with “The Light.” There is no clear narrative; it is a musical journey from dark to light, with excursions into self-doubt, longing, confusion, pain, and all that wonderful existential stuff. The duo is very talented and absorbing to watch, whether they’re plumbing the depths of the dream world or navigating the anxious rhythms of modern society.
If you appreciate music that is dramatic, introspective, and not afraid to indulge in a bit of poetic philosophizing, come to An End to Dreaming and see two marvelous musicians realize their hopes and terrors in song.
— Brooke Pierce