[William Gibson's] one poetically conceived play on an unusual subject, Dinny and the Witches, failed off-Broadway at the same time that both his conventional plays were enjoying packed houses on Broadway. Although somewhat pretentious, Dinny is Gibson's sole exploration of non-naturalistic form…. [It] is a musical fantasy that gets lost in its own playfulness, "a frolic on grave matters," as its subtitle indicates.

Dinny, a minor Faust in search of knowledge, "stops the clock of eternal time," which is in the possession of the witches in Central Park. He assumes control of a timeless world, a defiance of death, and command of his own destiny, but he fails in the quest for perfection, by eliminating change. Power to mold the world as one wishes brings man no closer to happiness. Dinny turns to the pure love of Amy, as Zenobia, one of the witches, holds a clock up...