As far as new musicals go, this latest Broadway season has been lousy with mediocre attractions made from movies, jukebox shows with or without biographical stories, tuners telling of teen angst, and, oh yes, the “new” one drawn from a 2,000+ year-old classical myth.
Perhaps like me, you wish for something fresh, original, and adult in musical theater that speaks to our current times and troubles.
Look no further than Octet, given a bracing world premiere production from Signature Theatre, which opened on Sunday.
[Read David Finkle’s ★★★★ review here.]
It’s a new off-Broadway musical so contemporary and smart—and challenging—that it’s unlikely to ever be a Broadway crowd-pleaser. So if this sounds like something for you, grab a ticket now, should any be available in the 250-seat space where Octet is being performed through the middle of June.
Simply put, Octet is a chamber musical regarding how 21st century technology is driving us crazy, more or less.
The text is shaped as a support group session among some individuals who are addicted to the internet in its various formats. They call the internet “The Monster” and it offers to them a tempting multiplicity of insidious lures, some of which they share over the next 100 minutes.
Henry wastes all too much of his sweet time with a serious crush on games involving candy. Jessica, whose “white woman goes crazy” video clip went viral, is compelled to read the abuse that multitudes of viewers keep heaping upon her. Paula is an information junkie whose marriage has gone sour because she and her husband cannot turn off their phones for fear of missing the latest bad news.
In separate yet entwined solos, Karly and Ed sing about pornography and the lost possibilities among the people they ceaselessly swipe through and away on their singles apps. “I feel my body stretched between two cliffs,” they sing. “One side is fantasy, the other is reality. I feel my fingers start to lose their grip. And I can’t hold on …”
So it goes for eight people, whose confessions, obsessions, and reaffirmations are the substance of this study in modern-day abuse that Octet musicalizes so richly and thoughtfully.
What makes this musical all the more extraordinary is that its score is performed entirely in an a cappella mode. Such music and performance, however, are developed way beyond mere do-wop into polyphonic glory as the show’s dozen or so numbers comprise a song cycle of wonderful variety. The wordplay of these songs likewise is sophisticated and compelling.
Highlights among these rhythmic and harmonically complex numbers, other than those previously mentioned, include “Fugue State” about obsessive compulsive behavior and the hymn-like “Monster.” Then there is “Little God,” a mind-boggling fantasy regarding a possibly divine visit as related by an atheist in a brilliantly mad mix of story, song, and scientific theory.
Of course, the subtle irony of this score as it relates to the show’s theme is that Octet regards people being isolated within their tech-driven lives; and yet the music is generated by people who only through singing together are able to interweave harmonies into such beauty.
The music, lyrics, book, and vocal arrangements are ingeniously crafted by Dave Malloy, the maker of shows such as Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812 and Three Pianos, among a dozen other original musicals of considerable distinction. Octet represents yet another fine and impressive achievement.
Of course, nothing is perfect in this show-biz world, so let’s briefly note that there are a couple of loose ends in this musical that need tighter integration: Namely the murky references to Tarot, and also the point of a coffee break chat between two characters that brings up the unseen influence of somebody named Saul, who invited them all into this group. Further, just to be perverse, you may wonder whether one character might possibly mention a few positives relating to technology.
Finally, let’s applaud the all-around excellence of this production staged by Annie Tippe, the director, who assembled eight highly-talented actor-singers and blended them all into a splendid ensemble.
The intimate nature of this memorable occasion, performed on a realistic setting designed by Amy Rubin and Brittany Vasta to represent the basement of a church, and which is lit with drama by Christopher Bowser, makes Octet all the more a remarkable new musical to be savored by audiences wise enough to appreciate its quality.
