OCTET
Signature Theatre, May/June 2019 • Berkeley Rep, April/May 2022
Book, Music & Lyrics by Dave Malloy
Credits
With Adam Bashian, Kim Blanck, Starr Busby, Alex Gibson, Justin Gregory Lopez, JD Mollison, Isabel Santiago, Margo Seibert, Kuhoo Verma, Dean Linnard, Roeen Nooran, Lili Thomas, Nicole Weiss, & Jonathan Christopher
Scenic Design Amy Rubin & Brittany Vasta
Costume Design Brenda Abbandandolo
Lighting Design Christopher Bowser
Sound Design Hidenori Nakajo
Awards & Nominations
Annie Tippe, 2020 Lucille Lortel Award for Best Direction
Annie Tippe, SDC Callaway Award Finalist
“Critic’s Pick: Dave Malloy’s “Octet,” the sublime a cappella chamber opera that opened on Sunday at the Pershing Square Signature Center, is a portrait in song of perhaps the greatest David and Goliath struggle of our time . . . The only instrument heard during the 100-minute production, supplely and imaginatively directed by Annie Tippe, is a pitch pipe. And every time one appears from a performer’s pocket, you brace yourself for a new adventure . . . (No choreographer is credited, but these numbers are staged with wild and witty precision.) . . . There are several hymns in the show, filled with lush lyricism, about the quest for purity in a world of contaminants. The one that concludes the performance is so ravishing, so seemingly affirmative that you leave the theater thinking you have witnessed an undeniable victory of collaborative, creative humanity over runaway technology.”
“Under Annie Tippe’s agile, imaginative direction — which darts vividly in and out of the reality of the church basement — every one of the show’s actors is balancing a full, many-shaded character with a masterful musical performance, both as a soloist and within the goose-bump-inducing vocal blend of the ensemble.”
“5/5 Stars: Under Annie Tippe’s taut direction, all eight bits of Octet’s byte-size cast perform Malloy’s challenging compositions with exceptional skill . . . As Broadway shows increasingly rely on massive spectacle, Octet proves that well-polished pieces of eight are enough. ”
Photos by Joan Marcus
