Octet to Berkeley Rep Spring 2021

[jonah3500]

Posted: 5/29/20 at 12:59pm

Adam Bashian posted it on his story!!

[jonah3500]

Posted: 5/29/20 at 1:01pm

After looking at the website in more depth, it seems that they’re in discussions to include it in their season.
Also of note is that Goddess, by Jocelyn Bioh and Saheem Ali is coming there (part of Songlab at MCC).

[Kitsune]

Posted: 5/29/20 at 1:58pm

Me to my fiance, who has been playing Octet pretty much non-stop since the cast recording came out*: "Well, looks like we'll be living at Berkeley Rep next year. Luckily they have good drinks and chocolate."

*Seriously, there have been moments in which we're both playing the OBC recording in different parts of the house.

Now here's just hoping that Gecko Gecko (Thai place across the street) is still open by then!

[schubox]

Posted: 5/29/20 at 7:13pm

Speaking of, they just released this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0XGfo0qXGA

[Alex Kulak2]

Posted: 5/29/20 at 7:22pm

schubox said: "Speaking of, they just released this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0XGfo0qXGA"

This is honestly brilliant. I have a family member that's in AA, and they've been doing their meetings over Zoom.

The "Epstein Didn't Kill Himself" sticker over Toby's webcam was icing on the cake.

[bear88]

Posted: 5/30/20 at 12:40am

As with everything these days, I hope it’s not too soon.

And Kitsune, congrats on your engagement.

Updated On: 5/30/20 at 12:40 AM

[Kitsune]

Posted: 5/30/20 at 12:47am

bear88 said: "As with everything these days, I hope it’s not too soon.

And Kitsune, congrats on your engagement."

Thank you!!! Happened a few months ago right after Shelter in Place started, but it's been a long time in the works. We're aiming for next year, when hopefully the world is a little more "normal", and the theaters are open!

[AndreyIsntHere]

Posted: 8/15/21 at 1:06pm

Sorry for bumping this year old thread. Octet got pushed back a year to Spring 2022 and will go on sale January 2022. Hoping to go in May as a birthday/graduation trip - I'm also seeing Comet in Berkeley later that year. My profile picture was actually taken when I met Dave at the Signature production, so needless to say I've been a fan of this show since the beginning! Excited to see how the Berkeley production will compare to the NYC production.

[Kitsune]

Posted: 3/17/22 at 1:41pm

Looks like the majority of the Signature cast will come out to Berkeley Rep, with the exception of Starr Busby being replaced by Isabel Santiago.

Got tickets for the first preview. The entirety of the cast album is basically a meme in my household.

[AndreyIsntHere]

Posted: 4/11/22 at 1:48pm

I live in New Jersey but I'm heading to the West Coast to catch this.

Adam Bashian made an Instagram post of the cast, Dave, and Annie and tagged it #PreBroadway which I find interesting and hopeful. 

[Kitsune]

Posted: 4/21/22 at 1:23am

Went to the first preview tonight, having seen the Signature production back in 2019.

The Peet's Theater at Berkeley Rep feels even more intimate. We sat in second row center. With the "chairs in a circle" configuration there were some awkward moments of performers with their backs to us, but it's a first preview and I figure that's when these kinks will be worked out. The lobby outside was decorated with flyers and signs for the E Goostman Faith Center, similar to the Signature production.

The time is updated to the present and there are a few references to the pandemic. For example: Velma mentioning that she hadn't been out in two years, and Karly paraphrasing a conversation with her mom about "Things are starting to open up again!" Regardless, the material still felt timely, maybe even moreso now then when I first saw it in 2019.

Some small moments I really enjoyed: 1) Henry reaching out to give Velma a handshake, and Velma deciding she's more comfortable with an elbow bump. 2) Toby coming entering the church with his mask below his nose (because of course Toby is that kind of person. 3) When Marvin starts naming off things that don't make sense, he includes the CDC. Yours truly, the local public health worker, may have been the only one who guffawed, but I did so loudly.

Isabel Santiago as Paula is the one new cast member. She played the role with more anger at her husband than Starr Busby, who was largely sorrowful. She has a lovely voice.

Dave Malloy's scores tend to be more challenging than some more pop-ish musical theater composers, but I really hope Octet finds an audience in the Bay Area. My husband and I have listened to the cast recording non-stop for the last three years, and a lot of the ideas feel more important than ever.

[BoringBoredBoard40]

Posted: 4/21/22 at 1:52am

This is going to Broadway next season. Diana Dimenna who was a producer on What The Consitution Means To Me and Thought of A Colored Man is lead producing this and has been posting BTS of the Berkeley run to her social media 

[bear88]

Posted: 4/21/22 at 5:28am

Kitsune said: "Went to the first preview tonight, having seen the Signature production back in 2019.

The Peet's Theater at Berkeley Rep feels even more intimate. We sat in second row center. With the "chairs in a circle" configuration there were some awkward moments of performers with their backs to us, but it's a first preview and I figure that's when these kinks will be worked out. The lobby outside was decorated with flyers and signs for the E Goostman Faith Center, similar to the Signature production.

The time is updated to the present and there are a few references to the pandemic. For example:Velma mentioning that she hadn't been out in two years, and Karly paraphrasing a conversation with her mom about "Things are starting to open up again!" Regardless, the material still felt timely, maybe even moreso now then when I first saw it in 2019.

Some small moments I really enjoyed: 1) Henry reaching out to give Velma a handshake, and Velma deciding she's more comfortable with an elbow bump. 2) Toby coming entering the church with his mask below his nose (because of course Toby is that kind of person. 3) When Marvin starts naming off things that don't make sense, he includes the CDC. Yours truly, the local public health worker, may have been the only one who guffawed, but I did so loudly.

Isabel Santiago as Paula is the one new cast member. She played the role with more anger at her husband than Starr Busby, who was largely sorrowful. She has a lovely voice.

Dave Malloy's scores tend to be more challenging than some more pop-ish musical theater composers, but I really hope Octet finds an audience in the Bay Area. My husband and I have listened to the cast recording non-stop for the last three years, and a lot of the ideas feel more important than ever."

Thanks for the review. Is the Berkeley Rep still requiring masks and vaccine checks? They did for Swept Away a few weeks ago, but I have learned not to count on anything these days.

[Kitsune]

Posted: 4/21/22 at 12:21pm

bear88 said: "Thanks for the review. Is the Berkeley Rep still requiring masks and vaccine checks? They did for Swept Away a few weeks ago, but I have learned not to count on anything these days."

Yup, they're still requiring them both as of yesterday. Same this week at ACT for Fefu and Her Friends. 

In both cases mask compliance was very good. 

[troynow]

Posted: 4/21/22 at 5:40pm

Just for clarification, I believe Diana D. was a co-producer on those two shows. Matt Ross was the lead.

[bear88]

Posted: 4/25/22 at 3:39am

I attended the second-to-last preview of Octet before its West Coast premiere on Wednesday. 

It's a cleverly constructed show, and the audience can enter onto the stage to check out what seems to be a self-help group for social media addicts before the musical starts. There are inexpensive tables and chairs, with the cast members drifting in one by one and sitting down. (The furniture is later used for percussion.)

I'm a fan on Dave Malloy, and some of the songs reminded me of the music he has written for other shows. The musical gets off to a strong start, and is often quite funny - albeit in a twisted and melancholy way, as the characters, one by one, describe their addictions - interspersed with group numbers led by Paula (though the regulars know the drill). They are best described as monologues set to music.

Octet gets off to such an impressive start that I found myself disappointed when it veers off into even more adventurous territory in its second half. It's not that it's impossible to follow, though the monologues get more extended and self-consciously intellectual. The second half may be more of an acquired taste, but my reaction was that the musical lost some of the tight structure and sly commentary that worked so well in the first half. 

The actors, all but one of whom was in the Signature Theatre production in 2019, do an impressive job and the "chamber choir" format wasn't a problem for me. There is a lot of imagination put into the staging of each song, and I found myself - sitting on the far right in the second row - realizing I wasn't able to always catch it all. (Kitsune is correct that sometimes the performers' backs are to you, but unless I sat further away, I don't know how that could be fixed. The bright side about being close is that you're really close - and Peet's Theatre (which holds a maximum of 401 people) is very intimate.)

I didn't agree with some of the commenters on the original thread for the show who thought Malloy was lecturing the audience about the stupid people who do dumb stuff on the internet. His goals seem far less simplistic, and the characters, by and large, are portrayed sympathetically even when they're a little crazy. My primary problem, as someone who tried to go in pretty cold, is that I felt like Malloy got a little self-indulgent, requiring the audience member to do some research afterward to grasp all of the ideas he was throwing out.

[Kitsune]

Posted: 4/25/22 at 3:56pm

bear88 said: "I didn't agree with some of the commenters on the original thread for the show who thought Malloy was lecturing the audience about the stupid people who do dumb stuff on the internet. His goals seem far less simplistic, and the characters, by and large, are portrayed sympathetically even when they're a little crazy. My primary problem, as someone who tried to go in pretty cold, is that I felt like Malloy got a little self-indulgent, requiring the audience member to do some research afterward to grasp all of the ideas he was throwing out."

My husband and I were debating this after we saw the show the other day - what concepts did you think required more research? He made the observation that the crowd at Berkeley Rep seemed older than that at the Signature, and he wasn't sure if they would get some of the references. My response was that regardless of age, just about anyone who uses the internet is going to run into at least some of these issues. 

That being said, I've been listening to this show long enough that I'll be the first to admit I've probably lost track of the forest for the trees!

ETA: Also, I don't think it's entirely age. I love this show, *but* I'm also sure I qualify for Friends of Saul based on the amount of time I spend on the internet!

Updated On: 4/25/22 at 03:56 PM

[bear88]

Posted: 4/26/22 at 4:01am

There are a host of of obscure conspiracy theories and literary references throughout the musical. “Actually” and “Little God” are back to back. The basic thrust of the monologue-songs was easy enough for me to grasp, but the show is backloaded with its darkest and often esoteric lyrics. I was looking up the lyrics on Genius (which includes some of Dave Malloy’s comments) and I decided I wasn’t quite so dumb as I occasionally felt - especially in the denser second half.

It’s an ambitious effort and I liked the show overall. The problem isn’t the internet/social media terminology. I thought the audience (mostly older than me, and I’m in my 50s) enjoyed it even if they - like me - got lost at times. The trouble with Malloy’s lyrics, as dense and often evocative as they are, is that they are so determined to go down the darkest rabbit holes that it’s hard for a person going in cold to track it in real time.

If you love Octet, and I liked a lot about it, the show is probably great to revisit and the references make sense with a little research. But most theatergoers don’t study before attending a show. 

[schubox]

Posted: 4/26/22 at 1:42pm

Saw this Off-Broadway and absolutely loved it. Have tickets for this Saturday at Berkley. Glad to hear good things, but with almost the same cast I expected it. 

[AndreyIsntHere]

Posted: 4/27/22 at 11:35am

Not to look ahead too much when it's still in previews at BRT, but I'm so curious as to where it will transfer to when it moves to Broadway. I know they wanted CITS, which is not available this season. It'd have to go to a small theatre. Comet works great both as an intimate black-box show AND as a spectacle. Octet would not.

Anyway, mild spoiler-y question about this run! Are any of the songs changed/updated, or just the spoken scenes? I'm curious if there are any new lyrics, if any music has been updated, etc.

[Kitsune]

Posted: 4/27/22 at 12:26pm

AndreyIsntHere said: "Not to look ahead too much when it's still in previews at BRT, but I'm so curious as to where it will transfer to when it moves to Broadway. I know they wanted CITS, which is not available this season. It'd have to go to a small theatre. Comet works great both as an intimate black-box show AND as a spectacle. Octet would not.

Anyway, mild spoiler-y question about this run! Are any of the songs changed/updated, or just the spoken scenes? I'm curious if there are any new lyrics, if any music has been updated, etc."

Any changes are pretty minor. There's a line at the end of "Refresh" that's sung instead of spoken like on the cast recording, and Marvin has one or two line tweaks in Little God.

I went again last night, and found out about the "secret" door. If you go in Door 1 (the entrance farthest to the right when facing the theater), it's also the entrance to the "E Goostman Faith Center", aka the show's setting. This is also how the actors enter.

[bear88]

Posted: 4/29/22 at 3:49am

I didn’t realize it was a secret. My seat was on the far right, and I was politely asked if I wanted to enter the center. It was a clever way to enter the show’s world, immersive but subtle, and I got a kick out of it. The woman behind me was convinced the actors sitting on the chairs weren’t actually actors.

I liked the show and appreciated seeing a musical tackle some complex issues in an uncompromising way, but I don’t see this as a Broadway musical. Too many people recoiled from the far more accessible Great Comet for me to think Octet could ever succeed as a commercial venture. The only thing it has going for it is that the cost of the show would be a lot less. There’s nothing wrong with that. Not every musical can or should aim for Broadway.

[Kitsune]

Posted: 5/18/22 at 1:44am

Lin-Manuel Miranda was in the audience tonight (wearing a Ghost Quartet shirt, at that!)