Octet
Photo: Dahlia Katz
Crow ‘s, Soulpepper & Musical Stage Co./Octet, music, lyrics, book, and vocal arrangements by Dave Malloy, directed by Chris Abraham, music direction by Ryan deSouza, choreographed by Cameron Carver, Guloien Theatre, Streetcar Crowsnest, closes Nov. 9.
Dear Dave:
I just want you to know that Ghost Quartet captivated me,and I thought that Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet Of 1812 was one of the most imaginative musicals I had ever seen.
But Dave, I guess there has to come a point where we reach a parting of the ways, and that, alas, is Octet.
Now any choir worth its salt would kill to have an eight-voice a cappella score like Octet – think of how the Swingle Singers of yore would have relished in its complexities – eight different lead vocals and the richly diverse accompaniment.
But that’s not what Octet is.
I understand what you were trying to do, Dave – present eight people addicted to the Internet who are in a self-help group like Alcoholics Anonymous called Friends of Saul, which I must say sounds a bit dodgy since no one seems to have met Saul, and which keeps shifting location all the time.
In your multi award winning musical, (and yes I’m clearly one of the few dissenting voices), the addicts share their addictions through song. As one person sings the other seven provide a nonverbal intricate soundscape that underlies the lead vocal.
And for many of the songs, the group is not standing still because they are executing precise choreography, all the while carrying out their complex vocal lines which often are unique one to the other.
Unfortunately, sometimes the accompaniment was loud enough to obscure the lyrics. I couldn’t make out one word of what Jessica (Jacqueline Thair) told us about her addiction which research tells me was tracking comments about herself after social shaming.
As for the lyrics themselves, well Dave, they were kind of pretentious when they were not obscure, and frankly it was sometimes hard to tell exactly what the addiction was.
Take for example Henry (Damien Atkins) and his song about “Candy”. Even after I looked up candy I still didn’t understand it. I also never got a handle on Paula’s (Zorana Zadiq) addiction because it really wasn’t her addiction, it was her husband’s.
I sort of got Toby (Andrew Broderick) and doomscrolling, and Karly (Hailey Gillis) with her dating apps bringing sexual gratification over love.
The clearest for me, and therefore the most enjoyable was Ed (Giles Tomkins), a self-diagnosed loser into pornography and a complete social misfit.
The strangest of all was Marvin (Ben Carlson), a scientist who had an existential crisis because apparently God spoke to him and his colleagues, which left him on a quest to disprove what happened through logic.
Octet
Photo: Dahlia Katz
While the others were participating in the Tower Tea Ceremony where they all ingested a psychedelic that briefly takes them back to a time before technology, Velma (Alicia Ault), the only one awake, told us about her addiction where for two years she didn’t speak to anybody in real life and only experienced virtual intimacy. Also mixed up in Velma’s song was reference to Tarot Cards and mysticism.
Which brings me, Dave, to Tarot as a major symbol in Octet, primarily as a metaphor for mapping the chaos of online addiction into a symbolic pattern.
Really?
If that isn’t bafflegab I don’t know what is.
The Toronto production had some really talented people, Dave, but in reality I really would have preferred to hear the music alone which I thought was phenomenally creative.
I still think you’re the polymath of polymaths, Dave, even the genius of geniuses when it comes to musical theatre.
Sincerely,
Paula