Octet (Original Cast Recording)

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The original cast recording for Dave Malloy's musical Octet features a score for an a cappella chamber choir and an original libretto inspired by internet comment boards, scientific debates, religious texts, and Sufi poetry. Octet, which premiered at the Signature Theatre in 2019, explores addiction and nihilism within the messy context of twenty-first century technology. "The most original and topical musical of the year," says the New York Times; "the sublime a cappella chamber opera is a portrait in song of perhaps the greatest David and Goliath struggle of our time."

Description

The original cast recording for three-time Tony Award nominee Dave Malloy's musical Octet—recorded live during Signature Theatre's world premiere production at the Pershing Square Signature Center—was released on November 15, 2019, digitally and on January 17, 2020, on CD, via Nonesuch Records. Featuring a score for an a cappella chamber choir and an original libretto inspired by internet comment boards, scientific debates, religious texts, and Sufi poetry, Octet explores addiction and nihilism within the messy context of twenty-first century technology. The album was produced by Malloy and Or Matias. For more on the show, visit octetmusical.com.

"The most original and topical musical of the year," says the New York Times, "the sublime a cappella chamber opera is a portrait in song of perhaps the greatest David and Goliath struggle of our time. In one cavernous corner, there's the endless, labyrinthine and shape-shifting internet. In the other corner, there is the naked and unaccompanied human voice, about as low-tech as you can get."

Funded in part by a fervent, fan-driven Kickstarter campaign, the album features the cast of Signature's original production of Octet, directed by Annie Tippe with music supervision and direction by Or Matias: Adam Bashian as Ed, Kim Blanck as Karly, Starr Busby as Paula, Alex Gibson as Henry, Justin Gregory Lopez as Toby, J.D. Mollison as Marvin, Margo Seibert as Jessica, and Kuhoo Verma as Velma. The creative team included Amy Rubin and Brittany Vasta (scenic design), Brenda Abbandandolo (costume design), Christopher Bowser (lighting design), Hidenori Nakajo (sound design), and Jhanaë KC Bonnick (production stage manager).

"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," Vulture said of the Signature Theatre cast. "Malloy’s shifting, intertwining songs expand and contract like a Hoberman sphere, now meticulous and crystalline, now swelling with strata of glistening harmonies.”

Dave Malloy is a composer/writer/performer/orchestrator. He has written thirteen musicals, including Octet; Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812, an electropop opera based on a slice of Tolstoy's War & Peace (twelve Tony nominations, including Best Musical, Score, Book, and Orchestrations); Ghost Quartet, a song cycle about love, death, and whiskey; Preludes, a musical fantasia set in the hypnotized mind of Sergei Rachmaninoff; Little Bunny Foo Foo, a forest entertainment for small people; Three Pianos, a drunken romp through Schubert's "Winterreise"; Black Wizard/Blue Wizard, an escapist RPG fantasy; Beowulf—A Thousand Years of Baggage, an anti-academia rock opera; Beardo, a reinterpretation of the Rasputin myth; Sandwich, a musical about killing animals; and Clown Bible, Genesis to Revelation told through clowns. He has won two Obie Awards, a Smithsonian Ingenuity Award, a Theater World Award, the Richard Rodgers Award, an ASCAP New Horizons Award, and a Jonathan Larson Grant, and has been a MacDowell fellow and Composer-in-Residence at Ars Nova and a Signature Theatre Residency 5 playwright. Future projects include an adaptation of Moby-Dick. He lives in Brooklyn.

Signature Theatre (Paige Evans, Artistic Director; Harold Wolpert, Executive Director; James Houghton, Founder) celebrates playwrights and gives them an artistic home. Signature makes an extended commitment to a playwright’s body of work, producing several plays by each resident writer and delivering an immersive journey into the playwright’s singular vision. In 2014 Signature became the first New York City company to receive the Regional Theater Tony Award. Signature serves its mission at its permanent home, The Pershing Square Signature Center.

ProductionCredits

PRODUCTION CREDITS
Produced by Dave Malloy and Or Matias
Recorded at The Romulus Linney Courtyard Theatre at The Pershing Square Signature Center, June 20–23, 2019
Mixed by Tom Lazarus
Mastered by Joe Lambert

Design by Evan Gaffney
Cover Image by Danielle Speicher, based on original art by Pamela Colman Smith

FOR SIGNATURE THEATRE:
Director of Artistic Programs: Natasha Sinha
Production Dramaturg: Jenna Clark Embrey
Production Manager: Gabriela Gutierrez
Vocal Coach: Marisa Michelson
Assistant Music Director: Simone Allen
Casting Associate: Joe Gery
Associate General Manager: Kayla Faede
Associate Sound Designer: Sam Schloegel
Audio Mixers: Ian Williams, Matt Good
Deck Audio: Dio Garcia
Production Audio: Cameron Hoffman, Scott James
Production Photos: Joan Marcus
Scenic photos: Brittany Vasta and Cassie Dorland
Assistant Stage Manager: Kate Ann Wilson
Understudy for Toby/Marvin/Henry/Ed: Jonathan Christopher
Understudy for Velma/Jessica/Karly/Paula: Nicole Weiss

Nonesuch Selection Number

624982

ns_album_releasedate
Album Status
Artist Name
Dave Malloy
Original Cast of Octet
MusicianDetails

MUSICIANS
Cast
Ed: Adam Bashian
Karly: Kim Blanck
Paula: Starr Busby
Henry: Alex Gibson
Toby: Justin Gregory Lopez
Marvin: J.D. Mollison
Jessica: Margo Seibert
Velma: Kuhoo Verma

Cover Art
UPC/Price
Label
FLAC
Price
10.00
UPC
075597922509
Label
MP3
Price
9.00
UPC
075597922530
Label
CD+MP3
UPC
075597922486
  • 624982

Track Listing

News & Reviews

  • Dave Malloy's Octet, directed by Annie Tippe, is due to get its West Coast premiere in Berkeley Repertory Theatre's spring 2021 season, a co-production with NYC's Signature Theatre, which premiered Octet in 2019. "I'm so thrilled to be returning to Berkeley with Octet, and have this show continue to evolve under the care of two of my favorite theatres," says Malloy. "It's a wonderful extension of my Signature residency, bringing this work to another coast, in a theatre that will hopefully by then be filled with smiling, healthy, socially close theatregoers.” The original cast recording is available on Nonesuch.

  • The cast of Dave Malloy's Octet reunited as their characters for a "Friends of Saul" Zoom meeting to perform "The Forest" from the musical in a new video from the Signature Theatre. You can watch the performance from Adam Bashian, Alex Gibson, JD Mollison, Justin Gregory Lopez, Kim Blanck, Kuhoo Verma, and Margo Seibert in the video, edited by Lindsey Augusta Mercer, here.

  • About This Album

    The original cast recording for three-time Tony Award nominee Dave Malloy's musical Octet—recorded live during Signature Theatre's world premiere production at the Pershing Square Signature Center—was released on November 15, 2019, digitally and on January 17, 2020, on CD, via Nonesuch Records. Featuring a score for an a cappella chamber choir and an original libretto inspired by internet comment boards, scientific debates, religious texts, and Sufi poetry, Octet explores addiction and nihilism within the messy context of twenty-first century technology. The album was produced by Malloy and Or Matias. For more on the show, visit octetmusical.com.

    "The most original and topical musical of the year," says the New York Times, "the sublime a cappella chamber opera is a portrait in song of perhaps the greatest David and Goliath struggle of our time. In one cavernous corner, there's the endless, labyrinthine and shape-shifting internet. In the other corner, there is the naked and unaccompanied human voice, about as low-tech as you can get."

    Funded in part by a fervent, fan-driven Kickstarter campaign, the album features the cast of Signature's original production of Octet, directed by Annie Tippe with music supervision and direction by Or Matias: Adam Bashian as Ed, Kim Blanck as Karly, Starr Busby as Paula, Alex Gibson as Henry, Justin Gregory Lopez as Toby, J.D. Mollison as Marvin, Margo Seibert as Jessica, and Kuhoo Verma as Velma. The creative team included Amy Rubin and Brittany Vasta (scenic design), Brenda Abbandandolo (costume design), Christopher Bowser (lighting design), Hidenori Nakajo (sound design), and Jhanaë KC Bonnick (production stage manager).

    "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," Vulture said of the Signature Theatre cast. "Malloy’s shifting, intertwining songs expand and contract like a Hoberman sphere, now meticulous and crystalline, now swelling with strata of glistening harmonies.”

    Dave Malloy is a composer/writer/performer/orchestrator. He has written thirteen musicals, including Octet; Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812, an electropop opera based on a slice of Tolstoy's War & Peace (twelve Tony nominations, including Best Musical, Score, Book, and Orchestrations); Ghost Quartet, a song cycle about love, death, and whiskey; Preludes, a musical fantasia set in the hypnotized mind of Sergei Rachmaninoff; Little Bunny Foo Foo, a forest entertainment for small people; Three Pianos, a drunken romp through Schubert's "Winterreise"; Black Wizard/Blue Wizard, an escapist RPG fantasy; Beowulf—A Thousand Years of Baggage, an anti-academia rock opera; Beardo, a reinterpretation of the Rasputin myth; Sandwich, a musical about killing animals; and Clown Bible, Genesis to Revelation told through clowns. He has won two Obie Awards, a Smithsonian Ingenuity Award, a Theater World Award, the Richard Rodgers Award, an ASCAP New Horizons Award, and a Jonathan Larson Grant, and has been a MacDowell fellow and Composer-in-Residence at Ars Nova and a Signature Theatre Residency 5 playwright. Future projects include an adaptation of Moby-Dick. He lives in Brooklyn.

    Signature Theatre (Paige Evans, Artistic Director; Harold Wolpert, Executive Director; James Houghton, Founder) celebrates playwrights and gives them an artistic home. Signature makes an extended commitment to a playwright’s body of work, producing several plays by each resident writer and delivering an immersive journey into the playwright’s singular vision. In 2014 Signature became the first New York City company to receive the Regional Theater Tony Award. Signature serves its mission at its permanent home, The Pershing Square Signature Center.

    Credits

    MUSICIANS
    Cast
    Ed: Adam Bashian
    Karly: Kim Blanck
    Paula: Starr Busby
    Henry: Alex Gibson
    Toby: Justin Gregory Lopez
    Marvin: J.D. Mollison
    Jessica: Margo Seibert
    Velma: Kuhoo Verma

    PRODUCTION CREDITS
    Produced by Dave Malloy and Or Matias
    Recorded at The Romulus Linney Courtyard Theatre at The Pershing Square Signature Center, June 20–23, 2019
    Mixed by Tom Lazarus
    Mastered by Joe Lambert

    Design by Evan Gaffney
    Cover Image by Danielle Speicher, based on original art by Pamela Colman Smith

    FOR SIGNATURE THEATRE:
    Director of Artistic Programs: Natasha Sinha
    Production Dramaturg: Jenna Clark Embrey
    Production Manager: Gabriela Gutierrez
    Vocal Coach: Marisa Michelson
    Assistant Music Director: Simone Allen
    Casting Associate: Joe Gery
    Associate General Manager: Kayla Faede
    Associate Sound Designer: Sam Schloegel
    Audio Mixers: Ian Williams, Matt Good
    Deck Audio: Dio Garcia
    Production Audio: Cameron Hoffman, Scott James
    Production Photos: Joan Marcus
    Scenic photos: Brittany Vasta and Cassie Dorland
    Assistant Stage Manager: Kate Ann Wilson
    Understudy for Toby/Marvin/Henry/Ed: Jonathan Christopher
    Understudy for Velma/Jessica/Karly/Paula: Nicole Weiss