OCTET to Make Downtown Debut at Goodman Theatre with Raven Theatre’s Original Cast

Following an acclaimed extended run at Raven Theatre, Dave Malloy’s a cappella musical Octet transfers to Goodman Theatre for a two-week run this summer. Directed by Keira Fromm—Associate Director of The Goodman’s Iceboy! or The Completely Untrue Story of How Eugene O’Neill Came to Write The Iceman Cometh—with music direction by Nick Sula (Kokandy Productions’ Jekyll & Hyde) and choreography by Laura Savage (The Lord of the Rings International Tour), The Goodman’s presentation of the Raven Theatre production will feature Raven’s original cast—including Neala Barron (Porchlight Theatre’s Fun Home), Elliot Esquivel (Lookingglass Theatre’s White Rooster), Joryhebel Ginorio (Theo Ubique’s The Secret Garden), Jordan Golding (A Christmas Carol), Teressa LaGamba (Paramount Theatre’s Waitress), Ryder Dean McDaniel (Court Theatre’s Taming of the Shrew), Sam Shankman (Court Theatre’s Falsettos) and Grace Steckler (Writers Theatre’s As You Like It).

The Goodman presents Raven Theatre’s production of Dave Malloy’s Octet in the 400-seat flexible Owen Theatre July 15-26. For tickets ($44-$94, subject to change), call 312.443.3800 or purchase online at GoodmanTheatre.org/Octet. This project is partially supported by a grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE). This programming is also supported in part by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council.  

“I’m thrilled that Octet will receive an encore production this summer at The Goodman Theatre! Our whole team is stacked with the most generous and talented group of artists whose abundant love for the show is clear from the moment the first song begins,” said Director Keira Fromm, who is also the associate director of The Goodman’s upcoming world-premiere musical Iceboy! or The Completely Untrue Story of How Eugene O’Neill Came to Write The Iceman Cometh, starring Megan Mullally and Nick Offerman. “I’m overjoyed that the tiny ember I carried for this piece has caught fire and will be shared with so many others. It’s a balm to put down your phone and be in the room with this incredible musical, and I can’t wait for a wider audience to experience it.”

“Octet has been a rare and remarkable experience here at the Raven, and we are so very excited to partner with The Goodman in creating a downtown extension for this production,” said Raven Theatre Executive Artistic Director Jonathan Berry. “At its heart, Raven is always looking to build community, and this is a fantastic opportunity to share this production that we’re so proud of with a wider audience.”

In an anonymous meeting room on the North Side of Chicago, a group of people—always eight—gathers to sing. Best known for the Broadway hit Natasha, Pierre, & The Great Comet Of 1812, Dave Malloy’s Octet uses chamber-inspired a cappella music to explore the total impact of life online. Hailed by The New York Times as “the most original and topical musical of the year” for its 2019 Off-Broadway premiere, this inventive and acutely relevant piece reflects the perils of the digital age.  

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Dave Malloy (Playwright) is a composer/writer/performer/orchestrator. He has written 13 musicals, including Octet, a chamber choir musical about internet addiction; Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812, an electropop opera based on a slice of Tolstoy’s War & Peace (12 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 the Signature Theatre. Future projects include an adaptation of Moby-Dick. He lives in Brooklyn. Davemalloy.com

Keira Fromm (Director) is a Chicago-based freelance director. Chicago credits include Iceboy! Or The Completely Untrue Story of How Eugene O’Neill Came to Write The Iceman Cometh (Goodman Theatre); Octet (Raven Theatre); The Brightest Thing in the World, Bull in a China Shop, Significant Other, Bright Half Life and A Kid Like Jake (About Face Theatre); The Last Match (Writers Theatre); Top Girls, hang (Remy Bumppo); The How and the Why (TimeLine Theatre). Regional: We Had a World (Huntington Theatre); The Liar, The Moors and A Doll’s House (American Players Theatre); Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf (Milwaukee Chamber Theatre). MFA DePaul University. Member of SDC, the professional directors union. keirafromm.com 

Nick Sula (Music Director) is an award-winning music director and pianist. Recent productions include music direction with Kokandy Productions on the Jeff Award-winning productions of Jekyll & Hyde (Jeff Award for Outstanding Music Direction), Into the Woods (Jeff Awards for Outstanding Music Direction and Orchestration), Sweeney Todd (Jeff Award for Outstanding Music Direction), and the Chicago Musical Theatre Festival. Other Chicago theatre music direction credits include: Anything Goes (Jeff nomination) with Porchlight Music Theatre; Dave Malloy’s Ghost Quartet (Jeff nomination), Mary Rose, Nevermore, Amour, and Coraline with Black Button Eyes Productions; Myths & Hymns, The Glorious Ones (Jeff nomination), Hello Again, La Cage aux Folles, and Pippin with BoHo Theatre. As a professor of musical theatre, he serves as a music director, instructor and vocal coach at the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University.