By Kimberly Rau
Wilbury closes 2025 with Dave Malloy’s “Octet,” a chamber musical about finding personal connection in an isolating age, when everyone seems glued to their phones and every action must be carefully calculated for maximum positive engagement (online, of course). It’s a stirring, exceptional work, and one of the most original things you’ll see all year.
Enter our cast, a group of eight self-proclaimed tech addicts who meet regularly to attempt to cut back on their screen time and interact on a more authentic level. If that sounds silly, you’re not paying enough attention. There’s the woman whose life was ruined after her public freak-out was recorded and went viral. Another man is addicted to Candy Crush-like games, someone else struggles with interpersonal intimacy but can’t stop watching pornography, feeding the cycle. And during their time together, the members literally lock away their phones and, instead, tell their stories through song, forcing their neural pathways to focus on something besides social media.
It’s an important concept to be sure, and a relatively new phenomenon that’s only recently really entering mainstream conversation. Blame the pandemic, blame our shortened attention spans, blame the Russian bots, but the fact is, there’s been a seismic cultural shift and it’s about time we started paying attention.
The stories shift from the pathetic (one man says he has to assume he wouldn’t care if he died, since he wastes so much time playing games on his phone) to the literally unbelievable (a man of science who is forced to confront his lack of faith in a wild way). It’s a tricky script, one where it would be easy to strike the wrong note, and that doesn’t happen here. I walked out liking the show, but feeling unsure how to articulate my experience. The more I think back and sit with the performance, the more I understand director Josh Short has done something wonderful here.
The most unique aspect of “Octet” is the score, which is entirely a cappella and undoubtedly some of the most complicated, challenging, interesting music in musical theater (says the Sondheim fan). Under Milly Massey’s musical direction, the cast performs it beautifully, with nary a wrong note in the nearly two hours. The music is classic, melodic, and at times, downright spiritual, adding the weight of the ages to this new-age dilemma. As an aside, this is a show with no intermission, and I have to wonder if that’s intentional, to keep you from checking your phone halfway through. We all do it, don’t we?
If ever a show were a true ensemble piece, it’s “Octet.” Everyone is bringing their best, and everyone has done the work. These are not caricatures. Their addictions may seem hyperbolic at times, but you wouldn’t go to a support group for everyday habits. Chelsea Aubert, Jenna Benzinger, Alexander Boyle, Jason Cabral, Michael Yussef Greene, Jason Quinn, Helena Tafuri and Naomi Tyler, all strong actors on their own, are magnificent together.
This is not your everyday musical. I don’t think I’ve ever seen something “everyday” at Wilbury, and they’re not going to start now. And that’s wonderful. Catch this thought-provoking work before it closes…and for now, put down your phone and go talk to someone three-dimensional. In both cases, you’ll be glad you did.
“Octet” runs through Dec. 21, 2025, at The Wilbury Theatre Group, 475 Valley St., Providence (inside the Waterfire Arts Center). Tickets may be obtained at the box office, online at thewilburygroup.org or by calling 401.400.7100 Ext 0
