"The most original and topical musical of the year...A portrait in song of perhaps the greatest David and Goliath struggle of our time...These layered and contrapuntal voices produce a dazzling spectrum of effects, like the swelling harmonies associated with traditional choral music and the crystal pings of personal computers...I’m going to chalk up this beautiful, absorbing, disturbing work as a win for art."
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“Malloy’s splendidly wrought new musical, ‘Octet’—performed nearly completely a capella...Under Annie Tippe’s taut direction, all eight bits of ‘Octet’s’ byte-size cast perform Malloy’s challenging compositions with exceptional skill, abetted by Or Matias’s musical direction and Hidenori Nakajo’s sound design. As Broadway shows increasingly rely on massive spectacle, ‘Octet’ proves that well-polished pieces of eight are enough.”
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"Malloy’s extraordinary new chamber-choir musical 'Octet' uses a simple structure to go spelunking into a complex, ominous, continuously exquisite series of caves...The marvelous actor-singers of 'Octet' feel like tentative, searching acolytes...Under Annie Tippe’s agile, imaginative direction, every one of the show’s actors is balancing a full, many-shaded character with a masterful musical performance...'Octet' is that rare and thrilling thing: a new musical that really does feel new."
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"A thoughtful, if simultaneously overstuffed and underdramatized, exploration of an issue that couldn't be more relevant...Each of the dozen songs is linked to a tarot card, and if you're wondering why, I'm at a loss to explain it. It's indicative of Molloy's overreaching...The composer's talents, however, are on ample display in his stirring music and intricate, frequently polyphonic arrangements...It makes one eager to see what his restless mind comes up with next."
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"Such an anthology approach can grow predictable or monotonous if the creative team doesn’t invest in each character equally, and change up their theatrical game, but Malloy and his shrewd director, Annie Tippe, find a smart, engaging balance between satiric realism and exuberant theatricality...Not only is ‘Octet’ one of the most thought-provoking and soul-stirring musicals I’ve seen in ages, it has an ingeniously woven, harmonically lush score that you’ll want to revisit."
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"The transfixing score and vocal arrangements Malloy has built for this production manage to eclipse his skilled creations in works like 'The Great Comet'...Simply on a technical level, it's one of the most inventive scores I've ever heard, with clever lyrics that match...One of those rare shows that's ambitious as hell and actually delivers on it's promise...'Octet' ultimately delivers the one-of-a-kind feeling that emerges only when you're able to lose yourself in a musical."
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"How these downbeat and self-lacerating accounts are transformed into something entrancing without losing their essential power is a mystery perhaps known only to Malloy; Or Matias, the musical director; and Annie Tippe, the director, all of whom maintain firm control over their eccentric characters and their wayward souls...If there is a weakness in 'Octet,' it is the lack of forward motion...It's probably enough that 'Octet' is a strong, striking piece of work."
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"Melding naturalism with mysticism, ‘Octet’ is utterly beguiling as it addresses an exceedingly real problem about dependence upon technology and electronic media...Director Annie Tippe makes terrific use of the space, and the eight-person ensemble is uniformly excellent...Malloy's songs ingeniously merge classical-sounding choral hymns about monsters and forests that simultaneously and anachronistically reference technology and addiction."
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