WBEZ9%
'Octet,' soon to be a movie musical from Lin-Manuel Miranda, makes rare leap to a Chicago mainstage 40%
By Mike Davis75%
7/14/2026, 3:35:00 AM
Keywords: Octet, Dave Malloy, Lin Manuel Miranda, Raven Theatre, Goodman Theatre, Chicago Theater, Musical
BS Summary: This article contains 23 faulty reasoning types, including Availability Heuristic, Halo Effect, and Post Hoc (False Cause), with Optimism Bias as the most egregious example at 12.6% saturation with 93 hits. Analysis detected 1,087 faulty-reasoning hits from 740 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 45.2% and a BS Rank of 40% (13,130 of 21,887 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 60.00% of the article peer group.
In the a cappella musical “Octet,” written and composed by Dave Malloy (Tony nominee for “Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812”), eight strangers meet at a support group for Internet addiction.
Their stories mostly then unfold across songs, with some dialogue and percussive elements.
The Raven Theatre Midwest premiere this spring yielded a sold out run in the company’s 130-seat theater.
Now the production is getting another extension — and an upgrade, opening July 15 in the Goodman’s Owen Theatre, which has more than double the capacity at 300 seats.
Director Keira Fromm said the stories told through the production sound familiar to audiences.
“It is a musical about eight individuals who meet weekly to untangle their uniquely toxic relationships to the internet, which is, I think, a theme we can all really relate to.”
Actors Grace Steckler, Sam Shankman, Joryhebel Ginorio, Teressa LaGamba and Ryder Dean McDaniel perform a scene from “Octet,” the Dave Malloy-authored musical moving to the Goodman Theatre.
When: July 15-Aug.
2
Where: Goodman Theatre, 170 N.
Dearborn St.
Info: Tickets from $44; run time is 1 hour 40 minutes no intermission.
Suggested for ages 15 and up.
The production caught the attention of fans even before opening night, after it was announced during rehearsals that “Hamilton” creator and star Lin-Manuel Miranda is making a movie about the show starring Rachel Zegler and Amanda Seyfried.
“It was really exciting and validating to know that [Miranda] was going to make a movie out of the musical,” Fromm said, even though the cast didn’t learn it was happening until they were over halfway into the rehearsal process.
“It certainly infused a great deal of excitement into what we were doing.”
Fromm said getting the show to the Goodman happened organically after Goodman staff saw the show and then approached Raven artistic director Jonathan Berry with the idea.
It just so happened the Owen Theatre would be vacant this summer — the blockbuster summer musical “ Iceboy ” is running next door in the theater’s mainstage space.
And it likely didn’t hurt that Fromm is currently working as assistant director of “Iceboy.”
"I went to see "Octet" at Raven because I think Dave Malloy’s kind of a genius," said Goodman artistic director Susan Booth.
"And when the show just kept selling out, I wondered whether we might be a useful spot to amplify its audience.
I’m all kinds of proud to offer Keira and Raven and this extraordinary acting company a place at our theater."
Teressa LaGamba portrays the leader of a support group for Internet addicts in “Octet.”
The entirety of the cast, including Jeff Award-winner Elliot Esquivel, and Jeff nominees Joryhebel Ginorio and Neala Barron, are confirmed for the extension.
Fans who saw the show at Raven noted the production's intimate feel.
It was staged in a thrust setup, or three-quarters round, which allowed the audience to feel close to the performers.
Keeping that intimacy was important to Fromm in the move to a bigger venue, noting that the Owen is not only bigger, but also has a raised stage.
“We've seen the ground plan, and we're able to put our stage into the Owen in a way that we're going to retain that thrust setup,” said Fromm.
“We'll have the audience on three sides still, sort of hugging the stage, but the Owen has a height that the Raven does not have, so I think there will be some work that we will have to do in terms of tending to the upwardness the Owen has to offer.”
“Octet” is at least the second production this year to be transferred from a local storefront to a larger, Equity playhouse.
Kokandy Theatre’s fall 2025 production of "Jekyll & Hyde,” a musical that flopped on Broadway but has been popularized since and particularly in Chicago, will be remounted this fall by Broadway in Chicago.
Fromm said a key to “Octet’s” success so far has been its ability to connect to audiences.
“It's a piece about mental health, it is a piece about technology addiction, it's a piece about spirituality amongst other things,” she said.
“But really, it’s a show about loneliness and the isolating experience of our technology addictions and how we're really very much in need of connection and community, which I think, is deeply relevant right now.”
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4speakers54%attributed speech339writer words
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100%flagged-word coverageSusan Booth
63 attributed words16% of attributed speech56% writer coverage
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