Photo-Illustration: Vulture; Photos: Getty Images (Stephane Cardinale/Corbis, Monica Schipper/GA/The Hollywood Reporter)
Musical-theater fans, it is now time to commence frothing at the mouth. The cast for Lin-Manuel Miranda’s upcoming film adaptation of Dave Malloy’s musical Octet was just announced, and it is a thrill to read. Right off the bat, there are stars of the two best musical films of the past five years: Amanda Seyfried (The Testament of Ann Lee) as Jessica and Rachel Zegler (West Side Story) as Velma.
But the good stuff doesn’t stop there. Abbott Elementary Emmy winner and original Dreamgirl Sheryl Lee Ralph is playing Paula. Two Hamilton stars are in the cast, too. Jonathan Groff is playing Henry and Phillipa Soo is playing Karly. They’re joined by two prestige TV vets ready to show off their vocal chops: Severance’s Tramell Tillman is Marvin and Stranger Things’s Gaten Matarazzo is Toby. The cast is rounded out by Broadway baby Paul-Jordan Jansen, who was in the ensemble of the recent Sweeney Todd revival as Ed.
Octet is Miranda’s follow-up to his directorial debut, the Oscar-nominated Tick, Tick … Boom!. He’s again choosing to adapt an Off Broadway musical by a visionary composers (TTB was written by Rent’s Jonathan Larson), rather than the more obvious option of, say, directing his own work. Octet is a chamber-choir musical about eight people in a support group for internet addiction. It is an odd, thrilling, and potentially off-putting work that does not immediately make sense as a film adaptation — that is exactly why it’s so exciting.
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