TheatreZone's production of ONCE tells the beautiful, heart-breaking, musical story of Guy and Girl. The storyline follows them as they meet and begin to make music together, with Girl encouraging Guy to follow his dreams and passions.
Guy is played by Cody Craven, who is an incredible singer and a wonderful guitar player. The raw emotion in his performance was stunning. Girl is played by Lexi Rae Smith, who was equally wonderful. She has a beautiful singing voice and is incredibly talented at playing piano. Her portrayal of this character was perfect. The rest of the cast acts as various characters and musicians throughout the show. This includes Cody Taylor as Billy, Jackson Mattek as Bank Manager, Brittany Halen as Reza, Eric Gutman as Svec, Blaine DeBerry as Andrej, Paulette Oliva as Baruska, Curt Denham as Da, Joseph Byrne as Eamon, Cat Patterson as Ex-Girlfriend, Tim Torres as Emcee, and Penelope Martone as Ivanka. This cast is unbelievably talented. The music they played was so beautiful, and really impactful for this show.
The creative team includes Director Mark Danni, Music Director Charles Fornara, Musical Staging by Karen Molnar Danni, Scenic Designer Michael Harvey, Lighting Designer Anthony Johnson, Sound Designer Eric Condit, Costume Designer Kathleen Kolacz, Properties Designer Carolina Grau, Head Carpenter Matthew Schwabauer, Carpenter Gabriel Corniola, Scenic Painter Leonardo Reyes, and more. Each did an excellent job bringing this production together. Every aspect of it was done well, and was very effective.
ONCE has a lot of beautiful, emotional songs in it, including the well-known "Falling Slowly," "Gold," "The Moon," and many more. It's a stunning experience and extra special to hear these songs played brilliantly by live musicians.
I highly recommend seeing ONCE while it's playing at TheatreZone, through January 19. It's a wonderful musical, and one I thoroughly enjoy. For tickets and more information, follow the link below.
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