BWW Reviews: ONCE Is One Of A Kind

There is something extraordinary about ONCE. It's impossible to put into just one category. It's a musical, but it breaks the mold of any musical I've ever seen. The show is superbly lyrical, from its musical subject matter to its interpretive scene changes and spare but meaningful choreography and staging. The scene transitions are soulful. How can a scene change be soulful? See ONCE and you'll know exactly what I mean.

ONCE is about love and agency and hope. Irish playwright Enda Walsh and writer-director John Carney have penned a story about a gifted Irish musician who meets a Czech immigrant who becomes his muse of sorts. They connect through music. One of the things that makes the story unique is that the two characters do not dive heedlessly into a relationship. They connect gradually and carefully, which renders a tension and heartbreak that practically hum in the air. Guy, played by Stuart Ward, and Girl, played by Dani de Waal, are at a crossroads in their lives, and the effect they have on each other as they weed through their challenges is what the story is all about.

One of the things that makes ONCE so wonderfully organic is that the actors double as the musicians. The cast is the orchestra, or band, depending on the song. About halfway through the show you think, "Should I buy the soundtrack on iTunes or buy the CD, so I'll have the liner notes?" The music is that good. Irish-born Glen Hansard and Czech-born Marketa Irglova have written an award-winning musical full of songs that stick in your head and pull at your heart. (ONCE won a Grammy in 2013 for Best Musical Theater Album.) The music is a cool mix of contemporary acoustic pop with a little western European alternative sound, plus old Irish and Czech folk songs weaving it all together. Academy award-winning "Falling Slowly" is a pensive, heartache of a ballad that sticks in your head for days afterward. "Gold", penned by composer Fergus O'Farrell, is an A Capella number that is transcendent in its hushed harmonies. "The Hill" is a hauntingly raw gem, sung with pure vulnerability by Dani de Waal.

The cast is strong and very connected. Watching this cast was almost like watching a family perform together. Ward and de Waal play the lead characters with equal excellence. de Waal is endearing as the plucky but sensitive Girl. Her limpid voice seems made for the pieces she sings. Ward does a great job as a man with his heart on his sleeve. He portrayal is honest and believable as the charming, yearning Irishman, hoping to make it in the music world. Erica Swindell gives a firecracker performance as the untamed Reza, strutting around the stage, singing and playing her violin with her take-no-prisoners verve. Humor runs through the script like a tree branch, earthy and unassuming. If you like your humor served dry, ONCE is just the ticket. All the cast members handle comedy very well, especially Evan Harrington, who plays Billy, the posturing oaf, looking for love in all the wrong places. The show is full of memorable characters with impressive performances by a talented cast doing double duty as musicians and actors.

ONCE is an experience, the kind of production that imprints itself. Get your tickets soon.

To purchase tickets, go to:http://www.thehobbycenter.org/?q=node/1290

Photo Credits: Joan Marcus

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