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A CurtainUp Review
Once
By Elyse Sommer
The Screen-to-Stage Journey of Once Continues to Broadway by
The Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre orchestra has 612 seats, that's three times as many as the New York Theatre Workshop where Once had its several times extended, enthusiastically received opening. That means that any seat beyond the orchestra's mid-point would be in back of NYTW's last row. Add the mezzanine, balcony and box seats and each performance of the just opened Broadway run will play to a little more than a thousand people. But not to worry. As Broadway venues go, the Jacobs is a modestly sized house with a wide stage that accommodates Bob Crowley's terrific Dublin pub set. The audience is still invited to get close up and personal to the talented performers who set the tone with a lively 20-minute pre-curtain concert. If they miss this "prologue" the bar is again open to all comers at intermission. Okay, so even a modest theater (by Broadway standards) isn't ever to be quite as intimate as a 200-seat East Village venue, but this small in scale musical has transferred with its charm and big heart very much intact. Steve Kazee and Chrstin Milioti may not be big box office names but they bring genuine star power to Guy and Girl — their relationship with its bittersweet ending oozes genuine feeling. As for their singing, I can only say "Wow!" No wonder that there was a crush around the counter where CD's of the show songs were being sold. The entire show has moved with the multi-talented ensemble and creative team on board (only Girl's little daughter is now alternately played by Ripley Sobo and Mikayla Twiggs). And I'm happy to report that Once hasn't been Broadway-ized with elaborate props and excessive amplification. The performers play their parts large enough to reach the viewers in the balcony, but not excessively so. The same is true of the sound design. The way the vacuum cleaner that Girl wants Guy to fix just rolls on stage, as does the piano on which she will play for him to pay for his work, is a lot more fun and imaginative than a more detailed set would be. Guy and Girl's brief escape from the hustle and bustle of Dublin by their climb to the top of the bar took my breath away even more this time around. Though Once hasn't shed so much as a minute from its almost two and a half hours, its assets are such that this remains a minor quibble. Milioti seems to actually be playing up rather than toning down some of her good fairy witticisms. Since the audience greeted even the more portentous of her pronouncements with hilarious laughter, this too is hardly a major problem in this delightful musical which could be (and for my money should be) the big winner when it comes time to hand out awards for the Best New Broadway Musical. Since on Broadway is basically unchanged from its trial run in the East Village, I've re-posted my original review right after the song list and current production notes here here. Broadway Production Notes: Once based on the motion picture of the same name written and directed by John Carney Directed by John Tiffany Book by Enda Walsh Music and lyrics by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova Movement by Steven Hoggett Cast: David Abeles (Eamon - guitar, piano, melodica, harmonica), Will Connolly (Andrej-Electric bass, ukelele, tambourine, Cajon guitar), Elizabeth A. Davis (Reza -violin), Steve Kazee (Guy-guitar), David Patrick Kelly (Da - mandolin), Cristin Milioti (Girl- piano), Anne L. Nathan (Baruska-piano, accordion, tambourine, Melodica), Lucas Papaelias (Svec - Banjo, guitar, mandolin, drum set), Andy Taylor (Bank Manager -Violin, accordion, cello, guitar, mandolin), Mickayla Twiggs (Ivanka), Erikka Walsh (Ex-Girlfriend - violin), Paul Whitty (Billy - Guitar, ukelele, Cajon snare drum) and J. Michael Zygo (Emcee - guitar) Ripley Sobo and Mikayla Twiggs (alternate as Ivanka. Music supervisor/orchestrations: Martin Lowe Sets and costumes: Bob Crowley Lighting: Natasha Katz Sound: Clive Goodwin Dialect coach: Stephen Gabis Stage Manager: Beth Marie Glorioso Run Time: Approximately two hours and 30 minutes, with one 15-minute intermission Bernard B. Jacobs 242 West 45th Street (212) 239-6200 Tuesday @7pm Wednesday @2 and 7pm, Thursday @7pm Friday @8pm, Saturday @2 and 8pm Sunday @3pm. Tickets:$59.50 - $131.50 Reviewed by Elyse Sommer at March 14th Press preview |
Steve Kazee (Guy) & Cristin Milioti (Girl)|
Musical Numbers
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Act One
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Act Two
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My New York Theatre Workshop Review
I loved Once, the 2007 Irish Indie movie. I loved the music with its specific musical taste transcending emotional resonance. I loved how the small-scale filming gave it an engaging hidden camera documentary flavor. The cast of non-professional actors and the way the musical numbers were staged on the street, in a grungy music shop and dingy apartments went a long way toward enhancing the film's greatest asset besides the music: a beguiling naturalness which evoked a sense of being right there with its likeable and very human characters.
Watching my DVD in anticipation of seeing the 85 minute film expanded into a 2 hour and 20 minute musical adaptation, I had a queasy feeling that the simple charms would get lost in an over-amplified score and mass appeal pandering expanded book. After all, there are plenty of clunky screen-to-stage musicals to abet such concerns.
The musical now premiering at the intimate New York Theatre Workshop, the incubator for Rent and home to many off-beat shows. The design team's Tony Award winning credentials clearly signal that the 200-seat start-up location was a smart marketing move to implement the producers' plans for a Broadway transfer. This raised added concerns that the New York Theatre Workshop production might end up undergoing heavy miking and more Broadway style bells and whistles
And sooo. . . to cut to the chase. The current stage adaptation retains the film's charm and, wonder of wonders, it's a completely original work of art. The little movie with the legs to turn a $150,000 investment into a $20 million grossing worldwide hit has been transformed into a musical that retains its Indie feel (a terrific cast but none with big box office magnetism) but has deepened and enriched the story courtesy of Enda Walsh's new script.
With its single set — a bar (brilliantly detailed by Bob Crowley (who's also responsible for the right on the mark costumes) — the show is actually more the theatrical equivalent of Indie than the movie which showed the guitar playing Guy and the piano playing Czech immigrant Girl roaming all over Dublin and featured a real studio setting for the recording session that was the real happy ending to their wistful week-long romance.
If I had to sum up Once, the musical in a tweet: It's a sweet fable, a week long journey of emotional growth for its two leads as well as the story's peripheral characters. And it does so with music that hits all the right notes.
Playwright Enda Walsh's libretto enriches and enhances the characters of the two leads (Steve Kazee and Cristin Milioti) as well as making the effect of their journey more important to the other characters. The musical also has powerful assets in John Tffany's direction and Steven Hoggett's movement choreography (the power of their work was previously demonstrated in another unique theatrical enterprise, Black Watch.
Walsh's book with it's more fully developed themes calls for strong acting as well as musical skills. Steve Kazee as the dejected in love and career musician and Christin Milioti as his life-changing good fairy who has her own problems, are excellent choices to replace songwriters, Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova (Hansard and Irglova did very well playing Guy and Girl on screen but they have opted to stick to their musical careers).
The eleven other performers all display remarkable versatility. They make the most of the musical's expanded roles for Guy's father, the music shop proprietor, Girl's mother and upstairs neighbors. They're also terrific as the the accompanying instrumentalists, singers and executing Hoggett's exciting dance numbers (these movements are vibrant as any more typical show stopping dance numbers). The combination of actors multitasking as musicians, singers and dancers is completely original and much more organic than John Doyle's actor-musician productions.
As the stage musical's book builds up the film characters' roles and yet ends up telling the same heartwarming story, so the decision to confine the entire show to a Dublin bar, rather than trying to recreate the cinematic wanderings to different locales with fancy props and projections, is not just practical but what makes this a unique theatrical work. Crowley's bar works beautifully as a backdrop for simply shifting locations by having the always present instrument playing characters drag some tables and chairs, Girl's vacuum cleaner and piano on and off stage as needed.
Natasha Katz's lighting further defines what's happening and where. There's a particularly imaginative recreation of a scene in the movie where Guy and Girl escape on a motorbike trip to the outskirts of the city that here simply has them climb to the top of the bar, turning it into an evocative promontory overlooking the city.
At almost two and a half hours, Once could use a once-over to trim it by at least ten minutes and Girl's words of wisdom could be toned down a bit. But the current setup is large enough not to get lost in a Broadway house.
The single word title was intended as a reference to the many talented artists who put off their career by saying "once" they get this and that sorted out, but never succeed because they've put it off too long. It's a meaning the producers may be right to have taken to heart by not to putting of their dream of Once on Broadway and committing to its transfer to the Bernard Jacobs Theater immediately after the already extended NYTW run.
With just a few tiny nips and tucks, and restraining the urge to make this big little show bigger, this is one screen-to-stage musical that may well make that leap to a larger and more expensive home successfully. I for one liked the current Once well enough to see it twice.
To hear the show's big hit, "Falling Slowly," here's a link to a You Tube sample: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzQ9VrnNQLQ. If you've never seen the film, you can get the DVD at Amazon for $6.50 -- You can also buy a DVD of the film for less than $10 at Amazon Once DVD
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