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Play Review: “Once”

On October 17th, I went to see a musical called “Once” at the Segal Centre for Performing Arts. I had never heard of the play before going to see it and only later learned that its story had been around for the past ten years. I gotta admit I did not have high expectations for this play because I am usually not a fan of musicals and their excessive amount of singing numbers. If the musical numbers are too long or not dispersed enough, I quickly lose interest in the storyline. But I was pleasantly surprised with this production directed by Andrew Shaver.

For the readers who, just like me, had never heard of this musical before, “Once” is the story of a Czech girl living in Ireland who suddenly meets a boy playing the guitar on the street. Boy has lost all hope for his music, but Girl (Boy and Girl are the actual names of the main characters) makes it her mission to help him find passion again. This play is essentially a love story.

I thought the performance by the main actress was phenomenal. She was quirky and full of energy and her voice was flawless during all the musical numbers. As for her male counterpart, I was not as impressed with his acting. His performance lacked a bit of depth in his emotions, but he made up for it with his voice which had a great raw quality to it.

However, there were a lot of musical numbers. I think that some of them, like the musical number with Girl’s family, were not needed. They did not add anything new to the story. But overall, I was impressed with the entire cast’s talent. Each actor played a different instrument and kept perfect harmony with each other. Also, I really liked the introduction to the musical. When everyone was waiting in the lobby before the show, a small group of performers came out and played a song in the middle of all of us. They later invited us to follow them into the room where they continued their performance with the rest of the cast. I had never experienced something like that before and thought it was a great way to start a relationship with the audience.

I rarely enjoy musicals, but this one really surprised me with its talented cast and cute storyline.