SCHENECTADY - “Once” is one of the most Irish musicals you will experience. But some clarification is needed. If you assume Irish as The Clancy Brothers or Riverdance think again. “Once” is closer to the plays of Sean O’Casey and Brian Friel, or even the literature of James Joyce.
“Once” is a love story that is simultaneously painful and beautiful. It’s a brave musical that is being given a tender and eloquent production at Proctors Theatre through Sunday.
It is theater that is understands happiness is earned, life is sometimes hard, and love can be elusive. The play believes that humor can be generated by pain and that music can serve as poetry.
That’s the Irish in “Once.”
“Once” is a work that turns one of the most familiar formula’s about love on its head. Instead of guy meets girl, guy loses girl, guy gets girl, the Tony Award winning musical starts with guy loses girls and progresses to guy finds new girl. The question is does guy keep girl?
No spoilers here. You’ll have to attend the show to find out whether or not guy gets girl. I can tell you this much – you want the pair to be together.
“Once” is musical set in Dublin, Ireland about a guy who has just broken up with his girlfriend who moved to New York City. The breakup has crushed him and he is about to give up performing music. At what he intends to be his final performance, a spirited Czech immigrant hears him sing his sad song about unrequited love. Taken by his talent she tries to convince him to continue with his music.
She’s a single mom who is also a piano player. Together they borrow money and find a group of musicians to record a demo album. It might be good enough to make the big time. Music restores Guy’s zest for life and Girl restores his ability to take another chance on love.
But “Once” also stays true to another theater truism, that is the path of love never runs smooth. Her ex-husband wants to reenter her life and he’s still not completely over his former girlfriend. Tough decisions must be made by both Guy and Girl.
The two leads are tender, witty and charming. Mackenzie Lesser-Roy is funny as the almost brutally frank Girl. Her ability to be a realist in an emotional world permits the work to have a base-line so that her love for the Guy is true and honest. Sam Cieri is winning as Guy. He is able to make the man who can only express himself through song a vulnerable soul as he avoids self-pity for his world which always seems on the verge of collapsing.
The secondary characters function as a band and an ensemble of actors who rarely leave the stage. However, during the course of the two hour and fifteen minute presentation each character has his or her own stories revealed. While the play centers about a romance, the heart of the work is about a community of people who are struggling with life as outsiders. Some are immigrants: others just live anonymously in the own country.
Each has a story to be told and they are as rich and as involving as is the central romance. Their contributions make “Once” a tapestry rather than a portrait and the show is richer for it.
“Once” is not all gloom. It is filled with humor and has many celebratory moments expressed through ensemble songs and dance. However, it is introspective and soul searching. This is a work that is honest and beautiful and will stay in your heart longer than most commercial successes. This alone makes it worth seeing.
“Once” at Proctors Theater, Schenectady Through Sunday. 346-6204 or proctors.org
Bob Goepfert is theater reviewer for the Troy Record
The views expressed by commentators are solely those of the authors. They do not necessarily reflect the views of this station or its management.