Once, Finally...

The longer I put it off, the less I'll remember, so here are my thoughts on Once:

Though Broadway's had its fair share of musician/actor casts trod the boards in recent years, this cast tops them all as quadruple threats (singing, acting, dancing and playing instruments).  By the nature of the score (pop/folk) and the contemporary story, the musician/actor paradigm doesn't seem as gimmicky here as it has in some recent productions.

I don't love the score, though the Grammy-winning hit song, "Falling Slowly," has grown on me after repeated listening.  In general, the music has a sameness to it that, truthfully, makes me a little sleepy.  It doesn't help that it's almost all ballads, lovely as many of them are.  But after a few listens on my iPad, I've decided the score works better in context.

The leads are incredibly charming and charismatic (Steve Kazee is super dreamy) and are probably the reason the show works so well despite the thin plot.  I foresee many an interminable evening when this show hits the regionals with less than ideal casting.  Cristin Milioti's quirky Czech character verges on annoying, but the actress somehow manages to add enough heart and humanity to pull the character out of cartoon territory.

The real star of the show is the director and choreographer who have created a fluid, dream-like evening that is gorgeous to the eye (thanks also to fantastic lighting design) and ear.  Their creative use of movement and space have added a depth and import to what on paper probably appears to be a somewhat slight narrative.  There's nothing wrong with simplicity, of course, but trimming to a 90 minute intermission-less evening would probably have greatly improved the pace.  The songs, too, sometimes don't lend themselves to a theatrical setting and aren't necessarily specific to character or situation.  Some are diegetic (look it up) and some are merely just extended emotional responses to what's happening onstage.

Once is a cute little show that possesses a unique charm, but I'd be hard pressed to pay for a second viewing with so many other shows opening this spring.  I'm thinking it probably works better in a smaller venue anyway, like where it started downtown at NYTW.  The kind of intimacy required to pull of this material just doesn't transfer to the nosebleeds where Trish and I were seated.  It seemed there was a lot of sniffling and tears in the orchestra section, but I was oddly unmoved (though thoroughly entertained).

Liked it, but didn't love it.

On a side note, we bumped into our favorite dancing cowboy, Todd Roman, in the lobby before the show.  Mr. Moneybags had row F center orchestra seats.  Well, excuse me! 

Anyway, I'm now off to Port Authority for tonight's opening of Little Women at APA.  If you're in the North Central Jersey area, come check it out and wave to me in the balcony where they've relegated the orchestra in their pit-less black box theatre.  I'm playing keyboards.