Guy is a heartbroken musician busking for coins on the streets of Dublin. Girl is a Czech immigrant with a complicated history and a broken vacuum cleaner. An unlikely couple, they find love in creating music together. TheatreZone Artistic Director Mark Danni says “Once the Musical” is a unique theatrical experience that will move you to laughter, to tears, and to a deep understanding of the particular joy of joining together in song.
“It goes beyond what your normal love story would be, because it’s more than just a love story, as you find out in the end,” said Danni. “It’s a very uplifting ending and story that’s being told that I think is just beautiful. Simple, but in the same sense, by the end you’re like, ‘Wow, that was a little different take on all that.”
One of the reasons audiences find “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical” so compelling is the fact that the lead actor also plays the piano live on stage throughout the show. In “Once,” the entire cast plays their own instruments.
“The 12-person cast also is the band,” Danni noted. “So everybody on that stage is not only a talented actor and singer, but also a proficient instrumentalist in a variety of instruments.”
The Guy plays the guitar, the Girl the piano. The other 10 actors play acoustic guitar, violin, cello, mandolin, bass, accordion, percussion and drums. But their talent doesn’t end with their individual musicality.
“Besides having to be instrumentalists, you’re either also Irish, so you have a believable Irish accent, or they are a Czech immigrant to Ireland,” said Danni. “The girl is from Czech descent, so some of her immediate family and friends … have to have Czech accents, that Easter European accent. So these actors also have to have the ability to have those accents, they have to be able to play these instruments, they have to be able to sing, so it’s a very talented cast.”
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“Once” has been described as “an unconventional romance” filled with passion, heartbreak and unforgettable music that critics have called “extraordinarily distinctive” and “hugely affecting.”
It is based on John Carney’s award-winning 2007 independent film.
In addition to eight Tony Awards, including Best Musical and Best Book, the musical also won the 2012 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Musical and the 2013 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album.
Performances are January 9-12 and 16-19 at 7:30 p.m., with 2 p.m. matinees on January 11 and 12 and 18 and 19.
Want to get an insider’s look at “Once”? After the final curtain call on Thursday, January 16, audience members can stick around for a special talk-back session. It’s a chance to meet the talented cast and directors, ask questions, and dive into the making of this incredible musical with a casual, candid Q&A that delves into what goes into bringing a musical like this to life on stage. The talk-back is offered at no additional charge—no separate tickets needed!
Cody Craven plays the role of the Guy. Lexi Rae Smith is the Girl.
Go here for a full cast list and other information about the production.
Danni said that finding the individual cast members for this musical was “a challenge, but a challenge of joy.”
While there was a piano in the audition room, most auditioners brought along their own guitar or violin. “Some brought their cellos,” said Danni. “If they didn’t play live for us and we asked for more, they submitted a reel.”
As a result, the audition process took more than the usual amount of time to find 12 actors who “had the proficiency to play at the level that the character they were auditioning for could play, as well as doing the accent and sing,” Danni said
Danni’s cast is so accomplished that there will be audience members who think that the music is coming from a band located behind stage.
“I will guarantee everybody out there that every piece of music that you hear on that stage is performed live,” said Danni. “Last year, we did ‘The Million Dollar Quartet,' which was based on the real-life meeting in 1956 of Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash and Carl Perkins, and after opening night, we heard people saying in the lobby, ‘Oh, they’re not really playing,’ or whatever. So I had to come out on stage before every show and say, ‘I guarantee you every bit of bit of music you hear on the stage, they’re playing,’ because people don’t believe that people are that talented.”
But they are, and TheatreZone, as an Equity theater, has the ability to find the top talent available.
An increasing number of actors refine their musical and other skills in order to give themselves an edge during the audition process.
“When we did the Jimmy Buffett musical, the lead character had, for ‘Escape to Margaritaville,’ to play a guitar at least to start us off before the band would kick in,” Danni added.
For more information, visit https://theatre.zone/shows/#once or call 888-966-3352.
Support for WGCU’s arts & culture reporting comes from the Estate of Myra Janco Daniels, the Charles M. and Joan R. Taylor Foundation, and Naomi Bloom in loving memory of her husband, Ron Wallace.