West End to Broadway – Once in Two Cities

Now I wouldn’t be doing my High Tea Casting right if I didn’t give you a stage review, so here, as part of my New York adventure, is a review of the 8 Tony Award winning musical, Once. Also, as I’m a bit of a dweeb and like to go over the top with these things, I saw it in London as well. And would probably do the same again. So here we go:

The story of Once is bittersweet, hopeful and heartbreaking. It was originally a cute Irish indie-flick and it’s on Netflix. If you haven’t seen it, you have no excuse. As the musical was written for Broadway, a couple of the references have been Americanised which was a touch irritating, but with music and direction this good it’s easily forgiven. We follow the budding friendship of The Guy, a recently dumped Dublinite busker on the verge of giving up his music, and the Girl, a Czech single mother who rescues him with her piano. They meet, they click, they make an album. It’s brilliant. 

If you’re going to go, make sure you go early. The cast start on stage about 30 minutes before the show, and the audience are invited up on stage to drink beer while they play traditional Irish and Czech folk music. I managed to miss this opportunity both times. Error. The pre-show moves seamlessly into the show itself, as the Guy starts his first song and the rest of the cast melt away, leaving him alone in a Dublin street with his guitar. 

Sneaky stage pic before the show on Broadway. Don’t ever do this. I will feel guilty FOREVER.

The staging is simple and poignant. The cast are the band, and stay onstage the whole time ,whether they’re taking part in the scenes or just sat to the side providing an underscore. Also, impressively, they manage to join in the gorgeous contemporary choreography while playing their instruments. Watching a guy dance while playing a cello may actually change your life.  

London

In London, the part of The Girl was played to warm perfection by Zrinka Cvitesic, and we saw the understudy David Hunter playing The Guy. They were lovely together, both singing a playing beautifully. The comedy was more downplayed in London, and it was more quietly touching this way. And I must say, I fell just as hard for Zrinka as The Guy did. She was magic.  

New York

The nice thing about the Broadway show (for a proud Brit) was that the two leads were English, with Joanna Christie playing the Girl and Arthur Darvill playing the Guy. Again, their on stage chemistry was adorable. The show felt a lot funnier on Broadway, and it was really interesting to see the contrast. Admittedly, there were some seriously dodgy Irish accent attempts through the rest of the cast but they were just so bloody great you didn’t care. Every single person on the stage (in both cities actually) was inspirationally good. 

If I was to say one negative thing about the stage show is that some of the formulaic ‘musical’ devices they’ve added kind of took away from the bleak sweetness of the movie. But as with the accents, the talent on stage and the sublime gorgeousness of the music meant I just didn’t care. My absolute highlights were ‘Gold’ at the end of act 1, and the beautiful choreography during ‘Are You Sleeping’. It’s so simple, but completely thrilling and had me in tears both times. 

I’m crossing my fingers that at some point we get to see Arthur Darvill and Zrinka Cvitesic playing opposite each other. Although the other leads were completely amazing, I just feel they’re too good not to perform together. It seems the parts were written for each of them, and in my head it would be electric. We’ll see eh? 

I could go on and on about this show, but I wont. I will however implore you all to GO AND SEE IT. Fuck it, I’ll come with you. I realise that Broadway might be a bit of a stretch, but Charing Cross road is right on your doorstep and this is guaranteed to be an amazing night out. Lads and Ladies, I am officially giving Once the accolade of my Favourite Musical Ever. Hop to it.  

Once is starring Arthur Darvill at The Phoenix Theatre until the 10th May. GO GO GO!