So much to love about ‘Once’

FROM the moment the audience enters the Olympia, it’s apparent that ‘Once – the Musical’ wants to eschew the formalities of theatre.

The set for the musical is an intimate, old-fashioned bar. Before the show starts, the audience is invited to go onstage and enjoy a stomping trad session with the cast. If you’re seated on the ground floor, don’t be shy – just go up.

The show is based on the acclaimed, low-budget hit from 2007 that starred musicians Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová. It tells the story of an aspiring but cynical and downtrodden busker, ‘Guy’. He meets an optimistic Czech flower-seller, ‘Girl’, who happens to be a classically trained pianist. Her interest in his music and her own talent changes his life over the course of a week as she helps him mourn his emigrant ex-girlfriend in New York and bring his songs to life.

The musical is back home in Dublin this summer with a superb cast that double as the orchestra. Megan Riordan, an American-Irish actress, plays the effervescent Girl. She keeps the energy afloat, reeling Guy into her world with her energy and blunt manner. Seeing Guy play a heartfelt song in a bar, she relentlessly pushes him to continue with his music and pursue his ex (played by Lisa Fox).

Sam Cieri plays Guy. He replaces Tom Parsons, who still appears in the promotional posters. His voice is a dead ringer for Hansard’s, with all the vulnerability and grit of his range. He brings a boyish, petulant charm to the role. His performance is raw and he’s convincing in the role of a busker.

The secondary cast, however, elevate the quality. Enda Walsh, who wrote the Tony Award winning book, brings in new characters. Phelim Drew plays the sleazy, hard-boiled music shop owner who routinely provides the show’s comedic breaks. His bitterness at post-boom Ireland is still relevant today as he butts heads with the Cork bank manager, played by Michael Mahony.

We are introduced to Girl’s Czech family and roommates. Rickie O’Neill plays Svec, an energetic drummer and mandolin player who learns his English from ‘Fair City’. There’s Andrej, played by Dylan Reid, who has a sad storyline of trying to get a promotion in the fast food restaurant he works in. One of the standout performances comes from English actress Ruth Westley. She plays Rezza, the sultry Eastern European punk. Westley, sporting a half-shaved head and plaid mini-skirt, moves across the stage like a greyhound. A gifted violinist, dancer and singer, Westley is bold and enjoyable to watch. The stage design by Bob Crowley is minimalistic. The bar is adorned with several brass-framed mirrors that give the audience new perspectives on the scene. Riordan’s emotive face can be seen through the reflections when she turns her back to the audience. A smaller mirror can show just a hand playing an instrument. The lighting by Natasha Katz is intimate and uses the mirrors well. In one scene, it transforms the bar into a sea cliff. 

For those of you who have grown weary of the Oscar-winning song ‘Falling Slowly’, seeing the musical will reignite the bittersweet rawness that Hansard and Irglová brought to the song almost a decade ago.  

Songs such as ‘When Your Mind’s Made Up’ and ‘The Hill’ sound just as honest as when we were first introduced to them in the film. There’s also the addition of new songs and some Czech folk music. The leads, Riordan and Cieri, have genuine chemistry, which makes the storyline of Girl choosing her absentee husband over Guy a little bit less convincing this time around. 

When watching ‘Once’, it’s easy to see why the John Tiffany directed musical swept up 11 Tony Awards, a Drama Desk Award and a Grammy since 2012. The show celebrates Irish culture and is genuinely fun.  Not to be missed.

‘Once – the Musical’ is now running at the Olympia Theatre until August 27.

REVIEW: Aura McMenamin