“Once” — The Musical
“Once” received 12 Tony award nominations and won 8 including best musical, best actor. It also received 2013 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. With so many titles, what type of musical it is after all?! Let’s see what professional critiques say about this musical:
Last time, I was in New York City and wanted to see this show, but the ticket was sold out. This time, I watched this tour production in the Kennedy Center in DC. Long time no see — the Kennedy Center is still that beautiful and neat.
I’d say it is a musical that can turn off your business mode and turn you on the channel of human being. You sit in this darkness, feel this beautiful piano and guitar, find some space to think about your dream, your life, and your love, and end up with a touch of laughter and tears on your face. For a quite while, you are not able to escape from such powerful emotions and resonances.
Another comment I want to make is that the live musical is way more impactful than the movie and the CD recordings. It is actually quite shocking considering this musical does not use any orchestra or fancy stages as a typical *loud* musical does. Instead, every actor and actress has an instrument. They play instrument, dance and act at the same time. The stage is very creatively used. For example, half an hour before the show, the audience is invited to the stage, drink and social with some of the actors. They even perform some folk pieces as if you were in a Saturday afternoon winery. Another example is that three actresses perform some mirrorish dance to demonstrate *the girl*’s hesitation and complication and her desire to see through herself. One more impressive scene is that all the musicians in the story are echoed by *the guy*’s debut and started joining one a time with their instruments and perform like an orchestra for a folk song.
An interesting side story: the dress code of watching musical in Kennedy Center is so different from the Broadway theaters in New York City. In NYC, the random tourists go to the shows. They wear all kind of stuffs, jeans, flip flops and casual clothes. In DC, every one dressed up, and I ended up being the only one wearing some t-shirt, quite embarrassing. I also got the autograph from Stuart Ward, the main actor in the tour production of “once”, and he is way too handsome to stare at.
