I did not like ONCE

[jbm2]

Just saw the Tony Award winning Once. I did not like it!! Some good songs, but that's it. I didn't care about the characters and found myself wanting to leave at intermission. I stayed, hoping it would get better. It didn't.

[Phantom4ever]

I did not enjoy it either. It was a cool idea to have the audience come on stage before the show and have the cast playing instruments like it was a real bar. But..........then when the show started, nobody around me in the front mezz seemed aware of it and kept right on going. People were debating whether the show had started or if they were still in the pre-show music phase.

And then when the dialogue really started........I just didn't get it. The Girl (her character doesn't have a name, right?) was told that she had to leave (or something like that), the Girl said "No" and the audience exploded with laughter and "awwww that is soooooo cuuuuute!" comments. I thought that I must have missed something. And then more and more lines like that from the Girl. Dead pan delivery. Explosive laughs. The only catch was that she really wasn't saying anything funny or cutesy or witty. The only time the show got me was during the song Falling Slowly. Otherwise, It was just a mess of seemingly random songs and monotone line readings by the Girl that the audience LOOOVED and an interminable wait until the Boy and Girl finally mercifully get together.

And yes, I can still respect you and discuss your argument and not your personality, even though this is an internet message board, we can still argue with civility. Or at least try to.

[chewy5000]

Good for you

[PalJoey]

This thread is reserved for people with no taste.

[Phantom4ever]

For paljoey:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_hominem

[FishermanBob]

Thanks for letting us know.

[Sutton Ross]

"line readings by the Girl that the audience LOOOVED and an interminable wait until the Boy and Girl finally mercifully get together."

They don't get together. They don't even kiss. He leaves. Did you actually see Once?

[jbm2]

Totally agree phantom.

Just my opinion

[Phantom4ever]

Oops. Ok so they didn't get together. So it's an interminable wait to find out that they did not get together. Not much of a difference there.

[oasisjeff]

I can't believe the message board has gone on this long without a thread about Once...

[After Eight]

"Just saw the Tony Award winning Once. I did not like it!"

Neither did I, nor the person next to me who slept through it, nor the person next to her who walked out midway.

[chewy5000]

Good for them, too.

[Kad]

You mean people don't all like the same thing?!?

[dramamama611]

I loved it. The 80+ people I brought loved it -- overwhelmingly so. I was moved by it, immensely.

Different strokes.

[trentsketch]

Not everyone is going to like this show. It's a very faithful adaptation of a tiny little indie musical where the characters don't even realize the songs they're performing reflect their emotional state as the story progresses.

Most people will actually remember the ending if they paid attention. It's kind of a big part of the entire concept of the story and happily ever after or not makes a huge difference.

[CarlosAlberto]

Well, I'm sorry you did not like ONCE. I love both the film and the Broadway musical. I thought it was well done and I originally thought a stage musical version was totally unnecessary because I love the film so much, but I was pleasantly surprised. I'm so glad it received the Tony award recognition it deserved.

[muscle23ftl]

I agree with the poster. I also stayed for the whole show to see if anything would happen. What a waste of time. But I didn't even find the music to be good, I'd give this show a zero. It doesn't even belong to an Off Broadway stage. It was a calamity.

[ClydeBarrow]

Know what I didn't like? CATS!

[wonkit]

I didn't care for it either, and I was most surprised that something so slight was treated like earth-shaking theater. I couldn't distinguish one song from another, and thought the performances were terribly mannered. But people with me sobbed at the end. Why live theater is so fascinating!

[Kad]

A "calamity"?

The super typhoon was a calamity.

This was a show you just didn't like.

[gleek4114]

Clyde,

The only thing I enjoyed about CATS was the song Memory. Literally the only thing I liked.

[suestorm]

the Girl said "No" and the audience exploded with laughter and "awwww that is soooooo cuuuuute!" comments. I thought that I must have missed something. And then more and more lines like that from the Girl. Dead pan delivery. Explosive laughs.


It's fine u didnt but everyone around you seemed to love it... maybe it shows you just didn't get it?

[Sutton Ross]

Exactly Sue. This person didn't even understand they they didn't get TOGETHER at the end. Kind of a huge plot point to miss. No special effects, no smoke, no major costumes. It was simple and beautiful and the music was exquisite. Some people just don't get it.

[Liza's Headband]

Every single person on here who thinks a show is a "calamity" because it's bad needs a reality check. Please turn on the news and watch the coverage of the 10,000+ dead in the Philippines. I think you'll be OK if you feel like you wasted just 2 hours of your day. How terrible for you.

ETA: great minds think alike. Just realized Kad already made mention of this.

[CarlosAlberto]

It's okay Liza's Headband. The theater queens on this board due tend to be way too melodramatic. Poor, poor them.