Review: ONCE at Chance Theatre

Once is a charming contemporary musical at the award-winning Chance Theatre in Anaheim, California.  At once romantic, yearning, wistful, melancholy and tenderly life-affirming, Once is a quiet gem of a musical that is hard not to love.  The deeply lovely, Irish folk-inspired music by Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová  is Academy Award Winning, Tony Award Winning, and Grammy Award Winning.  Played live with an ensemble of musicians onstage, with ukuleles, mandolins, guitars, drums, accordions, cellos, violins, piano, and cajóns, this is a feast for the ears.  Once feels like a revelation, with all the delicate tenderness of a romantic ballad and the foot-stomping joy of a rustic Irish pub on music night.

Adapted from a sleeper hit, small indie Irish film from 2007, Once does not feel like a typical musical.  This is a romantic tale of a love that tenderly blossoms but never fully opens into bloom, between Girl (Emma Laird), a Czech woman living in Dublin with her young daughter, and Guy (Morgan Hollingsworth), a disheartened musician who works in his dad’s appliance repair shop .

Once is an ensemble musical that thrives with its lively, warm-hearted, irresistible winning cast of supporting characters who feel like an instant family.  Will House steals the pre-show with a bring-down-the-house rendition of the Irish folk song The Rattlin' Bog, which I could have happily listened to on repeat all night.  As failing music shop owner Billy, Will Huse is compulsively watchable, instantly lovable and charismatic, with abundant physical comedy and pitch-perfect comic timing. Austin Ledger also shines bright as Svec, a Czech death metal drummer with a weakness for Irish soap operas, caffeine, and leopard print underwear.  Ledger is utterly delightful, with fearless physical comedy and endearing over the top wildness.

The book by Edna Walsh has quirky charm and an appealing romantic sensibility.  There are occasional tonal issues and some rather large holes in the writing, leaving out some key details (read: female character development) in its myopic hero’s quest to find himself.  We never learn what manic-pixie-dream-woman, Girl, is doing in Dublin —  does she have a job, a dream, or any point to her own existence besides inspiring Guy to believe in himself and get his first album recorded, while waiting to get scooped up again by her estranged, indifferent partner (oh joy)?  At least she gets a piano in exchange for giving the hero his life back.

In the end, though, the book serves mostly as a backdrop for the truly glorious music and as a captivating love letter to Dublin.  There is sensitive, inspired direction by James Michael Mchale and some superb craft and heart from the excellent creative team at Chance Theater that makes Once feel like a treat to be savored.

I would love to see a few changes here and there.  The casting of the romantic leads is not perfect; a miscast Morgan Hollingsworth sometimes seems more like a grumpy Shrek telling us to get out his swamp than a depressed artist who has lost faith in himself.  And I wish we could have a more spell-binding set from Bradley Kaye, whose curiously bland set evokes more of a generic 90s airport vibe than Dublin.

But all in all, Once is something quite special, a show that succeeds in being quietly, disarmingly lovely, radiantly human, and surprisingly touching.  This is a show that did not leave a dry eye in the packed house on opening night.

I am always impressed by the creative team at the Chance Theater and the warm, inclusive, supremely engaged community they have created around live storytelling.  You know from the moment you enter the Chance Theater that this is a very special place.  This is some of the best live theatre in Southern California.  If you have not had the chance yet to visit Chance Theater, make the pilgrimage to Anaheim to see some real magic.

If like me you are coming from out of the area, I recommend arriving early to combine a night out at the Chance Theater with exploring some of the area’s local delights.  You can sample the outrageously delicious restaurants, falafel stands, and baklava bakeries of nearby Little Arabia in West Anaheim (Sababa Falafel Shop deserves its own epic poem).  You can also hug a tree in the only redwood grove in Southern California in Carbon Canyon Park, or enjoy some outdoor music and drinks at nearby downtown Disney.

Photos by Doug Catiller