Matt Mueller and Dana Saleh Omar in “Once” at Writers Theatre/Photo: Saverio Truglia
RECOMMENDED
Fantasy landscapes and historical events are great to build a show around, but sometimes it seems even more fantastical when theater so acutely captures real life—and real emotions. “Once” at Writers Theatre in Glencoe does just that and more.
The heartfelt story by playwright Enda Walsh is a classic archetype, that of two tempest-tossed individuals who cling to one another like shipwrecked castaways. Guy (Matt Mueller) lives in a small apartment above a vacuum-cleaner repair shop in Dublin, Ireland, with his Da (Ron E. Rains), and shows no ambition after his girlfriend leaves him to live in New York City. Czech expatriate Girl (Dana Saleh Omar) is abandoned in Dublin by her husband and now lives with her mother Baruska (Bethany Thomas), daughter Ivonka (Viva Boresi) and three roommates—Reza (Elisa Carlson), Svec (Lucas Looch Johnson) and Andrej (Liam Oh).
The common crux between Guy and Girl is music. After hearing him pour his guts out on a lonely street corner, she is determined to get him to record. “I don’t want to be Bono,” he tells her. But she insists, telling him how full of love his music is and that people need to hear it. “Are you serious?” he asks. “I’m Czech,” she replies, “I’m always serious.”
The spin on the traditional boy-meets-girl archetype is in the witty ways that Girl tricks Guy into participating in life again. She gradually builds him up but defensively remains at arm’s length, unconsciously teasing him.
Finally, she convinces him to record. They build a band with her three roommates, a local bank manager (Yuchi Chiu), and a belligerent music store owner, Billy (Matt Edmonds). What they create is magic in musical form. The music is such an integral part of the characters’ story that every transition in and out of song makes absolute sense as to why they are singing.
Matt Mueller (Guy) leads the cast in “Gold” by Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová in “Once” at Writers Theatre/Photo: Michael Brosilow
The entire show is performed with the musicians—who double as the characters—sitting around the stage and swelling into scenes at key moments. This format makes it feel like everything is taking place at a traditional music seisiún at the local Irish pub—kudos to music director Matt Deitchman.
The soulful songs of Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová retain their grittiness and are reproduced with great care. All the hits from the 2007 film soundtrack are here: “Falling Slowly,” “When Your Mind’s Made Up,” “If You Want Me,” “Once,” “Leave,” “Gold.”
The atmosphere created by director and choreographer Katie Spelman and her production staff feels like the genuine happenings of a random town square in Dublin. Upon entering the theater your ears are filled with the sound of twelve musicians on acoustic instruments, singing their hearts out in four-part harmony to classic and traditional songs such as Irish folk song “Whiskey In The Jar” and “Dreams” by the Cranberries. They move in geometric patterns (while singing and playing!) over a cross-hatched, red and black brick road, accurate in aesthetic to actual streets in Dublin.
Every so often, you run into a show that has that perfect combination of heart, soul, wit, integrity and fantastic music. “Once” at Writers Theatre is one of those shows.
“Once” at Writers Theatre, 325 Tudor Court, Glencoe, writerstheatre.org, (847)242-6000. Through April 16.
Drill Team: A Review of "This Is Only A Test" at Broken Nose Theatre On January 29, 1979, a sixteen-year-old in San Diego, California opened fire on Cleveland Elementary School, killing two and wounding nine. I was a senior in high school at the time, about the same age as the shooter. Yet I have no recollection of hearing about it, either on the news or in my school. I learned about it later,…
