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Lamb's Players Theater: Once more, with feeling
Coronado theater brings back most of the cast from its 2018 production
Once: The songs are the story.
Lamb’s Players Theater scored a hit in 2018 with its production of Once, and has brought nearly the entire cast back for another run at it, lo these seven years later. Let’s take a gander at what Jeff Smith, my predecessor here at the Reader, wrote back then, shall we?
“The musical, based on the 2007 sleeper hit film, tells a classic boy-meets-girl story. Set in Dublin, he's an Irish busker who's lost his way. She's a Czech immigrant inspired by his songs and intent on fixing him. They've both been battered by love, but fall nonetheless. Kerry Meads leads this intimate and impressive production at Lamb's, with lighting and choreography well serving the various moods and music, from folk rock and ballads to Czech and Irish folk songs. As the would-be lovers, Michael Louis Cusimano and especially Katie Grady, lend their lovely, soulful voices and stand out among a multi-talented cast who play many instruments on stage. There's some corniness and humor that doesn't hit the mark. But never mind. Once is more concert than story, and Lamb's puts on one helluva concert.”
Working backwards in conversation with that fine take: I get what Smith means when he calls it “more concert than story.” But that’s a charge I’d sooner lay at the feet of something like last year’s The Ballad of Johnny and June at La Jolla Playhouse. Here, the songs are the story; music is life for these folks (the leads, sure, but not just the leads). And Guy’s music tells Girl who he is and what he wants. She responds accordingly, not so much Manic Pixie Dream Girl as Slavic Driven Reality Woman, and away we go. Plus, the meaning of those songs changes as the story progresses. Even the presentation of the music is tied up with the shape of the proceedings, with players and singers sounding off from all corners. Still, it is one helluva concert: the a capella reprise of the swoony “Gold” is properly ethereal and gorgeous. (He’s right about the corniness and humor, though.)
And while I don’t to take anything away from Grady’s smoldering stoicism, I think I’d give the “especially” to Cusimano now. Guy’s croon-to-caterwaul style requires serious command of the instrument; it’s easy to let things get out of control at certain volumes. He doesn’t oversell anything — despair, fear, love, confusion — but he absolutely does sell them.
Where we really differ is in the characterization of Once as a classic boy-meets-girl story. I’d argue that its dramatic staying power lies precisely in the way it strays from the standard romantic path. Finally, I can't believe he didn't mention Kent Brisby's Da, a masterpiece of gushing Irish sentiment choked off by crushing Irish reticence.
It’s always fun to be in conversation with another critic, and for those who enjoyed the show back in 2018, I imagine it would be fun to see the show in conversation with itself. Nobody, on stage or in the audience, is as young as they were seven years ago. The revival feels like a rare opportunity to see how both the show and the performances hit differently this time around.
Here's something you might be interested in.
Lamb's Players Theater: Once more, with feeling
Coronado theater brings back most of the cast from its 2018 production
Lamb's Players Theater: Once more, with feeling
Coronado theater brings back most of the cast from its 2018 production
Once: The songs are the story.
Lamb’s Players Theater scored a hit in 2018 with its production of Once, and has brought nearly the entire cast back for another run at it, lo these seven years later. Let’s take a gander at what Jeff Smith, my predecessor here at the Reader, wrote back then, shall we?
“The musical, based on the 2007 sleeper hit film, tells a classic boy-meets-girl story. Set in Dublin, he's an Irish busker who's lost his way. She's a Czech immigrant inspired by his songs and intent on fixing him. They've both been battered by love, but fall nonetheless. Kerry Meads leads this intimate and impressive production at Lamb's, with lighting and choreography well serving the various moods and music, from folk rock and ballads to Czech and Irish folk songs. As the would-be lovers, Michael Louis Cusimano and especially Katie Grady, lend their lovely, soulful voices and stand out among a multi-talented cast who play many instruments on stage. There's some corniness and humor that doesn't hit the mark. But never mind. Once is more concert than story, and Lamb's puts on one helluva concert.”
Working backwards in conversation with that fine take: I get what Smith means when he calls it “more concert than story.” But that’s a charge I’d sooner lay at the feet of something like last year’s The Ballad of Johnny and June at La Jolla Playhouse. Here, the songs are the story; music is life for these folks (the leads, sure, but not just the leads). And Guy’s music tells Girl who he is and what he wants. She responds accordingly, not so much Manic Pixie Dream Girl as Slavic Driven Reality Woman, and away we go. Plus, the meaning of those songs changes as the story progresses. Even the presentation of the music is tied up with the shape of the proceedings, with players and singers sounding off from all corners. Still, it is one helluva concert: the a capella reprise of the swoony “Gold” is properly ethereal and gorgeous. (He’s right about the corniness and humor, though.)
And while I don’t to take anything away from Grady’s smoldering stoicism, I think I’d give the “especially” to Cusimano now. Guy’s croon-to-caterwaul style requires serious command of the instrument; it’s easy to let things get out of control at certain volumes. He doesn’t oversell anything — despair, fear, love, confusion — but he absolutely does sell them.
Where we really differ is in the characterization of Once as a classic boy-meets-girl story. I’d argue that its dramatic staying power lies precisely in the way it strays from the standard romantic path. Finally, I can't believe he didn't mention Kent Brisby's Da, a masterpiece of gushing Irish sentiment choked off by crushing Irish reticence.
It’s always fun to be in conversation with another critic, and for those who enjoyed the show back in 2018, I imagine it would be fun to see the show in conversation with itself. Nobody, on stage or in the audience, is as young as they were seven years ago. The revival feels like a rare opportunity to see how both the show and the performances hit differently this time around.
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