[NEohioPAL] Review of "Once" at the Beck Center for the Arts

[Bob Abelman]

‘Once’ at the Beck Center entrances but does not transport 



Bob Abelman

Cleveland Jewish News, The News Herald, The Morning Journal

  

“Once” is a romantic piece of storytelling so unassuming that “Once upon a time” is too pretentious a preamble.  And its melancholic tale of star-crossed love is so universal that the young, working-class dreamers at its center are identified only as “Guy” and “Girl.”



Based on the 2007 Indie movie by John Carney, this multiple Tony Award-winning musical composed by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova revolves around a disheartened young street musician who is grieving over the loss of a girl, the lack of commercial prospects for his folk-rock songwriting, and the isolation of living with his Da above their tiny repair shop in Dublin, Ireland. 



The show opens with him singing one of his gorgeous, angst-filled Irish anthems, throwing away his guitar pick when the song is through, and walking away from his guitar and his music forever.  That is, until he is stopped in his tracks by a young Czech immigrant who is so blindly optimistic about his potential that she reinstates his passion for music and is so absolutely adorable that he rediscovers love.  But they are unable to act on their feelings toward each other because she is married to a man no longer in her heart and he is still connected to the woman who left. 



What makes “Once” more than just another romantic tale of despondency is the absolutely charming way the story is told.  Its creators threw away the elaborate production values they did not need and amplified the theatricality in everything they did.



For more of this article, go to www.clevelandjewishnews.com/columnists/bob_abelman/
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