Once – Phoenix Theatre

It has taken me a while to see ‘Once’ Not that I didn’t want to, I did, I had seen the film and loved it. Something always got in the way. However having see the cast’s performance at the Olivier Awards, I knew that it had to be done soon.

The chance came when a friend and I were in town seeing Relative Values, we had time to kill in the daytime. We bought matinee tickets and headed to the Phoenix, upon arriving at the theatre we had the chance to upgrade our tickets to VIP which we did. Private lounge, own waiter – just the way to spend a Thurs afternoon 🙂

Before the show and during the interval there is the opportunity to have a drink on stage which is decked out as a bar in Ireland. Great fun! As we were having our cheeky drink and marvelling at the theatre the ensemble come on stage and sing a few songs before the show starts. Fantastic, you don’t know whether to dance along or look mildly embarrassed as the rest of the audience look at you.

There was I wishing that I had put ‘be on a West End Stage’ on my 101in1001 list.

For those who have not seen the film it is a simply a love story, a Guy meets a Girl, there is mutual attraction, there are complications, there is music and there is song, the set is simple, the cast amazingly talented and seeing it staged gives it a beautiful edge.

The music and lyrics written by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova are from the heart, there is no orchestra or elaborate set change, all the cast play accoustic instruments on stage as part of the show. Makes you want to be in Ireland.

There has been a cast change since I saw it. I saw Arthur Darvill, and was very pleasantly surprised at his voice aand playing (my children, stark Dr Who fans refuse to believe me) and the absolutely MARVELLOUS Zrinka Cvitesic who stole the show from her very first scene.

Currently Guy is played by Ronan Keating @ronanoffical and Girl is played by Jill Winternitz @jillwinternitz    just another excuse to see it again!

I would recommend this production to anyone wanting a gentle sad love story, prehaps even to those who don’t like musicals as the play incorporates the music effortlessly.
I wouldn’t recommend this to those who like ‘big’ musicals, jazz hands massive showtunes.

Incidently a friend of mine saw it last week and hadn’t seen the film, and was blown away! I urge you if you haven’t seen the film yet, don’t. Go and see the show first.

Video

 Arthur Darvill and Zrinka Cvitesic – Falling Slowly

Official London Trailer

More videos on their You tube channel OnceMusicalLondon

and a HILARIOUS one for their West End Eurovision Ident featuring the infamous @westendproducer – Love it and voted for it 🙂

Official Website:   http://www.oncemusical.co.uk/

 

Facebook: Click here

Twitter Feed: Click here

The Cast I saw

Guy	Arthur Darvill	@rattyburvil
Girl	Zrinka Cvitesic	@CZrinka
Baruska	Fiona Bruce
Da	Mark Carlisle
Emcee	Jamie Cameron
Svec	Matthew Ganley
Andrej	Mathew Hamper
Eamon	Daniel Healey
Ex Girlfriend	Maria Parvin
Billy	Tim Prottey-Jones
Reza	Loren O’Dair	@Lorenodair
Bank Manager	Jez Unwin
Ivanka	Juliana Cotton/Demi Lee/Gemma Loader/Ruby Payne

Director	John Tiffany
Music and Lyrics	Glen Hansard / Marketa Irglova
Book	Enda Walsh
Scenic and Costume Designer	Bob Crowley
Lighting Designer	Natasha Katz
Sound Designer	Clive Goodwin
Associate Director	Ros Coombes
Music Orchestrations	Martin Lowe

Don’t take my word for it here is what other people said:

****(*) London Theatre

**** West End Whingers

**** Michael Billington – The Guardian
*** Charles Spencer – The Telegraph

Ticketmaster Reviews

To find our what people are saying on twitter: Tweets about “@oncemusicalLDN”

 

Watched @OnceMusicalLDN Tonight, Beautiful! What an exceptionally talented cast! So moving!

— Carly Thoms (@CarlyThoms) May 19, 2014

Gallery

Tickets

Tickets Range from £22 to £97.50 and currently are readily available.

 

Have you seen ‘Once’, did you like it? I would love to hear your views.

 

And a couple of photos from me.