The musical Once, which premiered on Broadway in 2012 and later enjoyed a successful run in London's West End, has arrived at Pitlochry festival theatre. This production, directed by John Tiffany, is a remount that brings back the original creative team to open Alan Cumming's debut season as artistic director. Based on the 2007 film by John Carney, with a book by Enda Walsh and songs by Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová, Once is an anti-musical in the truest sense. It defies the typical razzmatazz of Broadway, offering instead a stripped-down, folksy atmosphere that is both intimate and melancholic.
A Low-Key Pleasure
The production is set in a barroom designed by Bob Crowley, featuring scuffed mirrors, wooden panelling, and gloomy corners. The preshow includes a singalong, and the ensemble of actor-musicians muck in without fanfare. The songs are maudlin, and the story is depressive, written on the wind. More than once, the musical threatens to erupt into a rousing showstopper, but it resists, maintaining a quiet, stately confidence. Even the movement sequences by Steven Hoggett owe everything to the angularity of physical theatre, far removed from the high-kicking spirit of A Chorus Line.
Story and Performances
The narrative follows a lovelorn Dublin busker, played by Dylan Wood, who is dragged out of disillusionment by a brusque young woman from the Czech Republic, portrayed by Lydia White. She is also at a romantic crossroads. Their interaction is enough to make him pick up his guitar again and nearly, but not quite, strike up a relationship with her. The story is short on peaks of passion, and with so little at stake, the minor change of fortune feels more relieving than elating. The bittersweet ending is emotionally true, even if the brooding show is an autumnal way to kick off a summer season.
Musical and Direction
The music, rhythmically complex and sensitively arranged by Martin Lowe, bubbles up organically. The production has a pleasing slickness and economy of means, with the confidence to be silent or stately. While Once may be a low-key pleasure, welcoming the audience in instead of cajoling, it remains the most reluctant of musicals. The show runs at Pitlochry festival theatre until 27 June.
