by Terrance Mc Arthur
Once.
It’s a word that starts things happening. Once upon a time. Once a (something), always a (something). Once is enough. Once is not enough.
Once is a 2011 Tony-winning musical play, based on a 2007 Oscar-winning musical Irish film, now performing as a CenterStage Clovis production through October 14 at the Clovis Veterans Memorial District Auditorium.
It’s an unusual play. The orchestra is not on stage with the actors; the orchestra IS the actors…AND the singers…AND the dancers, all in one. The story ends, but it doesn’t have an ending. This is a story about being in love…with someone else.
In Dublin’s fair city, a Guy (Ted Nunes) meets a Girl (Carly Oliver) from Czechoslovakia just as he is about to give up music and street performing. She meets his Da (Michael Buckman; “Da” is the Irish for “Dad”) and he meets her mother (Kate McKnight). With help from the Girl, the Guy gets funding from a bank manager (Thomas Hayes) and puts together a band to make a demo CD with a local producer/engineer (Mason Lamb). With the CD in hand, he can go to New York City, where a former love lives, and try to get a recording contract, but there is more to the plot than that, and it’s best appreciated live.
Guy (Ted Nunes) and Girl (Carly Oliver)
Most of the songs were written by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, who starred as Guy and Girl in the original film. The music pours out from a 22-piece orchestra (and young Maddie Tharp, who waves a mean ribbon), enveloping the audience in rich sound, because the orchestra is everybody in the show, and the orchestra acts, and the orchestra sings, and the orchestra dances—onstage, off-stage, in the audience, and along the walls of the theatre. This show is inescapable, and you won’t want to escape. Lamb ties the music together as Music director, and Judith Dickison takes vocal direction to amazing heights. The cast/orchestra/group is filled with talented drama teachers, music teachers, percussionists, a video game music arranger, a Grammy winner, a singer-songwriter, grade school/high school/college students, and a marvelous group of multi-instrumental siblings who often perform professionally as The Gilly Girls.
Nunes is a powerful presence on local stages, playing everything from Wild Bill Hickock to a narcissistic, bad-boy dentist. Here, he gives a gentle Irishness and a warm folksiness to his tender songs. Oliver is lovely, with a winning voice, a delicate accent, and a sardonic twist to wise counsel as she leads Guy from giving up to giving more.
Kate McKnight is joyous as the Girl’s mother, honest in emotions and quick in evaluations. Kyle Dodson is wacky as the music store owner who welcomes the Girl and is suspicious of Guy, yet he becomes a willing supporter of the quest for music…and he has some interesting martial arts moves. Buckman is winningly crusty as the man who lives upstairs from his hoover shop (vacuum cleaner repair) after his wife died. The always-effervescent Camille Gaston is a sexy second-language English student who always gets what she wants.
Hayes plays a straitlaced banker who busts loose when he picks up a guitar, a treat to watch. Lex Martin waxes mercurial as his character shoots from upwardly ambitious to fatalistic. Michael Cross as Svec is a beast on the drums, especially when fueled by an overdose of caffeine. Lamb’s calm demeaner centers the recording scenes, and he is a dynamo in the preshow Celtic Jam that gives star-time to all the musical cast.
Directing a show of such power and emotion is quite a task, and Darren Tharp rises to the occasion. Erin Roberts’ explosive choreography brings dance to musicians who usually sit, turning the sedentary into swirling Lindsey Sterlings. S. Eric Day and Dan Aldape combine set and projection design, taking the eye in a tour of Ireland and into the heart and homes of Dublin.
I didn’t know much about Once, and I resisted seeing it, but I am now a fan. There aren’t many performances left. Go. See it.
The Clovis Veterans Memorial District Auditorium is at 808 Fourth St., Clovis, CA. For tickets, contact CenterStage Clovis Community Theatre at centerstageclovis.com or (559) 323-8744.
If you love local theatre, be sure to check out Mysteryrat’s Maze Podcast, which features mysteries read by local actors. You can find the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, and also on podbean.
Check out more theatre reviews & other local entertainment articles in our Arts & Entertainment section. You can also find more theatre coming up on KRL’s Local Theatre event page.
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