"Once"... twice

One of my greatest pleasures since moving to Rochester has been joining the board of Geva Theatre. And one of the myriad benefits is learning the lineup of the next season’s shows at the board meeting that directly precedes the season announcement. Last year, when Mark Cuddy unveiled the list, he asked if anyone had seen Once. Not one hand went up. In a group of avid theatregoers, that was remarkable, especially for a show that had won Tony’s for best musical, best book of a musical, best actor in a musical, best direction of a musical, as well as best orchestration, scenic design, lighting design, and sound design. As he began to describe the plot, it dawned on me I had actually seen it – at RBTL (in 2014). It obviously hadn’t made an impression on me! That made me curious to see the show at Geva, to observe whether it would be a different experience.

And it was.

It is always a relief when musical theatre is cast with trained musical actors (instead of actors who also sort of sing... Catherine Zeta-Jones and Glenn Close come to mind...). And it is awe-inspiring when those actors also play instruments. And real instruments, like the violin and cello and drums. Oh, and dance. Because musical theatre usually involves choreography, as well. No standing at the apron operatically declaiming. 

Geva’s Once did not disappoint. The actors were all extremely talented, and the staging was simple and effective. It’s a Guy meets Girl story (literally – those are the names of the main characters), but with a bittersweet ending - much as in real life. My first favorite moment was near the beginning, when the three ensemble women sang a song in Czech, because I have adored the harmonies and style of Eastern European music (to make a Western-ear generalization...) since my first introduction to the Bulgarian State Radio and Television Female Vocal Choir almost four decades ago. And my last favorite moment was near the end, when the company sang “Gold” (a cappella). The contrast from the rest of the string-accompanied pieces was powerful, and made even more moving by the song’s dynamics, or rather lack thereof – the entire piece is sung piano, and requires the audience to respond in kind, and kind of lean in. And we did. 

I tried to think about why I responded differently to this production than the one I had seen several years ago, and while I can’t recall the quality of acting or staging then, I do note one big contrast. The Auditorium Theatre seats 2400 – that’s larger than the largest Broadway house by 650, or almost 40%. You could fit all of Geva’s 522 seats in that difference. And that makes all the difference. At Geva, the experience is more intimate. There isn’t one seat from which you cannot see the actors’ expressions. There’s a special connection that’s made between actors and an audience when they can actually see and hear each other, and that opportunity doesn’t exist in a cavernous theatre.

I am sure that my memory of this production will last longer than six years. As long as my general memory remains healthy that long!