Once – the Musical

I cannot believe this play was nominated for 11 Tonys. It was enjoyable, but not spectacular. This was so hyped that I was really expecting something special. I didn’t get that experience. The story was a snooze.

Once offers a unique take to broadway musicals that is lively and very fresh!
It connects the stage to the audience and is rooted from Irish pub theme!
It’s a fair and romantic musical, so I recommend it’s more for the date rather than with family! A good outing, nonetheless!

Sorry, I wanted to love it. Save your money and watch it in NYC! You will need to be able to read lips in order to understand what’s being said. I loved the NYC show so much that I brought my friends to the SF opening. I had to apologize the entire night and explain the premise.

Oh boy! Quite a disappointment. I only know the movie and it is much better than this act. Perhaps if I never saw the movie I might like it a little bit more. Generally not a well done play. Only one very basic set during the entire musical and we mezzanine seat for $ 110 each!

I saw Once in New York and it was wonderful. Saw it again 2 days ago and there was no comparison. The New York show was so much better. One of my biggest complaints is the sound quality. I could hardly hear most of the show. First I thought it was just my hearing, but the 9 others I was with felt the same way. When they sang the volume was fine, but when they spoke it was so soft and the Irish accents were pretty darn hard to understand. It was a good thing I had seen the play before and watched the movie twice to know what it was about. If I hadn’t, I would never have known what the heck was going on. I’m wondering why the couple sitting next to me never came back after the intermission.
I did enjoy the two leads. Their voices were great when they sang.
The bathroom situation is a joke!

Yawn!
For all the hype and awards this musical has garnered, we had high expectations. Except for one amazing jam session in the second act, this musical is lacking. The cast and musicians are excellent but the material they have to work with is boring. The story line doesn’t go anywhere, there are no costume or set changes, and what little choreography there is was amateurish. Many of the attendees in our group nodded off. Located in an Irish bar, the show could have been livened up with a little river dancing! The one fun part of the evening is before the show when the audience may go on stage to buy drinks (Irish whiskey and Guinness at premium prices) while many of the cast members warm up their instruments. Don’t waste your money on the musical, rent the movie.

Attended this show on June 17, 2014 at the Curran theater in SF. I like broadway shows, but this was not a broadway show. More like watching my friend’s band play at a bar with some dialogue in between songs. This show was so slow and boring. I couldn’t even bring myself to clap after most numbers. We couldn’t hear or understand much of the dialogue through their mumbling accents. The dialogue basically alternated between quiet mumbling, out of place slapstick jokes, and loud over-​over-​over-​dramatic yelling. And the stuff they were yelling about was ridiculous («My girlfriend move to New York and I miss her! and I’ve met this married woman two days ago who I like, but she wants to work things out with her husband! So I’m just going to cry and throw a tantrum to try and squeeze tears out of an audience member.») There was no theater magic — no costumes, no sets, no lighting effects (unless you count the one scene where used a blue light to make it look like they were outside), no cool trapdoor/​stunt double/​anything. No action at all, a couple weird dances. Again, it was a essentially like watching a band play at a bar with some dialogue in between — all the songs for the most part were the same style, and if like me you do not care for that style, the «concert» was pretty lame.