ONCE in Dublin
On Wednesday night, I went to the Olympia Theatre in Dublin's Temple Bar region to watch ONCE the musical. Once is the story of a tormented Dubliner, a musician, who is about to give up his career in music. "Out of nowhere," a Czech girl walks into the pub and convinces to start playing again as she builds his confidence again. *Cue tormented love story.*I first arrived in Dublin May 06 and I bought my tickets to see the show on May 07... So you can say that I've been excited to see this show for quite some time now! I was not disappointed, not one bit. Some interesting features of the musical are the fact that the cast serves as the orchestra as well, so throughout the show, the characters sit down on the sides of the stage and play the music when they are not acting and that the bar scenery is actually used as a bar at intermission for the audience to buy drinks from! In one scene, the whole cast is on their feet, dancing and singing, all while playing their instruments! It was impressive to watch and a magical experience.
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| The scenery never changes. The bar in the back is used live at intermission. |
What made this experience even more wholesome and special was the fact that the story takes place in Dublin. For example, the opening scene takes place in a pub on Grafton Street- a road I walk down every single day. Had I seen this show before coming to Dublin, I wouldn't have been able to notice the subtleties in the play such as the Cork/Dublin rivalry, the characters' escape to Howth (they never name the place as Howth, but I figured out where they were just by the description of the cliffs and their ability to see the Dublin lights in the distance and the short train journey), the word "hoover," and much more.
I definitely recommend seeing Once if you're in Dublin or if it comes to your neck of the woods!
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