{"id":111200,"date":"2026-02-21T09:48:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T17:48:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/copy-of-mbutterfly\/"},"modified":"2026-02-21T15:23:28","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T23:23:28","slug":"once","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forallevents.com\/reviews\/once\/","title":{"rendered":"Once"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/a><\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\n<\/a>A guitar. A glance. A pub ceiling lit by hanging whiskey bottles.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

When I walked into Berkeley Playhouse, I looked up before I looked at the stage.<\/span><\/p>\n

Whiskey bottles hung from the ceiling, catching the light like amber constellations. Below them, musicians were already in place \u2014 tuning, testing, beginning. The room didn\u2019t feel like it was about to start. It felt like it had already begun.<\/span><\/p>\n

Then a guitar line slipped into the air.\u00a0<\/span>I felt myself lean forward.<\/span><\/p>\n

Guy repairs vacuum cleaners by day and sings on Dublin streets by night. His songs carry the echo of a recent heartbreak. He performs them as though he\u2019s still deciding how much of himself to reveal.<\/span><\/p>\n

Then Girl hears him.\u00a0<\/span>She doesn\u2019t applaud politely \u2014\u00a0she listens.<\/span><\/p>\n

She sits at the piano and complements his melody \u2014 completing phrases he leaves suspended, filling emotional spaces he hasn\u2019t quite dared to name. I could feel the shift the moment her notes joined his.<\/span><\/p>\n

In Once, music isn\u2019t background. It\u2019s oxygen.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What begins as encouragement becomes collaboration.<\/span><\/p>\n

They rehearse. A violin joins. A drum answers. One musician becomes several. A band forms right in front of us. Together they prepare for a recording session in London \u2014 an opportunity that feels both exciting and fragile.<\/span><\/p>\n

As the music deepens, so does their connection \u2014 layered, restrained, unmistakable.<\/span><\/p>\n

Both carry responsibilities. Both sense possibility.<\/span><\/p>\n

That tension hums beneath every harmony.<\/span><\/p>\n

Midway through a duet, I stopped observing and simply listened. The theater felt suspended \u2014 two voices aligning, two lives quietly pivoting.<\/span><\/p>\n

No spectacle. Just something true.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n

From Indie Film to Stage<\/p>\n

This story began as the 2007 film written and directed by John Carney, starring musicians Glen Hansard and Mark\u00e9ta Irglov\u00e1. The song \u201cFalling Slowly\u201d went on to win the Academy Award.<\/p>\n

The stage adaptation, with a book by Enda Walsh, carried that intimacy to Broadway and won 8 Tony Awards, including Best Musical.<\/p>\n

What remains constant is the heartbeat: music as turning point.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Why This Production Works<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Director Josh Marx lets the story breathe. Music Director Michael Patrick Wiles keeps the sound alive and immediate. Choreographer Erin Rose Solorio shapes movement that feels discovered rather than arranged.<\/span><\/p>\n

What struck me particularly was the ensemble.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is a large cast of musician-actors \u2014 and they are uniformly strong at both. They don\u2019t switch between \u201cacting\u201d and \u201cplaying.\u201d They live in both simultaneously. A character delivers a line and flows directly into a fiddle phrase. Someone crosses the stage and becomes percussion. Storytelling and musicianship move as one.<\/span><\/p>\n

That dual fluency elevates the evening. Energy circulates constantly. Transitions feel organic, almost inevitable.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sitting beneath those hanging whiskey bottles, I felt surrounded by collaboration \u2014 not theatrical display, but shared creation.<\/span><\/p>\n

Some connections arrive quietly \u2014 and rearrange everything.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

By the final moments, I wasn\u2019t watching a romance conclude. I was watching two people step into clarity \u2014 shaped by the music they created together.<\/span><\/p>\n

I walked out feeling as though I\u2019d been allowed to witness something private.<\/span><\/p>\n

A song can open a door. What you do next is the story.<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n

How to See It \/ Get Tickets<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Julia Morgan Theater<\/span>
\n2640 College Ave<\/span>
\nBerkeley, CA<\/span><\/p>\n

February 20 \u2013 March 15<\/span>
\nApprox. 2 hours 30 minutes (including intermission)<\/span><\/p>\n

Tickets: $19\u2013$66<\/span>
\nBox Office: (510) 845-8542<\/span>
\nberkeleyplayhouse.org<\/span><\/p>\n

Reserve early for immersive seating and weekend performances.<\/span><\/p>\n

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