Once at PTC

When I saw the Broadway touring production of Once several years ago, I didn't know anything about the musical.  However, it quickly became one of my favorites because of the bittersweet love story and the incredibly beautiful music!  So I was thrilled to see PTC's version last night and I fell in love with the show all over again!  A Guy (Roderick Lawrence) is singing one of his songs on the street in Dublin when a Girl (Hillary Porter) hears him and strikes up a conversation.  She really likes his song but he tells her that he wants to give up on music because all of his songs were written about a girl who left him to go to New York.  She encourages him to sing more of his songs and eventually helps him record a demo.  He begins to have feelings for her and tells her that he may have written the songs for another girl but now he is singing them for her.  She knows that she needs to reconcile with her estranged husband for the sake of her daughter and that he needs to go to New York to play his music for his former girlfriend so she convinces him to go.  If you have ever had someone come into your life for just a brief moment but have a profound impact on it then this story will break your heart.  I had tears streaming down my face at the end.   The staging of this show is quite different from the Broadway version but I really liked the use of the turntable and the guitar motif.  The entire cast is unbelievably talented (all of the secondary characters in the show play a variety of instruments live on stage) but I was especially impressed with both Porter and Lawrence (I really loved Lawrence in this role).  They have beautiful voices and are outstanding musicians (piano and guitar, respectively).  Their renditions of my three favorite songs, "Falling Slowly," "If You Want Me," and "Gold," gave me goosebumps!  This just might be my very favorite production by PTC!  There is quite a bit of profanity (they are Irish, after all) but if you are not bothered by that I highly recommend this wonderful show (go here for tickets) which runs through March 2.