The touring company of another Broadway hit has landed at the Majestic Theater, and I was able to speak with its star. The show is the musical Once, and its star is Alex Nee.
“Once is the story of an Irish singer/songwriter who’s about to give up all his hopes and dreams, and he meets this Czech immigrant girl who sparks something within him and turns his life around and forces him to face his dreams and follow them,” Nee explains.
If that sounds familiar, you may remember a surprise hit movie of the same name starring Glen Hansard. Its biggest song, "Falling Slowly," won an Academy Award.
“It’s pretty stunning. Something just about the sheer simplicity of that song really gets people. It’s a really powerful piece.”
There’s something else that sets this Broadway smash apart--the music is being made in front of you.
“Everything that you’re hearing in the theater is being played live, it’s being played acoustically, and you’re seeing it onstage being played. It’s very real.”
As Nee explains, the play’s set spawns yet another interesting twist.
“If you get to the theater early, we play music onstage and anyone from the audience is allowed to come up onstage and get a drink from the bar; it’s a working Irish pub. And it really feels like an intimate, raucous Irish pub setting.”
Once plays through Sunday at the Majestic. Read more here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUKzDPMurCc
