Hey everyone, hope you're all well. I'm a bit bunged up with cold but still
surviving as I've had a fabulous time the past few days seeing Once and Rocky
Horror. So let’s get started with Once...
I was lucky enough to win a pair of tickets to this back in October...Yay!
As soon as I'd found out this I'd invited my friend, Rob, who was the guy who'd
introduced me to the music so it seemed obvious to ask. Well, since October
we'd been planning and getting rather excited and finally the day, 21st March,
came along.
So after spending the morning with my drama group at uni I hot footed it to
the train station to get to London before catching a taxi to the hotel. As I
arrived and got out of the taxi the doorman came over and collected my bags so
they could be taken up to the room...the life of luxury had begun!
I, then, rather excitedly, went up to the room (Room 1191 of the Park Plaza
Hotel Westminster Bridge with a view out on the Houses of Parliament and the
London Eye!) as I couldn't wait to see it and the view...oh and Rob as well :p.
So after greeting each other, a quick chat about Priscilla (well what do expect
when you put two massive Priscilla fans in a room together!?!), unpacking and
getting ready for the evening out we were ready to go to dinner so off we
headed to Maxwell’s in Covent Garden where we had a lovely meal with the
accompaniment of a cocktail.
It was now time to head off to the theatre as we wanted to get there early
so as to collect the tickets (still praying at this point it wasn't a scam as I
never win anything!) and get chance to grab a drink on stage! Well, after a bit
of confusion at the box office we managed to get the tickets and found we were
sat in Row O9-10. Although a bit far back these seats had a really good view
and didn't have the usual problem of the stage being obscured by the Dress
Circle overhang. The leg room on these seats was, also, amazing; I don't think
I've ever been in a theatre with that much leg room before!
However, before sitting down we decided to go try out the stage bar. A word
of warning here if you want to have this experience you have to buy your drinks
from the selection on the stage and not from the theatre bar. This is because
along with your drink you get a very nice sealed cup with the Once logo written
on it. Additionally, the drinks are quite expensive but as I just said you do
get a Once cup that you get to keep as well, however, you can only use cash for
the stage bar so come prepared! During this part the cast came on and played
some good old Irish folk songs which set the atmosphere and was a really nice
touch. Soon it was time to take our seats as the show was about to begin.
It was quite strange to begin with as we weren't quite sure whether the show
had started as the audience went deadly silent but the house lights were still
up. After a while though they went down so we knew the show had properly begun
then.
So what did I think...well the music was superb; very beautiful with a
magical, ethereal quality.
The casting was superb with each one playing an instrument and performing.
Declan Bennett (Guy) and Zrinka Cvitešié (Girl) were fantastic as the leads
with beautiful voices, amazing acting and magical playing. Flora
Spencer-Longhurst (Reza) was by far my favourite member of the rest of the cast
(although they were all brilliant she just stood out for me) and the girl we
had playing Ivanka (Girl's daughter) was excellent and very cute as well.
As mentioned, all the cast play an instrument so act as the band as well as
the characters. This was a really nice touch and added to the simplicity of the
show. This simplicity was continued into the set as well which was basically an
Irish pub that was altered with tables, chairs, a Hoover and a piano.
The story line was, also, incredibly simple and in my opinion not very
strong. The story was based on the relationship between Guy and Girl and the
relationships they'd had in the past. There was, additionally, a heavy focus on
the music which seemed to be the driving force behind the show.
Overall, both Rob and I enjoyed the show but said that it was something that
we probably wouldn't see again. However, I think if you're a Phantom or Les Mis
fan you will absolutely fall in love with Once and if you're into simplistic
beauty rather than big, dramatic, flashy showbiz then this is definitely your
show. I would rather agree with the quote by the director, John Tiffany, in the
programme, 'It's not really what you would call the realm of musical theatre,
but it's beautiful story telling.'.
After seeing the show we headed out to Balans (if you're regular readers
you'll know how much I love this place) for my favourite cocktail ever; a
Pornstar. Then it was back to the hotel for us as we needed a relatively early
night (yes 1am is early!) as the next day was going to be just as busy!
I'll leave you with a picture of the theatre taken by my fellow blogger Naomi, who went to see the show on Friday (please check her blog out here), as it was raining when Rob and I left the theatre so it wasn't the best picture taking conditions.
I hope you enjoyed reading about my trip to see Once. Have any of you seen
the show? If so what did you think? I'd love to hear from you either by
commenting below or by tweeting me at @GreenGirlsRox.
Love you lots
Kat
Xx
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