[Review] Once the Musical in Ex Theatre Roppongi

Hello my Lovelies,

Many of you might know that I’m crazy about a lot of things. Two of the things that really top that list are theatre  and anything Irish. Once is basically a dream that came true for me. Stepping into the theatre, my expectation were a little high. Maybe a little too high.

(Photo cred: cassidyshea.com)

So in a nutshell, Once is a story about two very different people with very different vision in life and has very distinct goal in life who had their world collide and made them a better person. The musical is based on a movie of the same title and won an astounding eight out of the 11 Tony it was nominated for in 2012.


This is not the first rendition of Once that I have seen and honestly, after 2 whole years, I was quite disappointed with the outcome of the show. Maybe it was me, or maybe it was the opening night and they were all in a foreign country.

One thing I can say is that they were entertaining enough but there were something lacking from the show itself. Granted they were all in a foreign country, but in my mind, they were all not playing their roles for the first time.

The hugest put off for me was their accent. I love the Irish accent. I have a thing for it and the different accents in Ireland is just so distinctive that in itself it has a personality of its own. It would not piss me off that much if one of the lesser important roles or the minor ones got the accent slightly wrong or even put it off, but when you are the main role, and your accent is the essence of your role and you get it wrong, it really put me off.

Since this is not my first experiencing this particular musical, I would say that Stuart Ward is not my favourite Guy in Once, and he could have done much better with his accent especially, but he is not all bad either. He has one of the best voice for guy I have heard.

Stuart Taylor (Photo cred: Once Musical Japan)

As for the actress who played Girl, Dani de Waal, was not bad, but there were nothing to rave about. Maybe it was because I was already put off by the performance of her opposite role that was barely up to par, but I also found her a little bit pitchy at times. Although it was not entirely her fault for being a little under performed in a quite great supporting cast.

Dani de Wall (Photo cred: Once Musical Japan)

Out of the many great performing supporting casts, one cast member Andy Taylor who played the investment banker was brilliant. His execution was spot on and his accent as well as his voice control was entirely superb. Also, despite being better than the main casts, he certainly did not over shine either of them. He was well aware of his stage position as well as his light.

Andy Taylor (Photo cred: Once Musical Japan)

Although the show was not all bad though, the ensemble musical ability was great as well as their particular reaction when they had no lines. The songs were good and the story line is brilliant.

All in all I would give this particular rendition of Once the Musical a pity six stars out of ten (6/10) just for the beautiful songs and the good performance by the supporting casts. To experience this show for yourself, this musical is currently showing until the 14th of December of 2014 at Ex theatre in Ropponggi. 

Love and kisses,

GWRL