[Review] Once the Musical in Phoenix Theatre, London

Hello my Lovelies,

Within three months, I have seen three different rendition of this musical. I cannot stress as how much I love this rendition not only because of how surprised I was at how good ‘Guy’ was at being ‘Guy’ and how awesome the whole cast was on stage.

(Photo cred: cassidyshea.com)

Being back at where it all started and a proper Irish man playing an Irish singer/songwriter, I was not only amazed by how great the performance was but I was also surprised at how amazing the chemistry amongst the cast was. As I am typing this review, my hands literally could not catch up with the speed of which my brain is forming words.

Being in London is one thing and being able to see a dream is another. I am telling you what I saw on stage that day was not a musical play. It was not a play of any sorts; it was certainly a dream in a dream. It was a dream that I have dreamt of for a long while.

I do not know where to start with the amazingness of this dream. The vibration of the voice, the fluid of their motion and the sting of their emotion has just the perfect balance to the nuclei. I seriously does not have one bit of complaint for this show except that Ronan Keating just took the place of Arthur Darvill as the perfect ‘Guy’ in my heart.

Ronan Keating (Photo cred: Once Musical London)

Watching Mr Darvill not two years ago on this very same stage took my breath away but seeing Mr Keating on as the lost singer/song writer from Dublin just had that grip on my heart that kept on squeezing on it and made it skip more than a few beats. Not only it took my breath but also my sanity away. And this being his West End debut, he was just brilliant.

Arthur Darvill (Photo cred: Broadway.com)

The last two rendition of Once that I saw in Japan, obviously could not even touch this one and I kept on rambling about Mr Ward’s accent for being to false, for this one, obviously Mr Keating is a Dubliner and when his voice is as sultry when he speak as he was singing. I have no complaint.

Jill Winternitz. Miss Winternitz is nothing less than awesome. Her melodic voice complements Mr Keating voice very beautifully. Her naturalness on stage made it seem as if she was living the character and not acting them. 

Do not get me started on the kid who played Ivanka (there was four girl who played the same role and I was not sure which one was she on the night). My god how precious was she. Her tiny voice and her tiny feet stomping on the stage, strutting her immense talent on stage like she owned it, she was one extra-ordinary little rising star.

The whole cast were just amazing, the ensemble were fabulous, their presence, their tone, their fluidness in the movement and the snappiness in executing the dance steps were just remarkable.

I seriously could not find one fault with this rendition. Even the first one that I have watched a few years ago (the one with Arthur Darvill as ‘Guy’) had a few flaw, but this one top that one any time. I could not even form proper strings of sentence anymore and I am literally still shivering from the excitement of watching the show.

The only thing is that I could not go for a rating of anything beyond 10 or I would certainly give this show an infinity amount of stars as it deserves. Of course this show deserve more than just a standing ovation and 10 star rating. I could not stress enough how I loved this show. How I love this company of cast and how amazing they are. This show definitely deserve a full 10 out of 10 (10/10) stars. This show is still running at The Phoenix Theatre, London until the 21^st of March 2015.

I will all my heart, I really do hope that all of you do go and watch this musical at least once. Absorb the energy, be filled with laughter and dampen those linens and tissues along the way. I ensure you that this show will be worth every cent, every penny, every tears and every heart ache you might experience. It is well worth it.

Love and kisses,

GWRL