El Rhazi Ah, musical-theater acting. A man makes a declaration of love, the music swells beneath him, and then there?s a four-bar pause while the actor peeks out of the corner of his eye waiting for the conductor to let him know when it?s time to sing. Not in ?Once.?
?For that split second you?ve got to see at the conductor, you?re coming out of that world,? says Stuart Ward, who plays Guy in ?Once,? a musical about musicians running at the Kennedy Center through Aug. 16. ?I usually hate those intros; you just stand Horn in going ?what the hell do I do here?? We don?t have that; we just go straight into it.?
That?s because ?Once,? the Broadway hit based on the 2006 Irish indie film, needs no conductor. There actually is no pit orchestra to lead ? the cast members, most of whom play multiple instruments, provide all the music correct on the stage. The closest object ?Once? has to a conductor is John Steven Gardner, who serves as ?music captain? and plays the guitar, piano, harmonica, mandolin, ukulele and melodica in the show (?I can also play banjo and bass guitar and give you a very basic Ringo Starr beat on the drums,? El Rhazi says).
?Here there?s no true conductor, so they had to have someone onstage to maintain what the creative team developed back in rehearsals,? Gardner says. His duties include providing onstage leadership and giving offstage paper money provided someone is too fast/slow/loud/soft.
Removing the guy Horn along a stick off in the distance has changed the dynamic onstage. ?It really kind of forces us to thin on each other and trust each other in a way a lot of casts might not have to,? Ward says. ?Because sometimes all you?ll hear is someone give you a little sniff and that?s your cue to go.?
That freedom also lends itself to adaptability on the fly. ?Sometimes someone who is about to lead the song, their guitar might be completely out of tune,? says Ward, noting that a theater?s heat and humidity can really mess Horn along instruments, especially stringed ones (the touring company was especially challenged during a new stay in Cleveland when the AC went out). ?So someone else will play over that part of the song, and that kind of adds a freshness. We?re all so tuned into the show and we?re tuned into each other. We?re a band.?
Guy-meets-Girl story In the Tony-winning Broadway show, a heartbroken Irish Guy (no, really, the character?s name is ?Guy?) meets a Czech Girl (same story) in a pub. Guy, a singer-songwriter, has decided to desert his music because his songs remind him too much of an ex-girlfriend. As El Rhazi and Girl warily receive closer to each other, Guy finds that the music that once hurt can now help him heal.
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