Instead of using a pit orchestra, performers in the musical Once will all play their own instruments live on the Templeton-Blackburn Alumni Memorial Auditorium’s stage.
“Often times our Broadway shows have live pit orchestras, but (having the musicians) on the stage is going to be a whole new (experience), so I’m looking forward to it,” Andrew Holzaepfel, the senior associate director of student activities in the Campus Involvement Center, said.
The show will be performed Friday at 7:30 p.m. and the admission is $22 for students, $27 for senior citizens and $30 for general admission
Once tells the story of a man and woman — who are both musicians — and their love. The two musical artists rehearse and record songs together, growing in their affection for one another.
Once won eight Tony Awards in 2012, including Best Musical, Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical and Best Direction of a Musical.
Once did not start as a Broadway musical — it was first a movie produced in 2007. John Carney wrote and directed the film, and Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová played the main characters. One of the songs featured in the film, “Falling Slowly,” won the Academy Award for Best Original Song. The soundtrack for the film was also nominated for two Grammy Awards in 2008 for Best Compilation Soundtrack and Best Song Written for a Motion Picture.
Emily Goldberg, a senior studying media and communication, said she saw Once a few years ago on Broadway. She said the music was “really good” and “catchy.”
“I thought (having musicians on the stage) was different,” Goldberg said. “Broadway shows don’t do that. They’re usually hidden in the orchestra pit.”
Mahalah Talbert, a sophomore studying history, said she is thinking about attending Once because she likes musicals and has not seen a show where the musicians play instruments on the stage.
The Campus Involvement Center brings anywhere from two to four touring Broadway shows for the Performing Arts and Concert Series, Holzaepfel said. A show of that nature typically draws an audience of more than 1,000 people, he said.
“We bring Broadway to Athens because it gives us the opportunity for us to bring the same tours that are touring Columbus, Cleveland and Dayton,” Holzaepfel said. “It gives us an opportunity to bring it to Southeastern Ohio, and down here for our students to have the same experiences … big cities have, but at a fraction of the cost.”
