Based on the 2007 film of the same name, with a book by Enda Walsh and music and lyrics by Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová, Once is a charming little musical whose sentimentalism tends to outpace its nuance. On a Dublin street corner, the broken-hearted Guy sings to no one in particular. Gasping with each mellifluous belt, he draws the attention of a stranger too shy to approach. He is just about to take his guitar and leave when, finally, she intervenes. With some flirtatious banter (“I am always serious — I am Czech”) and talk of destiny (“You fix vacuum cleaners?! My God, really?!! This is incredible! I have here a vacuum cleaner that needs fixing!”), Girl convinces Guy (yes, those are their names) to come with her. “Five minutes ago you wanted to kill yourself but now I come to play you music and you to save my Hoover,” she explains. “Life is good, hey, even in Dublin.”
Scored with mostly singer-songwriter-esque ballads, what might have felt “hip” or “different” about Once when it premiered in 2012 now feels more gimmicky than we were willing to admit at the time. Its tiresome libretto aside, NextStop Theatre Company’s top-notch production, directed by Heather Lanza, is nevertheless a diamond in the rough. The production has enough middlebrow charisma to keep audiences invested while honoring the intricacies of human connection that remind us why we choose to make art in the first place. Much of this has to do with the talented ensemble, who genuinely seem to be having a great time on stage.
Guy (Carter Crosby) is fresh off a breakup with his ex-girlfriend (Faith Wang), who suddenly packed up and moved to New York (and is reportedly seeing someone new). Girl (Emily Erickson) refuses to confront her husband’s absence while also trying to raise her daughter, Ivanka (played in alternate performances by Anna Tyrrell and Vivian Smith). He’s the kind of guy who listens to recordings of his ex’s voice on repeat. She’s the kind of girl who talks to her piano. Equally compelling in their roles, the actors do their best to resist certain tropes that start with “sad-, “soft-,” or “manic pixie-.” This is all to their credit, as the script does them no favors, including such gems of trite dialogue as:
EX-GIRLFRIEND: It’s beautiful.
GUY: Honestly?
EX-GIRLFRIEND: You’re beautiful.
GUY: Yeah, sure.
Their star-crossed meeting proves unexpected yet full of possibility when Girl vows to help Guy produce the demo that just might be his ticket to stardom — or, at the very least, to New York. Do not be misled: the play is two and a half hours of “will they?/won’t they?” tension, but Once wants us to understand that life can be about more than doing things according to expectation.
Crosby’s and Erickson’s instrumental chops likely secured them the respective roles of Guy and Girl (Crosby on guitar and Erickson on piano), but their on-stage chemistry indicates genuine instinct and collaboration. Mostly, however, it’s Erickson’s sultry tenor and Crosby’s belt that keep us engaged. Once features some quasi-memorable ballads, including the Academy Award–winning “Falling Slowly.” But it’s the hokier, more “legit” musical theater numbers — like the Czech sing-along “Ej Pada Pada Rosicka,” the uncharacteristically upbeat “Broken Hearted Hoover Fixer Sucker Guy,” or the comic one-off “Abandoned in Bandon” — that stand out most in this production.
Once features a lovable cast of supporting characters costumed à la European-hipster-chic by Imari Pyles. Ari Post plays “good guy” shop owner Billy, while Ricky Drummond is the doe-eyed Corkonian Bank Manager. They are both about as stereotypically Irish as you can get. Jared Kirschenbaum, Colin Villacorte, and Sally Imbriano are a hoot and a holler as Girl’s three Czech roommates, hypnotically engrossed by Irish soap operas (Fair City, we are told, is their passion). Jeremy Allen Crawford is featured in a number of supporting roles, while Amber Gibson and David Weinraub round out the cast as Girl’s mother and Guy’s father (who may or may not be kindling a romance of their own). Once is typically staged with a cast of actor-musicians, meaning that each cast member must be able to sing, act, move, and play their own instruments. NextStop’s production offers no exception to this rule. Thanks to music director Paige Rammelkamp and sound designer Justin Schmitz, the lively Dublin soundtrack seeps effortlessly throughout the room, and the Czech influences bring a welcome sense of cultural hybridity.
August Henney’s set design features an authentic-looking pub, evoking a lively music culture and an ethos of welcome. Warmly hued by Hailey LaRoe’s clever mix of interior luminaires and theatrical lights — not to mention her simple yet powerful projection design — the production visually transitions us from Grafton Street to the North Strand, from a pub to a recording studio, and from the inner city to the not-too-distant coastline. Without any direct audience interaction or on-stage seating, Lanza manages to establish a sense of intimacy between cast and audience that is neither voyeuristic nor forced. With a melancholy twinge similarly found in other 2000s-era romances like 500 Days of Summer or Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, plus a lo-fi aesthetic that now feels bygone in the age of AI, Once is about the fleeting moments — an hour, a day, a week — that can change a life altogether. The trouble is, Once’s leading characters have a tendency to get so caught up in their own brooding singularities that it overpowers their more authentic moments of connection. Thankfully, NextStop’s ensemble has enough personality and uniqueness to make up for the script’s relative blandness. Desperately pushing against the expectations of “boy meets girl,” Once tries to reconcile us with the fact that sometimes life has other plans; no one, after all, is guaranteed a happy ending. But, much as with this production, you’ll be happy to have experienced it nonetheless.
Running Time: Two hours and 30 minutes, including an intermission.
Once plays through June 21, 2026, at NextStop Theatre, 269 Sunset Park Drive, Herndon, VA. Purchase tickets ($55) online or by calling 703-481-5930 x1.
The program is online here.
