ONCE Tour Cast — Page 2

^The first tour closed.

I wonder if this means the tour/licensed script has dropped the "penis man" joke for the Bank Manager?

The reprise of "Gold" would also present a different look with a female Bank Manager. (At least with how I've come to associate the scene.) I wasn't planning on seeing the non-Equity version but this is making me curious.

It will be the exact same physical production, just a different cast and crew.

I ended up seeing the 2016 tour tonight. With the female Bank Manager, there are only a few script tweaks.

• "small loans woman" in the scene after "Broken Hearted Hoover Fixer Sucker Guy"
• ma'am before the proud to be Irish speech
• "Abandoned in Bandon" had the gender references flipped
• The joke is slightly revised. The Bank Manager's line becomes "I am a huge fan of breasts," then the next two lines about are omitted and Billy follows up with "That's tricky to find on a man." The Bank Manager agrees, causing the penny to drop for Billy to say "Understood."
• Eamon's line "We made great music today, boys" changed to "guys" (in the non-gender specific way)

It is the same set and general direction, movement, etc. as the previous productions.

There were only two things that really caught my eye as being different from the multiple times I've seen it before. Andrej froze stage left after his "Bastards!" rant for several (somewhat awkward) beats and I was starting to wonder if they cut the lighted costume and changed blocking as a result, but he then proceeded to cross the stage and lie down. Also, Da stood up for most of the end of the conversation with Girl after she paid him, as well as after giving the check to Guy at the end and even played a little keep away before handing it over.

Sam Cieri's Guy was a little too low key for my liking. I did enjoy Mackenzie Lesser-Roy as Girl, John Hays as Billy, Bristol Pomeroy as Da, and Jenn Chandler's Bank Manager.

I like how one guy in the cast lists a currently running new Broadway show in his credits.

CATSNYrevival said: "How is that even possible? Plus this cast is non-equity. Was it a reading or workshop?"

He lists himself as being in Misery (Broadway). Did they do a reading for it?

Well, as I saw Misery and he's not a Bruce Willis type or the sheriff not sure what he's referring to. But, maybe a reading? It's non-union so you can sort of say what you'd like.

I saw the show twice this weekend, and, by and large, it was the best bus and truck tour I have ever seen. The tour lost one truck, which was primarily Equity Trunks and other Union stuff that they don't need with a non-equity cast. It is the same physical production as the equity tour, which closed in Boston, and was trucked up to Utica to be loaded in to re-tech with the new cast/crew a week later. The single holdover is the Merch Manager from Araca, who said this isn't too far off from the original touring set-up. Mostly split weeks, and full week stops, with a decent number of flights and rental cars for sit-downs. Notedly different than most Networks non-equity companies. She also said that the gender swaps for Bank Manager and Emcee were simply based on the non-equity talent they were able to find with the unique skillsets needed for the tracks in this show.

It was a rare sight when a full tour was able to fit inside the State Theater, complete with show deck, which usually has cut versions of every tour, often leaving a full truck of gear in the loading dock. The show has no fly cues to get tangled in the State's old, hemp system. The simple lighting rig was actually focused for opening night. The audio mix was actually decent, I could make out every word, aided by the toned-down accents. (For comparison, I saw the London company with full-on accents and couldn't understand half the script.) And the cast was incredible, and actually age-appropirate, roughly, for the characters, unlike the full cast of 22-29 year old principles who came through playing 40-60 year olds in Bullets this past fall. Mackenzie Lesser-Roy (Girl) was simply engaging from first entrance through the house to the final note. Sam Cieri (Guy) was a bit shaky on the high notes, but by and large fantastic, though I couldn't help seeing Drew from Rock of Ages, which he played on NCL, playing Guy. The rest of the company was great, and the audience was utterly impressed, compared to other tours which have needed to take stops for technical difficulties lately. [Most of this paragraph was me ranting about Networks, Troika, and Phoenix booking their tours in venues where they simply don't fit, but all of this comments on the quality of this tour.]

It is worth saying that this show sold better than any Broadway tour recently, save for Beauty and the Beast and the upcoming Annie, which are promoted as family shows, not Broadway. Most tours at this venue are readily available on Groupon; There were limited discounts available for Once, and most of the run was all but sold-out.

If you can see this before it closes, do it. It is, save for the equity status of the actors, the full tour, and a fantastic production of an innovative piece of theater.

I saw this production last night in Indianapolis. I tend to avoid non-Equity tours but I loved the NYC production of ONCE, so I invited a friend to join me. We both really enjoyed it. It was quite solid, perhaps the best non-Equity tour I've seen. The actors playing Guy and Girl were certainly not Steve Kazee and Cristin Milioti, but they were good enough that it was not distracting. He was a strong actor and she sang quite well. The ensemble was excellent throughout. I would recommend this one if it's coming through your area.

a montage of the current tour..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyTT3Oi2kms