November 15, 2011 –
January 1, 2012
Book by
ENDA WALSH
Music and Lyrics by
GLEN HANSARD &
MARKÉTA IRGLOVÁ
Based on the Motion
Picture Written and
Directed by
JOHN CARNEY
Music Supervision by
MARTIN LOWE
Movement by
STEVEN HOGGETT
Directed by
JOHN TIFFANY
Study Guide for
Students and Teachers
Dear Educator, Thank you for bringing your students to New York Theatre W orkshop’s production of ONCE. In order t o help you make this the fullest experience for your s tudents, we’ve prepared this Study Guide with background information and jumping-‐off points for class discussion. We hope you find it useful! If you have any comments or suggestions for future Guides, hesitate to contact me at please don’t [email protected]. We welcome you and your students to the theatre, and we hope to see you at New York Theatre again soon. To learn more about our Workshop Initiatives, please visit Education www.nytw.org/education.asp. Sincerely, Bryn Thorsson Director o f Education Study Guide researched and written by Maia Collier Ben Vigus Erin Stoneking NYTW Interns NYTW’s Education Initiatives provide access to the vision and methods of the artist, and enable audiences of all ages to participate in a community of dynamic learning where the developmental process, the final production and the surrounding exchange of ideas have a profound impact on all involved. These initiatives strive to bring all members of our artistic family, which includes our audience members, closer to the creative process. As we often collaborate with artists whose work takes risks and challenges theatrical forms, the artistic process at NYTW rarely follows a defined path. Our education initiatives embrace this iconoclastic approach, allowing us to craft each program and partnership with detail and creativity. Learning Workshop is NYTW’s multidisciplinary theatre education program that supports middle and high school students’ creative development as artists and audience members by critically engaging them in the artistic process surrounding our productions. Table of Contents NYTW’s Education Initiatives are made possible through the
generous encouragement of Con Edison, the Pierre and Tana
Matisse Foundation, the New York Community Trust, the
Michael Tuch Foundation, the Tiger Baron Foundation, the
Manhattan Borough President’s Office, the Office of Council
Member Margaret Chin and the New York State Council for the
Arts-Empire State Partnership. The Artistic Collaborators of ONCE . . . . . . . . . . page 10 The Story of Once . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 3 The Frames, The Swell Season and Once . . . . . . page 5 The Art of Adaptation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 6 “Can’t Help Singing”. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 7 Once: What’s in a Title . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page 9 The Value of A Relationship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .page 12 “Making It:” Independent Musicians . . . . . . . . .page 14 Irish Folk Music and Culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .page 15 Instruments of ONCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .page 16 The Changing Make-‐up of Ireland . . . . . . . . . . . page 17 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .page 20 2 The Story of Once www.foxsearchlight.com "Life imitates Art far more than Art imitates Life.” – Oscar Wilde Markéta Irglová and Glen Hansard in the 2006 film Once The new musical ONCE is based on the 2006 film of the same name, directed by John Carney and starring Markéta Irglová and Glen Hansard. Irglová and Hansard also wrote the music and were catapulted to international fame after the movie’s success. Much was made of their onscreen and offscreen romantic involvement, and the way their real lives intertwined with the fictional plot of the movie had significant impact on the movie’s reception. Irglová and Hansard first met in 2002 when Irglová was 12-‐years-‐old. Hansard was touring with his band The Frames (founded in 1990). He was invited by Irglová’s father, a close friend of Hansard’s, to stay at their house for several months and write songs. Hansard recounts his first meeting with Irglová: “Mar came into my life very similarly to how she does in the film. She was very young, but she came up to my room one day when I was singing one of my songs, and said, ‘That song you're singing, did that really happen to you?’ And I said, 'Well, yeah, kind of.' And she said, 'Did it, or didn't it?' And I said, 'Well, it's kind of poetic license.' And she was like, 'Well, why are you singing it, then?' And I said, 'Well, as a songwriter you're allowed to do that.' And she said, 'Well, I don't agree. I think you should be singing about what happened in your life.'” “The irony is that Mar and I have been thrown in the deep end with each other, and it's developed into something else. It's like life imitating art, and art imitating life at the same time.” – Glen Hansard A few years later, Irglová and Hansard began writing songs and performing together as The Swell Season. In 2006, John Carney, a filmmaker, longtime friend of Hansard’s and former bass player for The Frames, approached Irglová and Hansard about creating songs for a new film. The same year, Hansard and Irglová released the album The Swell Season. Many of the songs that appear on the Once soundtrack are also on this album, including “Lies,” “When Your Mind’s Made Up” and the Oscar-‐winning “Falling Slowly.” Hansard and Irglová were originally only considered to write the music. Carney wanted actor Cillian Murphey (Batman Begins, The Wind That Shakes the Barley, 28 Days Later) and a 35-‐year-‐old Czech actress to portray the Guy and Girl. However, after Murphey declined the role and a suitable Czech actress could not be found, Hansard and Irglová were approached. The film was shot over 17 days in 2006 and produced for the staggeringly low price 3 of $160,000. The film was at first released to a small number of theaters in Europe, but when a producer from the Sundance Film Festival saw the film, he brought it to the US. Once received glowing praise at Sundance, was given wider release in the US and went on to win the 2008 Academy Award for Best Original Score. Hansard and Irglová became celebrities overnight. The close parallels between Hansard and Irglová’s lives and the Guy and the Girl’s have been a subject of constant comment since the film’s release. The two began dating while filming Once and fell in love as their characters did. In a review of the film, New York Times critic A.O. Scott notes, “The two main performers are really singers and songwriters and they’re performing their own compositions, and that gives the movie a special appeal.” An interviewer from The Onion AV Club notes that the two leads were “cast both in the film and in the public eye as an endearing, endangered couple producing achingly vulnerable music. And their real-‐life relationship seemed to make the love story particularly irresistible, particularly once an Oscar win for Best Original Song (among many other awards) gave their story the happy ending that the film lacked.” Because the lead actors are essentially playing themselves, their performances seem to acquire a kind of authenticity and believability that makes the story particularly fascinating. They are not pretending to fall in love; we are actually watching two people fall in love. The film both depicts and documents a once-‐in-‐a-‐lifetime romance between two musicians. When asked if he would pursue a career in acting following his work on the film, Hansard replied “Well, playing a guy who writes songs and busks on Grafton Street in Dublin and falls in love with Markéta Irglová wasn't very difficult for me.” Glen Hansard on his relationship with Markéta Irglová in an interview with the A.V. Club: It’s probably the one aspect of … everything about what happened during Once was magical and amazing, and the fact that me and Mar started going out, it was just private and lovely. And somehow, it got out that we were… It happened in this weird way, that it got out that we were together. And neither of us really cared, but then it turned into a bigger story than either of us were particularly comfortable with, because this idea of celebrity is a very insecure notion, and the fact that it became part of the story, like you say, “storybook ending,” or we were “living the sequel,” that also got mentioned. And, to be honest, not over here, but in Czechoslovakia, where Mar’s from, there were people following us around with cameras and making up stories. And we almost became that “showing up in celeb magazines” kind of thing. But I don’t think either of us ever really wanted to embrace that aspect. It just wasn’t attractive. So it was a little uncomfortable, and then we just kind of naturally came to an end. It wasn’t like we… it wasn’t political to us. This is our f-‐-‐-‐ing lives, this isn’t career. This is different. It’s not about… these decisions are bigger than any kind of pressure to stay together. F-‐-‐-‐ that. So when it passed, I guess myself and Mar honestly sat down and went, “Do we want to continue with this? Do we want to continue making music together and be a band?” And we both came to the conclusion that “F-‐-‐-‐ it, we’ve known each other a long time, and we’re great mates, and we do enjoy it, so let’s do it.” Hansard and Irglová are no longer dating, though they remain close friends and continue to perform and release music as The Swell Season. Their most recent album “Strict Joy” was released in 2009. Irglová was married in Summer 2011. Is fiction more powerful when it has grounding in reality? How do parallels with real events or actors’ actual lives influence how you respond to works of fiction? Have you ever been confused as to the line between truth and fabrication in a work of fiction? How do you think such confusion would affect the actors in the piece? 4 The Frames, The Swell Season, and Once: The History of the Film and its Music TIMELINE 1990 1990-‐1993 2006 2007 2008 2009 April 2011 Nov 2011 The Frames are founded. Original members include Glen Hansard, John Carney, Noreen O’Donnell, Dave Odlum, Paul Brennan, Colm Mac Con Iomaire. John Carney plays bass for The Frames. The Frames release most recent album “The Cost.” The Swell Season, Hansard and Irglová’s band, releases debut album “The Swell Season.” Once is filmed in Dublin. The film Once is released. The Swell Season releases Once Soundtrack. Once wins Academy Award for Best Original Song for “Falling Slowly.” The Swell Season releases “Strict Joy.” ONCE the Musical is developed at the American Repertory Theater, Cambridge, MA under the Artistic Direction of Diane Paulus, Produced by Diane Borger. ONCE begins previews at New York Theatre Workshop. 5 The Art of Adaptation
When an artist or group of artists is inspired blogs.suntimes.com by a particular story—whether it is from a novel, play, movie or other work of art—they may choose to re-‐create that story to fit a different format. This process is known as adaptation. ONCE the musical is adapted from the film Once. Although it may sound easy to begin writing a play or musical with a story already in mind, adaptation is full of difficult choices: the adaptors have to decide which parts of the original story will remain the same, which parts will change, what needs to be added and how to rethink or modify parts of the story so that they will work on the stage. Adaptors may want to keep only the main points of the story, or they may even decide to use exact words from the original material, like Elevator Repair Service’s production of The Select (The Sun Also Rises), produced at New York Theatre Workshop in Fall 2011. Can you think of any books that have been made into movies? What about movies or books that have been made into musicals? You probably can: Hollywood and Broadway producers have been focusing more and more of their attention on adaptations recently. Producers know that when they adapt a popular book (like the Twilight or Harry Potter series) or a popular movie (like Lion King or Beauty and the Beast) into a new form, the fans of the original stories will want to see the adaptation. In uncertain economic times, it is important to producers to make sure that people will pay to see any new movie or musical that they make. An adaptation of To the left is the original Sundance poster for the film Once, and to the right, the poster for the musical. Do they suggest differences in the way their shared story will be told? something that is already popular means that there is already an audience in place. Producers are using a similar kind of reasoning when they work on jukebox musicals, which are a type of adapted musical. Jukebox musicals are created around hit songs that have already been written—often all by one artist. The creators of musicals like Mamma Mia (ABBA), American Idiot (Green Day), and Baby It’s You! (the Shirelles) hope that theatre-‐goers will pay to come and see the show because they already know and love the music. Because the songs of The Swell Season (the same songs that you will hear in ONCE) are popular in their own right, some people might argue that ONCE is a jukebox musical. What do you think? When you watch an adaptation, do you think about it separately from the original material? Is it possible to consider the merits of an adaptation without comparing it to the original, especially if the original is beloved by fans? Why do people get attached to certain works of art? How do those works of art change when they are adapted into different media? 6 “Can’t Help Singing:” The Music in Musicals When we talk about musicals, we often break them down into two elements: the “book,” www.pbs.org or the spoken text, and the “music.” The creators of a musical must choose how to fit the book and the music together. They must make choices about how the music functions in the world of the play. Will the other characters be able to hear the music? Is the character really performing a song for others, or is she expressing her feelings through music? Will the song move the story forward, or be a break in the narrative? There are many different ways of addressing these questions, and historically, musicals can be grouped into two different categories depending on how they answer those questions. However, a musical could fall anywhere between them.
Wagner: Unification In the 19th century, an opera composer named Richard Wagner began to write his operas using a theory of unification. Wagner wanted all of his operas to be integrated: he wanted the music, the book, the costumes and the set to fit together so well that you didn’t even notice they were different elements. He wanted the music to tell the story just as much as the words did. Wagner called this theory Gesamtkunstwerk, which is German for “total work of art” or “synthesis of arts.” More recently, the musical-‐creating team Rodgers and Hammerstein used this idea of integration to create musicals such as Oklahoma! and Carousel. Oklahoma! uses song and dance to tell the story instead of using them as an entertaining break in the play. When asked what made Oklahoma! so successful, Rodgers replied that “the orchestrations sound the way the costumes look.” Before Rodgers and Hugh Jackman as Curly and Josefina Gabrielle as Hammerstein began creating their Laurie in the 1998 London revival of Oklahoma! By “musical dramas,” many musicals Rodgers and Hammerstein. belonged to the tradition of Vaudeville. Vaudeville shows were variety shows that included all types of performers: musicians, actors, magicians, comedians and many more. Musicals created around the height of Vaudeville’s popularity typically featured song and dance primarily as a break in the story rather than a way to tell the story. Since Rodgers and Hammerstein made their mark, unification has become a traditional way of answering questions about how to fit music into a musical. Many theatre practitioners now feel that a song should function to further the narrative. In unified musicals, characters seem unaware of the difference between speaking and song. Can you think of any other musicals that integrate music, dance, costumes and set into the entire narrative? 7 Brecht: Difference newyorkcool.com Meryl Streep as Mother Courage in the 2006 production of Mother Courage and her Children by Bertolt Brecht. In the early 20th century, another German artist – a man named Bertolt Brecht – began to develop a very different idea of how song and story should fit together in the theatre. Brecht wanted theatre audiences to be aware as they watched the play that what they saw on stage was only a representation of reality. He wanted people to feel engaged and curious about his plays instead of sitting passively and safely in the audience. In order to keep his audience members on their toes, Brecht used several methods from the tradition of Vaudeville. He had his actors talk directly to the audience, sing songs that interrupted the story and use signs to introduce scenes or characters. Brecht referred to this as Verfremdungseffekt, or the “estrangement effect.” Musicals that use methods from the estrangement effect include Cabaret, Sweet Charity and Chicago. In these musicals, characters might look at you and speak to you in the audience or sing and dance just to sing and dance, not because the music has anything important to tell us about the story. Can you think of any other musicals that do not try to integrate the music and dance into the narrative? Which category do you think best describes ONCE the musical? How do the songs fit into the story of ONCE? Why do you think the creators of ONCE chose to put songs where they did? How does the music help us understand the story? You Try it! Imagine that you are writing a musical. Try to write a song. Who will sing the song? Will it be a part of the story of the musical? What does the song mean to the character who sings it? 8 Once: What’s in a Title The title Once carries many meanings, each of which conjures different images and associations. The ideas sparked by the title are important to consider because they shape how an audience will approach the story they are being told. Below are excerpts from interviews with the creative team of the original film, entries from dictionaries and a marketing slogan, each presenting a varying interpretation of the title and suggesting important themes in the show. What does Once mean to you? Official Film Tagline How often do you find the right person? ONCE Markéta Irglová (co-‐writer of the show’s music and originator of the role The Girl in the Once upon a time… film) Fairy tales are some of the most I guess what makes the most sense is widely known stories in our culture. the typical human thing of never living The traditional opening of these in the present but living in the future stories, “Once upon a time,” literally and always putting things off by saying, means at some time in the past, but “Once I do this, I’ll be happy, and once I carries with it other implications of do that, I’ll be rich.” I guess that’s what magic, romance, and happy makes most sense to me. endings. Does Once share any characteristics with a fairytale? In what ways is it not a fairy story? John Carney (Writer and Director of the film Once) The t
itle o
riginally referred to a Definitions of Once from planned scene in which the two Oxford Dictionaries characters made love, but just once. Once can act as an adverb, referring to the After the actors objected to Mr. fact that something occurred on one Carney’s idea (“So predictable,” Ms. occasion, or one time only. It can also act Irglová said), the scene wasn’t as a conjunction, meaning as soon as or filmed. Now the title, Mr. Carney when. This meaning of once creates a says, refers to fellow Irishmen and conditional future dependent upon certain women he would encounter in bars: events. As part of several common “They say, ‘Once I do this, then it’ll phrases, once holds other significance. At be great.’ But they never do it. It’s a once implies simultaneity, while all at once, great Irish tradition of vacillating.” describes something which happened suddenly or without warning. What do each of these definitions suggest about the plot and themes of Once? 9 once
The Artistic Collaborators of ONCE the Musical gothamist.com www.radcliffe.edu Tony Rinaldo gothamist.com Enda Walsh (Playwright) Enda Walsh is a playwright from Dublin, Ireland. His most famous play is Disco Pigs (1996), which was adapted into a 2001 movie starring Cillian Murphey as the Pig. His other works include Penelope, Misterman, and The Walworth Farce. The Village Voice noted in a 2008 profile, “Walsh emphasizes characters and situations that reflect a new, economically transformed Ireland: wrapped in cyber rather than wool, and more fixated on multiculturalism than folklore.” In the same article, Walsh is quoted saying, “I don’t want to see ‘life’ onstage. I don’t want to see something set in a pub and guys sitting around chatting, and by the end you’re going to sort of know them as deeper characters.” John Tiffany (Director) John Tiffany is a Scottish theatre director and the Associate Director for the National Theatre of Scotland. He is best known for his imaginative style. His acclaimed production of Black Watch, a collaboration with choreographer and director Stephen Hoggett, provides an example of the way in which Scottish culture and tradition runs through much of his work. Black Watch tells the story of members of the Scottish regiment in Iraq based on interviews with actual soldiers and has been incredibly well received since its premiere at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2006 and has run at St. Ann’s Warehouse and other venues. Other recent works include versions of Peter Pan and The Bacchae. In an interview with The Harvard Crimson, Tiffany said, “There’s something about Scottish theater that I especially love. It’s very musical and connected with vaudeville and a very working-‐class country – that shows in the art form. There’s a lot of movement, there’s a lot of heart. It’s very different from the more – how would you say it? – refined English theater.” Steven Hoggett (Choreographer) Steven Hoggett is a New York based choreographer and director known for brilliant and incredibly physically demanding staging. He is responsible for the choreography of American Idiot on Broadway, Peter and the Starcatcher at New York Theatre Workshop, and the movement direction of 2008’s Black Watch at St. Ann’s Warehouse, which was directed by John Tiffany. Hogget heads his own theater company, Frantic Assembly. 10 www.guardian.co.uk Bob Crowley (Set and Costume Designer) Bob Crowley is an Irish director, scenic and costume designer. He has won five Tony Awards and been nominated ten times. The shows he has worked on include Aida, Coast of Utopia, Carousel, and The History Boys. He works both in the United Kingdom and the United States. In a 2009 interview with The Guardian, Crowley explained his favorite part of his work, “I love it when you get a great script, and you get a great rush of adrenaline having read it, or a composer plays you something from the score for the first time, and you think, ‘Crikey, this is going to be fantastic.’ That's a great moment. And I love the tabula rasa of the empty page, trying to work out how this thing is going to be staged. The process of beginning a project, I find scary but unbelievably exciting. That never goes away.” Cristin Milioti (The Girl) Cristin Milioti has previously appeared in That Face at Manhattan Theatre Club, The Little Foxes and The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter at New York Theatre Workshop, and Coram Boy and The Lieutenant of Inishmore on Broadway. She has also appeared on The Sopranos and 30 Rock. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, she says of her success, “I went to [NYU’s] Tisch for a year then I dropped out, because I did not like it. An agent had seen me in a show and sent me on an audition for The Sopranos, I booked it. It was really lucky right out of the gate. Then I booked my first Broadway show a month later – The Lieutenant of Inishmore. It was very, very lucky. I was at the right place at the right time.” Steve Kazee (The Guy) Steve Kazee is an actor and musician making his New York Theatre Workshop Debut. He has previously appeared in 110 in the Shade, Spamalot, To Be or Not To Be, and Seascape. In Television he has appeared in Working Class, NCIS, NUMB3RS, and Medium. In an interview with CMT News, Kazee discusses his relationship with music, “For me, I was a musician long before I was an actor. I've been playing guitar for about 18 years now. And I've always wanted to write and perform, so I started singing long before I was an actor. Because of being a singer, I got cast in a couple of musicals, and things started to snowball from there.” 11 The Value of a Relationship John Carney on the core relationship of Once in The New York Times: “It’s the ones who are gone who haunt you for the rest of your life. Instead of saying, ‘I love you’ or ‘I miss you,’ they just disappear.” Relationships, whether to people, places or thoughts and ideas, provide the framework for how we view and choose to encounter the world. At a psychological level, social interaction is essential to a child’s development, allowing her to understand the shape and rules of the world around her. As we grow older, those with whom we interact shape the opinions we endorse and the paths we decide to follow. In our lives we continually encounter people, both romantically and platonically, with whom we connect. These connections inevitably change us, perhaps in small, nearly imperceptible ways, perhaps in hugely significant ones which shift the way we approach our world. In the cases that matter, we may need to actively choose to change in order to make our relationship work. This process is not always easy and often requires one or both members of the relationship to make sacrifices. In ONCE, the Girl and Guy shift the course of one another’s lives over an incredibly brief period of time. In our own lives, the changes and choices may take place more slowly, but are just as important. John Tiffany and Steven Hoggett, the director and choreographer of ONCE, have shared a lifelong friendship and have also collaborated artistically for many years. In an interview with The Independent, the two men discuss their life long friendship and how it affects the experience of working together. www.independent.co.uk John Tiffany: Steven is my best and oldest friend and I thank my lucky stars that he is still in my life. I met him when I was 15 at the Huddersfield Choral Society Youth Choir and we became inseparable…We didn't work together until 2003 – because our styles were so different we hadn't considered it – but we've had some amazing experiences because of it, like taking Black Watch to New York. It's brilliant to be able to share those highs with someone you've known for 20 years. Steven Hoggett: We've created standards for each other and berate the other if he falls short. It is difficult, because it means John tells me things I don't want to hear and vice versa. 12 Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová, the co-‐composers of the music in both the film and the musical and the originators of the roles of the Guy and the Girl, also have a working relationship based on a previous friendship. In an interview with MovieFreak.com, Hansard discussed his relationship with Irglová. Glen Hansard: Well, we’d been working together [Mar and I] pretty solidly off and on for two or three years, and we knew each other even before that. We were touring the Czech Republic together, touring Europe together, touring the United States together. So, we kind of knew each other quite well in a working way, and so getting involved in this as mates kind of just felt so comfortable. Had it been another girl, I think I would have been a little less comfortable in my skin onscreen. What’s happening on screen, I think, is there is a lot of blurring going on. We’re in character, we’re out of character. We’re in character, we’re out of character. I think what makes the tension and the relationship so interesting is that it is me and Mar just being me and Mar. Whenever the music is playing, we’re really just being ourselves, and then when it stops [the movie] is dialogue driven, but it is still basically just the two of us relating to one another using John’s lines. Irglová and Hansard at the Oscars in 2008 Have you ever collaborated with a friend on a project?
How did your friendship affect your work and vice versa?
13 “Making It:” Independent Musicians You thecia.com.au may have heard the term “indie” used to describe music, film or even fashion. Indie is short for independent, and it means that the artists responsible for a piece are working independently of any major commercial label. Because there are no executives holding them accountable for their work, independent artists are free to create whatever they want. Because of this freedom, indie art is often more experimental and personal. In fact, “indie” has become synonymous with alternative, low-‐budget, exploratory types of music. However, commercial labels provide promotion, distribution and money; without outside help, independent artists may struggle to come up with these resources. Since the advent of the internet, many independent musicians have begun promoting and distributing their work cheaply or for free using websites like YouTube, MySpace and Reverbnation. Bands like Vampire Weekend, Arcade Fire and The Shins all began as independent artists, and many of them remain on independent record labels, which do their own production and distribution and are not part of a commercial label. In the story of ONCE, the Guy is an independent musician. If he wants to be a successful recording artist, he will have to either find a label that will promote and distribute his work, or promote and distribute his work himself. This is easier said than done! Just recording a CD can be very expensive: recording engineers, session musicians, rehearsal space, rental instruments, studio time, blank CDs, CD cases and recording software all cost a lot of money. Then he will have to decide how to distribute his music—will he give it away for free and hope that people like it and share it? Will he charge money for it and hope that people will buy a CD at a show? Where will he play a show? Will he send it to a record label and hope that the executives will want to sign him? All of these questions, and many more, are probably whirling around the Guy’s head as he prepares to make his trip to New York. Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová as the Guy and the Girl rehearsing in the Guy’s bedroom in Once. Do you think the Guy will “make it?” What will happen to him if he doesn’t? Can you think of any more examples of indie music or film? In your opinion, how is indie art different from more commercial art? If you were a musician and a major commercial label offered to sign you, what would you do? Would you give up some artistic freedom in exchange for more financial resources and connections, or would you keep working independently? 14 Irish Folk Music and Culture “Ireland's history as a colonized nation has set a precedent for locally based resistance to centralized rule and at the same time helped to establish the importance of a distinctive, uniform Irish identity opposed to that of an English ‘other.’” -‐ Rachel Fleming in “Resisting Cultural Standardization: Comhaltas Ceoltóirí and the Revitalization of Traditional Music in Ireland” www.thetemplebarpub.com Musicians participating in a planned Session at The Temple Bar in Dublin At the beginning of ONCE, we see a group of musicians performing traditional Irish folk songs in a pub. This scene does not flow directly into the plot of show, but instead captures something of the musical and cultural world that the show inhabits. Such gatherings of musicians in a pub or private home are known as “sessions.” Sessions are sometimes spontaneous, sometimes organized. Participants can include large numbers of musicians, and have become staples of Irish culture. Though Irish traditional music dates from the middle ages, the so-‐called “traditional” Irish session is actually a rather recent phenomenon with roots in American culture as much as Irish. The first sessions we know of began in the 1960s. Around this time, the first ballad groups began to emerge in Ireland, the most famous of which was The Dubliners. These groups performed with traditional Irish instruments like the fiddle, accordion, and pennywhistle; however, they also centrally incorporated the guitar and banjo for the first time, drawing influence from the folk revivals in America and England. Flintan Vallelly writes in The Companion to Traditional Irish Music, “The Irish ballad group boom began in the early 1960s in Dublin. From an historical perspective one can see it as an offshoot of the American urban folk revival which had preceded it by several years.” The groundwork for the resurgence of Irish music in the 1960s was laid a decade prior by the founding of “The atmosphere the organization called of [Comhalta’s] Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann, early years was described as “the largest group urgent; ‘revival’ involved in the preservation and was seen as a promotion of Irish traditional mission to pass on music,” in 1951. After Ireland valued traditions achieved independence from and ensure their England in 1921, Irish traditional survival and music had been struggling to enhancement for survive. Younger generations posterity.” seemed uninterested in the – The Companion ancient traditions and viewed to Traditional Irish them as backwards. The Music founding of Comhaltas was an effort to counter this trend, and revive Irish traditional music as a source of distinct cultural identity and pride. The rise of the session and the rapid surge in popularity of Irish music from the 1960s through today is truly a cross-‐cultural phenomenon. Irish traditions melding with popular influences from abroad have given us Van Morrison, Bono, Riverdance, and opened the door for the popularity of films like Once. Hansard himself performed the songs of Van Morrison and Bob Dylan as a busker (street performer) on Grafton Street in Dublin, where his character in the film also performs. Grafton is a primary tourist attraction in Dublin, and Irish music has become a significant draw for international tourists. Irish traditional music itself is a significant site of cultural exchange, and the music in ONCE is no exception.
15 16 ONCE celebrates not only the effect two individuals can have on one another, but also the way cultures blend and interact. The Girl influences the Guy’s way of thinking and his willingness to pursue his dreams, and also introduces him to her world, bringing him to the immigrant community where she lives. The story introduces its audience to the world of Dublin, showing not just its traditional Irish culture, but also the variety of the people who now inhabit it. Dublin is the capital city of Ireland and has served an important role in the country’s history. Ireland was once governed by England, but had its own culture and had a large Catholic population while England was predominantly Protestant. English landlords controlled most of the land, taking its profits without living there. Meanwhile, those living in Ireland had few opportunities. In the mid-‐
19th century, a devastating famine struck as potato crops failed. These horrifying conditions led many to emigrate, seeking opportunities in other countries, such as the United States. The unequal and oppressive conditions also led to many uprisings and attempts to claim independence. Ireland finally succeeded after fighting between 1919 and 1921. However, Northern Ireland, which was predominantly Protestant, remained a part of the United Kingdom. This partition has been highly contended every since, often with violence. In the 1990s, the Irish economy flourished and many immigrants began to enter the country www.dublinhotelsbook.com The Changing Make-‐up of Ireland seeking freedom and success. As Ireland received an influx of immigrants, many settled in the nation’s capital. As of 2006, 15% of Dublin residents were not Irish nationals, diversifying a once very uniform population. Since then, the city has undergone economic difficulties and the rate of immigration has www.dublin.ie The River Liffey in Dublin dropped from its 2007 peak. However, significant numbers still enter the country each year. Most are workers or asylum seekers. The release of the film Once in 2006 coincided with the peak in immigration. At that time the greatest number of immigrants came from other members of the European Union, while the greatest number of asylum seekers came from Nigeria and Romania. The presence of foreign nationals and immigrants in Dublin has changed the feel of certain neighborhoods, as well as the diversity of the city as a whole. 17 The diversity of Dublin still falls far short of that found in many other cities, such as New York. You can see the differing degrees in diversity in the charts on this page, which display the demographics of Manhattan and Dublin. Compare the size of the largest ethnic group in each city. In Manhattan, whites only comprise 57.4% of the population, while in Dublin, 82.7% of the population is ethnically Irish. However, one might not feel this overwhelming majority when visiting certain neighborhoods. As in New York, some neighborhoods have become dominated by specific national and ethnic groups. While in New York one thinks about Little Italy, Chinatown or Spanish Harlem, in Dublin one could find Little Africa. A neighborhood such as this is called an ethnic enclave, which is defined as an area which retains its own distinct culture. In Once, the Girl brings the Guy to meet her family who have strongly retained their culture. In their home, neither English nor Irish is the prevalently spoken language and Czech and Irish cultures mesh. Have you ever lived in or visited a neighborhood or home such as the one in which the Girl lives, where a different culture and language dominate? What was that experience like? How would it feel to enter such a neighborhood as a complete outsider? 18 The article below was published a few years after the release of Once and the peak in immigration to Ireland that followed it. This excerpt discusses and celebrates the way in which Ireland is changing as new peoples and cultures join it. Have you ever experienced the cultural blending which the author discusses? Does the ‘Real’ Ireland Still Exist? Travel.nytimes.com By: Dan Barry Published: May 18, 2008 For full article: http://travel.nytimes.com/2008/05/18/travel/18ireland.html?pagewanted=1 Over the years, I have spent a lot of time in the western counties of Galway and Clare, and if nothing else, this is what I have gleaned: Ireland can be that place you missed as you traveled around Ireland, looking for Ireland… You may indeed hear a young Irish woman suddenly break into song in Kinvara. But you may also walk around the corner and be served dinner by a young man with an Eastern European accent instead of a brogue. Travel 10 miles up the road to Gort and you might wade into a celebration of Brazilian culture, staged by a transplanted community that is now an integral part of that old market town. There you have it: delightful, post-‐millennial Ireland… My mother grew up on a farm near [Kinvara], and I’ve been visiting Gort since the 1970s. I have watched it gradually grow from an aged and insular town to a bedroom community for Galway City, some 20 miles away. Farms I remember are now Levittown-‐like subdivisions. The real change, though, is in Gort’s new and sizable Brazilian community, attracted in part by job opportunities at a local meat-‐processing plant. The impact has been extraordinary: Brazilian music nights in one of the pubs, Brazilian necessities — from maracuja to mandioca — in the shops, and a Sunday Mass said in Portuguese. There has been the usual awkwardness in this marriage of two distinct cultures, but for the most part the newcomers have been warmly accepted; for example, when carbon monoxide from a faulty oil burner killed two Brazilian men nearly three years ago, townspeople banded together to raise money to help the families. And every June, Gort serves as host to a traditional Brazilian festival called the Quadrilha. The town center comes alive with folk dances and passionate sambas that could never be confused with an Irish step dance, while the air fills with the aroma of Brazilian cuisine that could never be confused with brown bread and tea. You will see the Irish at the Quadrilha, some of them wearing the soccer jerseys of Brazil’s national team, just as you will see Brazilians two months later at the Gort Show, an annual agricultural fair, where inside the community center, locals compete for best mince pie and handsomest heads of garden cabbage, while in the fields outside, judges in bowler hats ponder before selecting the best-‐
colored colt, filly or gelding. The new Gort is reflected in the flags of Ireland and Brazil that sometimes hang in shop windows, the green in both nearly blending. 19 References and Further Reading The Story of Once: BWW News Desk. “Academy Award Winning Film ONCE comes to Broadway in 2010/2011 Season.” BroadwayWorld.com. http://broadwayworld.com/article/Academy_Award_Winning_Film_ONCE_Co
mes_to_Broadway_in_20102011_Season_20081016 Divola, Barry. “‘Once’ in a Lifetime.” Entertainment Weekly website. 29 August 2007. http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20053426,00.html Fetters, Sara Michelle. “Hitting the Right Chords: Learning to Make Beautiful Music with Once.” Movie Freak. http://www.moviefreak.com/artman/publish/interviews_once.shtml Robinson, Tasha. “Interview: Glen Hansard of the Swell Season.” A.V. Club website. http://www.avclub.com/articles/glen-‐hansard-‐of-‐the-‐swell-‐season,35186/ The Frames, The Swell Season and Once: The History of the Film and its Music: The Swell Season official website. www.theswellseason.com/biography. “Once Official Site.” Fox Searchlight. http://www.foxsearchlight.com/once/. The Art of Adaptation: “Once.” Internet Movie Database. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0907657/. “Can’t Help Singing:” The Music in Musicals: Avella, Frank J. “Review of Mother Courage and Her Children.” New York Cool Theater Reviews. http://newyorkcool.com/archives/2006/August/theater_reviews.html “Brecht’s Works in English: A Bibliography.” University of Wisconsin Digital Collections. http://uwdc.library.wisc.edu/collections/BrechtGuide/
Lubock, Mark. “American Musical Theatre: An Introduction.” The Complete Book of Light Opera. New York: Appleton-‐Century-‐Crofts, 1962. http://www.theatrehistory.com/american/musical030.html “Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! Introduction.” Great Performances website. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/episodes/rodgers-‐hammersteins-‐
oklahoma/introduction/113/ Swinkels, Patrick (ed.). Wagner article archive. The Wagner Library. http://users.belgacom.net/wagnerlibrary/articles/index.htm
Once: What’s in a Title? Brown, David. “Music, Love and Fatalism: How Irish.” The New York Times. 13 May 2007. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/13/movies/13brow.html “Once.” Oxford Dictionaries: The World’s Most Trusted Dictionaries. http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/once?region=us “Once Official Site.” Fox Searchlight. http://www.foxsearchlight.com/once/ Roberts, Sheila. “John Carney & Cast Interview, Once.” Movies Online. http://www.moviesonline.ca/movienews_12026.html The Artistic Collaborators of ONCE Enda Walsh Biography. The Studio Theatre website. http://www.studiotheatre.org/festival/enda.aspx Hurd, Christine A. “John Tiffany’s Evolving Theater.” The Harvard Crimson. 15 February 2011. http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2011/2/15/john-‐tiffany/ Ram, Archana. “'30 Rock': Meet the actress behind 'sexy baby' Abby Flynn.” Entertainment Weekly. 1 March 2011. http://insidetv.ew.com/2011/03/01/30-‐rock-‐meet-‐the-‐actress-‐behind-‐sexy-‐baby-‐abby
-‐flynn/ Sellar, Tom. “Talking with Enda Walsh.” The Village Voice. 8 April 2008. http://www.villagevoice.com/2008-‐04-‐08/theater/feck-‐the-‐pub-‐chat/ Shelburne, Craig. “Working Class’ Steve Kazee Takes Songwriting Journey.” CMT News website. 25 February 2011. http://www.cmt.com/news/country-‐
music/1658756/working-‐class-‐steve-‐kazee-‐takes-‐songwriting-‐journey.jhtml St. Ann’s Warehouse Website. http://www.stannswarehouse.org/current_season.php?show_id=9 “Steven Hoggett Beautiful Burnout.” The Gothamist. http://gothamist.com/2011/02/24/steven_hoggett_beautiful_burnout.php#pho to-‐1 Williams, Imogen Russell. “Theatre Masterclass: Bob Crowley, Set and Costume Designer.” The Guardian. 2 October 2009. http://www.guardian.co.uk/stage/2009/oct/02/theatre-‐bob-‐crowley-‐set-‐ costume-‐
designer The Value of a Relationship: Carr, David. “Romance Fades, Partnership Endures.” The New York Times. 15 October 2009. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/18/arts/music/18davi.html?pagewanted=1 Fetters, Sara Michelle. “Hitting the Right Chords: Learning to Make Beautiful Music with Once.” Movie Freak. http://www.moviefreak.com/artman/publish/interviews_once.shtml Gilovich, Thomas, Keltner, Dacher, and Nisbett, Richard E. Social Psychology. New York: Norton & Company, 2006. Harries, Rhiannon. “How We Met: John Tiffany & Steven Hoggett.” The Independent. http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/how-‐we-‐met-‐john-‐
tiffany-‐amp-‐steven-‐hoggett-‐2073907.html “Making It:” Independent Musicians Andrews, Catherine. “If it’s cool, creative, and different, it’s indie.” CNN website. 13 October 2006. http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/Music/09/19/indie.overview/index.html Leeds, Jeff. “Independent music on move with Internet.” The New York Times. 10 January 2006. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/28/arts/28iht-‐record.html Sherrard, Stephen. “Record Deals Versus Independent Releases.” Music and Technology website. 26 April 2006. http://www.music-‐
tech.com/business.php?subaction=showfull&id=1112329919&archive=&start_fr
om=&ucat=2& Irish Folk Music and Culture “About Us.” Comhaltas. http://comhaltas.ie/about/ “Cue & A: Steve Kazee.” Playbill.com. 1 October 2008
http://www.playbill.com/celebritybuzz/article/121834-‐PLAYBILLCOMS-‐CUE-‐A-‐Steve-‐
Kazee Fleming, Rachel C. “Resisting Cultural Standardization: Comhaltas Ceoltóirí and the Revitalization of Traditional Music in Ireland.” Journal of Folklore Research, 41(2/3). Dec 2004. Indiana University Press. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3814592 Johnston, Thomas F. “The social context of Irish Folk Instruments.” The Companion to Irish Traditional Music. New York: New York University Press, 1999. http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=_xN1VS6sWsEC&oi=fnd&pg=PA
1&dq=irish+traditional+music&ots=E85l7eaeC_&sig=83dsQpMMp55A-‐
NVzDorMTBIj0Hs#v=onepage&q&f=false -‐ Changing Make-‐up of Ireland: Barry, Dan. “Does the ‘Real’ Ireland Still Exist?” The New York Times. 18 May 2008. Photo: Stephen Crowley. http://travel.nytimes.com/2008/05/18/travel/18ireland.html “Dublin History.” Dublin.ie Official portal website for the city of Dublin, Ireland. http://www.dublin.ie/arts-‐culture/dublin-‐history.htm “Dublin History.” Lonely Planet Travel Guides and Travel Information website. http://www.lonelyplanet.com/ireland/dublin/history “History of Dublin Neighbourhoods.” Dublin.ie Official portal website for the city of Dublin, Ireland. http://www.dublin.ie/neighbourhood/history.htm Kelly, Darren. “Dublin’s spatial narrative – the transition from essentially monocultural places to polycultural spaces.” Department of Geography, St Patrick’s College, Dublin City University. http://www.ucd.ie/gsi/pdf/38-‐2/asylum.pdf Merriman, John. A History of Modern Europe: From the Renaissance to the Present. 3rd Ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2010. “Migrants and Multicultural Cities: Problem or Possibility? UN-‐HABITAT Report celebrates multiculturalism” http://www.unhabitat.org/documents/media_centre/sowc/Featuremigrants.p df DEMOGRAPHICS “Persons Usually Resident (and present in their usual residencies).” Beyond 20/20. Central Statistics Office Ireland. http://census.cso.ie/Census/TableViewer/tableView.aspx?ReportId=75492 “State and County Quick Facts for New York County, New York (2010).” US Census Bureau. http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/36/36061.html DUBLIN IMAGES: “Gallery.” Dublin.ie Official portal website for the city of Dublin, Ireland. http://www.dublin.ie/gallery-‐view.aspx?imageId=1192&catId=5