‘Once’ at John W. Engeman Theater in Northport
![Barry DeBois stars in "Once" at the John W. Engeman...](/_next/image?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.newsday.com%2Fimage-service%2Fversion%2Fc%3AMjVjODFiMzItM2Q4Yi00%3AMzItM2Q4Yi00MGY4ZjZi%2Fetliextra011918_web.jpg%3Ff%3DLandscape%2B16%253A9%26w%3D770%26q%3D1&w=1920&q=80)
Barry DeBois stars in "Once" at the John W. Engeman Theater In Northport. Credit: John W. Engeman Theater
“It was terrifying,” says Barry DeBois, of the first time he stepped in front of a live audience as Guy in a national tour performance of the Tony Award-winning musical “Once.” “You’d be surprised how little onstage rehearsal time the understudy gets.”
Now well-seasoned in the role of the nameless Dublin busker who attracts a young immigrant flower seller and musician (aka Girl) with his songs, DeBois, 35, is the lead Guy in the film-turned-musical production currently playing at John W. Engeman Theater in Northport.
STAGE BAND
With the absence of a pit orchestra, the musicianship of the actors, who provide the instrumental accompaniment directly onstage, is exceptional. “It’s taken a lot of practice,” says DeBois, who had previously amped up his high school band guitar-playing skills for an off-off-Broadway performance of “The Wedding Singer.” “One of my favorite moments is when we sing ‘Gold,’ the song that closes out Act 1, and everyone is playing, moving and singing together. It gives me chills.”
Audiences might be similarly moved when the tenor and Andrea Goss, the actress who plays Girl and was previously the Broadway understudy for the part, perform the showstopping closing number. “Falling Slowly,” which won an Academy Award for best song in the film, was inspired by the real-life romance of the movie version’s stars and the ballad’s authors, Irish rocker Glen Hansard and Czech singer Markéta Irglová. “When I sing the song, I always look up to the balcony where I sat when I saw Glen performing live and give a nod to whomever is sitting there,” DeBois says.
AN OFF-FORMULA MUSICAL
Just as the musical staging of “Once” is unconventional, so too is its love story. While most musicals embrace the age-old formula boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl, the romance between Guy and Girl does not follow the classic narrative. “ ‘Once’ takes old story tropes and turns them on their head,” says DeBois of the show not having — beware, spoiler alert — a Hollywood happy ending. “It is not the same old story. It feels real. There’s grit and life’s complications.”
While some people may be disappointed with “Once’s” bittersweet resolution, it resonates with DeBois, who left his career as a mechanical engineer to pursue his passion for the stage. “I leave hopeful. At the beginning, both of the characters are stuck, but by the end they are on their way to adventures,” he says. “And I think that’s beautiful.”
‘ONCE’
WHEN | WHERE Jan. 18-March 4, 8 p.m., Wednesdays (except Jan. 24) through Fridays, 3 and 8 p.m. Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays at John W. Engeman Theater, 250 Main St., Northport
INFO $73-$78; 631-261-2900, engemantheater.com
Perchance to stew
WHAT No-fear Shakespeare is what the ghost of John Barrymore advocates for the B-list actor who has moved into the late acting legend’s former Manhattan digs. In Paul Rudnick’s 1991 play “I Hate Hamlet,” Andrew Rally has been offered the dream role of the Prince of Denmark, but the insecure TV star, whose series just got canceled, isn’t so sure he’s ready for big-time tragedy. Meanwhile, it is comedy that ensues, with Rally’s cohorts and Barrymore’s ghost trying to persuade and dissuade him from taking the part. To be or not to be? Come find out the answer to the question at Theatre Three.
WHEN | WHERE Through Feb. 3, 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, 3 p.m. Sunday, 7 p.m. Jan. 28 and 2 p.m. Jan. 31 at 412 Main St., Port Jefferson
INFO $20-$35, 631-928- 9100, theatrethree.com
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