Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/671869
APRIL 27 - MAY 3, 2016 UCW 19 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM Doors open at 6:30 pm 1 st show & 9:30 pm 2 nd show Featuring a Meet & Greet with Norman Connors Advance tickets $60 per person - $65 at the door Advance tickets are available on Eventbrite.com & www.michellesjazzcomedyent.com For tickets or more informatin call (910) 302-8809 Ticket includes one-drink & complimentary appetizers On its surface Once is a Broadway musical about a Dublin street musician who finds love and inspiration. However, at its core the musical is much more than a love story. Luke Wygodny, a performer in Once, offers his opinion, "In my opinion it is about human beings being human. They are being stopped and guided like puppets not knowing who they are and then they have an awakening. What I mean by awakening is someone falls into their lives and reminds them of who they really are. As humans it is easy to get lost and just go through the motions. Wake up, eat breakfast, go to work - all on autopilot. Every character has this moment of discovery or awakening and I think that we can all relate to that." Wygodny's role in the musical is a unique one. In the theater world he is what is called a wwing. That means that there is a potential for the cast line up to change so he must be prepared to step in as a specific character at any moment. He is responsible for knowing five different parts. This is of course difficult, espe- cially because during the performance all of the actors are also responsible for playing an instrument. For Wygodny however, this combination of music and tra- ditional acting actually make the challenge of being performance ready for five characters a little easier. "It feels more human. Actors are storytellers through everything imaginable: moving a set piece, playing music, singing or words. To merge them makes it easier to break into each character every night," he says. Wygodny's relationship with performing, and with music in particular, is really a life-long one. "I started with music when I was two or three years old. My mother took me into a music store and asked me if I wanted to play the cello or the violin. Everyone in my family plays an instrument so I grew up with everyone jamming out in my living room," he said, "Music is my first language. When I got to high school I found theater and I found that I could merge music and acting. Acting has a lot of the same rhythms and tambours - like playing my cello." Once is certainly not your typical Broadway-style performance. It is not larger than life; instead, it embraces the realistic but profound struggles in life. "What is beautiful about this story is that it is told in the most simplistic form of storytelling. It's won eight Tony's and usually Broadway shows have to be a spectacle. There are huge set pieces and flying people, but this is some chairs, a table and human beings telling a story. It is so intimate that people can forget this is a show," Wygodny said. Once will be presented at the Givens Performing Arts Center on May 3 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets start at $26 and can be purchased online at http:// purchase.tickets.com/buy/TicketPurchase?orgid=44991&schedule=list. The Givens Performing Arts Center is located at 1 University Dr. in Pembroke. For more informa- tion or to purchase tickets by phone, call 910.521.6361. Givens Presents Once by ERINN CRIDER ERINN CRIDER, Staff Writer. COMMENTS? Editor@upandcomingweekly.com. 910.484.6200 Luke Wygodny stars in Once at Givens Performing Arts Center on May 3.