'Once' upon a stage: Love gets messy in Royal MTC production of hit musical

"Love's all very well — but in the hands of people, it turns into soup."

That's the opinion of one of the characters in Once, the Tony- and Grammy Award-winning 2011 musical based on the hit 2007 indie film.

And love — whether it's for music, for your hometown or for another wandering soul — gets very messy indeed in Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova's tuner (with a witty book by Enda Walsh, one of Ireland's finest living playwrights).

It follows the story of Guy (Winnipeg ex-pat Jeremy Walmsley) and Girl (Amanda LeBlanc), an unlikely pair drawn together in Dublin by a love of music. He's a musician nursing a broken heart, she's a Czech immigrant in an "it's complicated" relationship. Can they make beautiful music together?

This is the question the musical revolves around, and no, it's not a new idea in terms of plot or themes. There is an almost fairy-tale quality to the story — the title is, after all, the start of "once upon a time," and there are some nice nods to that in that broken vacuum cleaners and pianos magically appear just when they're most needed.

As evidenced by the fact they're simply named "Guy" and "Girl," the main characters are intended to be everypeople — love, and its complications, are universal, after all.

Even so, the characters come across as a little too stock at the start of director Tracey Flye's Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre production (a co-pro with London, Ont.'s Grand Theatre).

The "tortured artist" element of Guy is perhaps a bit overplayed, hiding the appeal that draws Girl to him. LeBlanc plays her with a winsome likability but, again, the character of the charmingly blunt foreigner doesn't feel original here.

The first act of the 140-minute (with intermission) show felt slow on opening night — perhaps an opening night issue, but perhaps too because the chemistry between Guy and Girl isn't immediately obvious. I found it took a while to be drawn into the show.

That's made up for, though, but a more nuanced and compelling second act, as Guy and Girl try to define their relationship and determine their paths. The tender final scenes are played beautifully under Flye's direction, and they deliver a powerful emotional impact that will pull at even the most tightly wound heartstrings.

It doesn't dwell perpetually in the world of heartbreak, though — Walsh's book if peppered with plenty of laughs, all nicely landed by a strong supporting cast (Daniel Williston is a standout as the hilariously irrepressible music shop owner Billy).

Through it all is Hansard and Irglova's music, which is mostly appealing but also something of a mixed bag. Drawing more on the singer/songwriter tradition than Irish trad, it's got some beautiful moments — the Oscar-winning linchpin ballad Falling Slowly is a heartbreaking stunner.

It's got terrifically energetic numbers, too, including Ej Pada Pada, performed with gusto by Girl's Czech family.

Some other tunes feel a bit more singer/songwriter generic (Guy's opening number, Leave, for example) and Girl's The Hill is a too-sappy bawler.

However, all are marvellously performed by the 13-member cast, who play their own instruments expertly (under the direction of music director Joseph Tritt) as well as singing and acting. There's talent to spare on stage, as evidenced not just by some outstanding musicianship, but also in the vocal talent displayed in the beautiful a cappella Gold, a lovely, quiet showstopper delivered late in the show's moving second act.

For the most part, those characters are onstage constantly, too — they slip out of scenes and sit on the side of Brian Perchaluk's cozy bar set, where they act as the show's orchestra (and that bar is indeed open to the audience pre-show and during intermission).

That gives this a certain feel of people sitting around and sharing a story — one that yes, we've heard variations on before, but that's no less moving for that.

Love is, after all, a new adventure and a new story every time — even if you've heard it once or twice.

Once runs at the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre's John Hirsch Mainstage until March 10.