This is (one of) my mother’s favorite musical. Years ago, on her birthday, we were out for dinner as a family. There was a singer with a guitar providing entertainment and he was taking requests. My mom requested Falling Slowly but she couldn’t remember the title of the song, so she just said “that one song from Once.” Once, both the movie and the musical, flew over my radar whenever they came out. I had no idea what my mother was talking about, but to my surprise, and future delight, the singer knew the track she was talking about and performed a lovely rendition.

Falling Slowly needs absolutely no explanation. The song is breathtaking. In the Broadway recording, Cristin Milioti matches [the movie actresses name] in energy, and Steve Kazee takes a much softer approach to the role, compared to his movie counterpart. The guitar intro is replaced with a piano which removes any edge the song ever had to begin with. The result is an almost perfect duet between Kazee and Milioti, floating seamlessly through the air.

I don’t know you
but I want you
all the more for that
words fall through me
always fool me
and I can’t react

This album is a staple in anyone’s Broadway collection. One of the best (and one of my favorites) in the Actor-Musician genre. It was one of the first big non-Doyle Actor-Musician Broadway successes. Once deservingly won the 2012 Tony. I’m unsure as to why it was not eligable / did not get nominated for original Score, when Newsies, which is also from a movie, won. I’m not sure why Once wasn’t recognized for it’s score. It did, however, win 8 awards that year, including Orchestrations, Leading Actor, Book, and Sound Design.

Other album highlights include: Leave, Gold, The Hill, and When Your Mind’s Made Up. But the entire album drinks like a smooth glass of wine. Everything leads up to the finale: an acapella version of Gold that sends chills down any humans spine, followed by a reprise of Falling Slowly that tops the original movie and original non-reprise Broadway version. Nearing perfection, this album will pull at your heartstrings and increase your dopamine levels. This album has become one of my favorite OBCRs, and it gets better each additional time I hear it.