By Linda Chin

‘Once’ – Book by Enda Walsh; Music and Lyrics by Glen Hansard & Markéta Irglová. Based on the Motion Picture Written and Directed by John Carney. Directed by Paul Melone; Music Direction by Steven Ladd Jones; Choreography by Ilyse Robbins; Scenic Design by Rachel Padula-Shufelt; Lighting Design by Karen Perlow; Sound Design by Andrew Duncan Will. Presented by Speakeasy Stage at the Roberts Studio Theatre, Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts, 527 Tremont St., Boston through April 7

Artists and audiences benefit when theater companies embrace authenticity and relatability as critical components of their mission and values, and plan their seasons accordingly. Bravo to those producers, creative teams and casting directors with bold visions and broad reach and the perseverance to find the best actors for the roles, especially challenging with the specific requirements in musical theater works. Bravo to musicals of this season that were impeccably cast:  Miss You Like Hell (Company One & ART), Breath and Imagination (Lyric Stage & Front Porch Arts Collective) and Billy Elliot (Seacoast Rep). To this list we can add SpeakEasy’s Fun Home, which with Scottsboro Boys and Allegiance in previous seasons represent a sweep of standouts with multi-talented (& multicultural & multigenerational) ensembles of actors who speak (and sing and dance) their truth. In Once, the actors are also the musicians for the musical (a first in SpeakEasy’s 27-year history), making impossible dreams – of artists, immigrants, people young and old – seem possible.

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