The title of my new film, let’s make a whole album, is based on a cringe but clever euphemism from Enda Walsh’s libretto for Once The Musical, which serves as an alternative to “going all the way” with a sexual relationship. To flip that euphemism around: I initially had no intention of “going all the way,” if that meant producing an hour-long documentary about a March event I was part of, which reunited former Broadway cast members of 2012’s Tony-winning Best Musical on the stage of a cozy Hudson Valley community theatre. In fact, when the idea for a full concert film was first suggested by the theatre’s artistic staff, I looked at them with the same incredulous stare they’d given me when I proposed having the 12 actor-musicians (myself included) who originated Once during its 2011 Off-Broadway run at New York Theatre Workshop reunite for a one-night benefit performance in their space.
White Pond Community Arts had come close to shutting its doors for good during the pandemic, and would have but for the dedication of theatre-loving parents and local artists, led by co-artistic directors Carolyn Nielsen and Amy Emerson, who kept it running. I first connected with White Pond back in 2024, after randomly driving by one day and admiring the rusty old basketball hoop posted up outside the former community-center-turned-performance-space nestled in the Appalachian Trail’s hilly woodside, about 90 minutes north of Manhattan. Later I attended performances and assisted in youth programs with White Pond’s Pied Piper Youth Ensemble at the Piper Theater, their 80-seat proscenium house, which evoked my nostalgia for the funkier, more intimate spaces where Once had taken its first steps and thrown its first shapes. Organizing a cast reunion there with the goal of raising funds for minor structural improvements and scholarships for local kids in need would in turn provide meaningful incentive and extra motivation for this Once “OG” ensemble to assemble en masse with instruments in tow—itself a relatively rare occurrence since our final Broadway bow in early 2015.
The set list for the March 16 reunion consisted mainly of selections from the Once “pre-show” repertoire of traditional Irish folk tunes, fitting for a pre-St. Patrick’s Day celebration, which the cast of actor-musicians played onstage prior to curtain. In addition to co-producing and performing in the event, I acquired sufficient archival footage to compile a short highlight reel as digital content for White Pond Community Arts’ future grant applications and online fundraising campaigns. I hired trusted videographers Lilac Milk and Ari Rosen, with whom I had worked separately on previous music-related projects, to shoot concert footage that I could intercut with Lilac’s interviews and behind-the-scenes moments from earlier in the day. Sound designer Brandon Pettinati had been the board op on a recent Pied Piper production and was familiar with the quirks of the system, making it possible for us to capture all of the vocals and acoustic instruments live together in the space, almost entirely unplugged.
In the days following the event, as I sifted through three camera angles worth of video and multiple WAV files of audio, both my coverage of the concert and the quality of the footage turned out to be more cohesive than anticipated. The raw recordings exuded a soulful character and a lo-fi emotional honesty that accurately reflected the unadulterated vibration of each individual’s inspired performance in what remains the tightest band I’ve ever been a part of.
With all due respect to my “short highlight reel,” I decided to affirm the now viable suggestion by the folks at White Pond to go all the way and make a whole album, spending the next month-and-a-half hunched over my laptop in the “editing crouch.” I was then fortunate to have the soundtrack enhanced and augmented by mastering engineer Dana Billings later in the post-production phase. As an enthusiastic amateur auteur, I humbly offer this live concert documentary as a call for youth theatre and arts education to receive more recognition and funding support at both the local and national level. Beyond the starstruck young thespians who dream of making it to Broadway (who then dedicate their lives to working toward that dream), theatre arts can help prepare all types of kids for real world scenarios by developing their public speaking (and listening!) technique, educating them in various technical trades, and fostering interpersonal effectiveness and problem-solving skills relevant to any number of jobs or career paths.
Several NYTW original cast members were unable to participate in the event and were dearly missed. Luckily, Once has fostered multiple generations of talented souls via the myriad cast permutations of the Broadway and national tour productions. Five of those souls, including three who now reside in the vicinity of White Pond, came through and shined brightly on the Piper stage. The seamless dynamic amont the 13-member orchestra represented in this film, theoretically performing together for the very first time, is validation for how gracefully the creators and producers of Once were able to take an experimental theatre piece, devised and molded around a specific group of multi-hyphenates, and translate that into something commercially sustainable that ran on Broadway for almost 1,200 performances. As a result, this particular family of actor-musicians can somehow go years being apart and then, after a few hugs, a few laughs, and a few hours in a semi-circle, transform a humble community arts space on White Pond Road into the Bernard Jacobs Theater on West 45th Street like not a day has passed.
I believe that timeless, telepathic connection between my fellow cast members of Once makes this a worthwhile aural and visual experience for those who appreciate fair play and good craic…or, as we say in Once The Musical, “Good soup.”
Lucas Papaelias is an actor, musician, writer, composer, and experimental filmmaker. He has appeared on Broadway, developed and performed in many new (and old) plays Off-Broadway and regionally, composed musicals and theatrical rock operas, acted in feature films, independent films, television shows, web series, and played guitar in numerous rock and funk bands along the way. @lpfunkspix
