Zander Meisner understudies four roles in Once.
All
t Once
Multitalented
one-man-band
and
runs
Zander Meisner
prepares for Once.
establish her back story.
help
Eamon is the manager of the studio
where the couple records and Emcee
open-mike nights;
the end of
.
hard at first;' says Meisner, 30.
"Several months in, I felt very com
fortable with all four.
I
at
the first act, he's in love with Girl.
"Being four different people was
They are integral
parts of the story, and it's very cool to
play them:'
Suzanne Chessler
Contributing Writer
Although he learned piano
child, guitar
s
understudy
for the musi
cal Once, Zander Meisner
is focused on multiples: He
has learned four parts and is prepared
to play about 10 different instruments.
In his second year of the
show, he has
given any end date.
Running Feb. 3-15 at the Fisher
not
been
became his
as a
primary
instrument while he continued to
learn others.
"In the show, I play the guitar, uku
lele, electric bass, mandolin, banjo,
piano, drumset and various other per
cussion
instruments;' he says. "I didn't
play much of the mandolin and piano
until I started this tour:'
Although Meisner grew up
in
Theatre, Once tells the story of an
Irish musician (Guy) and Czech immi
Illinois, he spent lots of time in
grant (Girl) drawn together by their
Michigan.
against the
of
an
award-winning score
backdrop
love of music
-
and set
by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova.
"This show lets me do everything I
ever
learned about music and theater;'
came
says Meisner. "When the show
was
a
it
out, I thought
great opportu
nity for me to do it all and auditioned:'
Meisner has memorized the roles of
Andrej, Svec, Eamon and Emcee.
Andrej and Svec are Czech immi
grants who land in Girl's apartment
His
dad, financial planner Ned
Meisner, was raised in Huntington
Woods, and there were family visits
grandmother Margaret
along Lake Angelus,
north of Pontiac, where the single
back home. His
Meisner
now
lives
actor-musician has
days boating
Meisner's
him to
and
spent
summer
fishing.
path also brought
career
Michigan. During summer
All At Once
on
page 82
January 29
$
2015
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