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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