A chat with Stacie Orrico, playing Girl in Savannah Rep's 'ONCE'

 'It’s like their souls that are needing to be brought back to life'

Ryan McCurdy as "Guy" and Stacie Orrico as "Girl." Photo by Adriana Boatwright.

SAVANNAH Rep’s 2023 mainstage season will begin with the Broadway sensation ONCE. The play, originally a 2012 film directed by John Carney, serves as a tribute to Irish resilience and culture and was turned into a play a few years later. Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Stacie Orrico has the lead role of “Girl” in the play. Recently, I had the pleasure of speaking with her to learn more about who she is and gain more information about the play.

Orrico was born in Seattle, Washington, and before moving to Savannah, she lived in New York for ten years.

“I was there before I had children. And it’s especially as a creative or anyone who’s just curious about exploring all the aspects and colors and tones of life, New York is definitely that place. So yeah, I loved it. I thought I would stay forever until I was going to have a baby. Then it was like all of a sudden everything that made sense about New York didn’t make sense anymore,” Orrico says.

Orrico became a Grammy-nominated artist as a teenager for a self-titled album. She had been a solo artist for a long time prior to deciding to perform in theater but felt that she needed to exercise her creative muscles in a different way. Her upcoming performance in ONCE will be her first time doing theater since she was in school at the T. Shriper Conservatory in New York.

Orrico has tons of influences and inspirations for performing. “I grew up in the church. I wasn’t allowed to listen to pop or the radio. We didn’t have a TV. So, I learned music in the church. And then obviously, once I got introduced to Whitney and Mariah, my dad exposed me to a lot of jazz. So I loved Ella and Billy and Sarah Vons. And then my cousins would sneak me little R&B records, even though I wasn’t supposed to have them. But I got into Brandy and Tony Francis.”

Before Orrico performs, she does vocal warmups and some meditative breathing. To really bring it all in, she sits quietly for a few minutes or to some chill music. Orrico has four close girlfriends that she gets on FaceTime with. She doesn't speak with them before every show, but she does if there’s a big show to perform. They remind her of things and give her a pep talk.

Orrico says that the moments before a show is a time to get to thrive in your art space. “And it’s like, I need to make this count. It’s like if I’m going to have a moment to dive into this thing, I need to be here. I need to be present. I need to be ready,” she said.

One unique thing about Orrico’s performance in ONCE is that her character is named Girl. The other lead character in the play is named Guy. They meet very briefly for a short period of time and have a profound impact on each other’s lives.

“They never even actually exchange names. The connection through the music is just so tangible and so clear from the first moment, but that becomes the connection that they have. And they need to find each other at this moment to reignite this artistic, creative space in each other. But it’s more than the music. It’s like their souls that are needing to be brought back to life. And so to me, I imagine the once part is like the one little moment in time that shocked us both back into life,” Orrico says.

Orrico will play piano in the show, saying that the piano has always been a tool to write music or sometimes to accompany her a little bit. Although she’s not the best when it comes to reading music, she wanted to figure out how she really wanted to audition for her part in the play.

When she moved to Savannah in 2020, she did a Johnny Mercer revue, which was a good opportunity for her as she grew up with Mercer's music. Her husband is also a performer and they have done cabarets and duets together, as well as a few Christmas projects.

“I really hope that people will walk away with a renewed curiosity about really listening to other people. Like really stopping with what they’re obsessing about, but what are you passionate about? Like, let me take a minute to see your greatness. I think that’s what Girl really does for Guy in the story,” Orrico says.

Orrico is excited to be immersed in all of the Celtic and Irish cultures, and she’s looking forward to celebrating St. Patrick’s Day with her family.