Review: 'Begin Again,' John Carney's 2013 film about music industry rebels, gets second crack as a musical

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Set us as preferred “Heartwarming” is a cliche of theater reviewing that I have studiously tried to avoid, but I’m tempted to use the word in my review of “Begin Again,” the new musical based on the 2013 John Carney romantic comedy about two dreamers trying to rekindle the love of making music that the industry nearly destroyed.The show, which is having its world premiere at the Old Globe’s Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage, is just so damn heartwarming that I can’t help but resort to the language of blurbs.But let the ticket buyer beware: Heartwarming is a feeling, not a complete verdict.Featuring a book by Jenna Clark Embrey and Molly Beach Murphy and a score by Pat Monahan and his bandmates from Train (Jerry Becker and Matt Musty), “Begin Again” does a pretty good job of distilling and updating the movie.

Carney’s film, notable mostly for the vibrantly gritty New York setting, the Oscar-nominated song “Lost Stars” and the lived-in performance of Mark Ruffalo, couldn’t help languishing in the shadow of the filmmaker’s breakout hit “Once,” which later became a Tony-winning musical.“Begin Again” the musical is likely to suffer a similar fate.It lacks the quirky originality that made “Once” an unexpected Broadway juggernaut.

But the new show, directed by Lorin Latarro and choreographed by David Neumann, has heart — there I go with that overused word again!I succumbed to the show’s charms despite being aware that the comedy isn’t as freshly articulated as it should be and the music, while exuberant, doesn’t seem to emanate from the soul of Gretta, a reworked American version of the singer-songwriter character indifferently played by Keira Knightley in the movie.Gretta relates to her songs as though she were the next Joni Mitchell, but the new material she’s composing on the fly ...