Stage Door News
Stage Door News
The Tony Award and Grammy Award-winning Best Musical Once will play its final Broadway performance Jan. 4, 2015, producers announced Oct. 7.
By the time of closing, the musical will have played 1,167 regular performances and 22 previews.
The most-awarded show of the 2012 New York theatre season, Once won eight Tony Awards, including Best Musical. The production also won Best Musical from the New York Drama Critics Circle, Drama Desk, Drama League, Outer Critics Circle and Lucille Lortel Awards as well as the 2013 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album.
An Australian production of Once recently opened in Melbourne, and later this year the U.S. tour will play a multi-week engagement in Japan, commencing in late November. The first non-English language production will open in Seoul, South Korea in December. A Toronto production will open in February 2015.
Also in development are productions in Sweden, Brazil, Holland, Greece, The Czech Republic, Thailand and Ireland as well as a Japanese-language production.
Based on the 2007 Academy Award-winning film, Once opened to critical acclaim March 18, 2012, following engagements at New York Theatre Workshop and in Cambridge, MA.
Once features a book by award-winning Irish playwright and screenwriter Enda Walsh, the Academy Award-winning music and lyrics of Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová, direction by John Tiffany, movement by Steven Hoggett and music supervision and orchestrations by Martin Lowe.
The current cast of Once on Broadway features Canadian Paul Alexander Nolan, last seen on Broadway in Jesus Christ Superstar, as Guy and Jessie Fisher as Girl with Laurel Griggs, David Patrick Kelly, Sophie Knapp, Katrina Lenk, Anne L. Nathan, Lucas Papaelias, Scott Stangland, Andy Taylor, Ryan Vona, Erikka Walsh, Paul Whitty and J. Michael Zygo.
"Featuring an impressive ensemble of actor/musicians who play their own instruments onstage, Once," according to press notes, "tells the enchanting tale of a Dublin street musician who's about to give up on his dream when a beautiful young woman takes a sudden interest in his haunting love songs. As the chemistry between them grows, his music soars to powerful new heights... but their unlikely connection turns out to be deeper and more complex than your everyday romance. Emotionally captivating and theatrically breathtaking, Once draws you in from the very first note and never lets go. It's an unforgettable story about going for your dreams and the power of music to connect us all."
Once is produced on Broadway by Barbara Broccoli, John N. Hart Jr., Patrick Milling Smith, Frederick Zollo, Brian Carmody, Michael G. Wilson, Orin Wolf, The Shubert Organization and Executive Producer Robert Cole, in association with New York Theatre Workshop.
Visit OnceMusical.com.
From Michael Gioia for www.playbill.com.
Photo: Paul Nolan as Guy in Once. ©2014 Joan Marcus.
2014-10-07
New York: The musical "Once", currently starring Paul Nolan, to close January 4, 2015