Once, the Broadway show based on the Irish film of the same name, was a big winner in last night's Tony Awards winning best musical direction, best lead actor (for Steve Kazee in the Glen Hansard role) as well as the overall prize for best musical. In total, the musical scooped eight awards making it the major success story of the night.
The movie Once was released in 2006 and shot on a shoestring budget around Dublin, telling the story of a street musician (Glen Hansard) who falls for an eastern European flower-seller (Marketa Irglova). Hansard and Irglova, who were both in attendance last night, won the Oscar for Best Original Song for the hit 'Falling Slowly'.
The Tony win represents the culmination of a Cinderella story for the film's creator John Carney, himself a former musician in Hansard's band The Frames, who struggled to get the film made but enjoyed the considerable success of the film and now the musical.
