Olympia Theatre | 1 July – 26 August 2017
Tickets on sale worldwide from this Friday, 3 March 2017 at 9am

WINNER
8 TONY Awards including BEST MUSICAL
GRAMMY AWARD – Best Musical Theatre Album
OSCAR – Best Original Song, Falling Slowly

It has played for over three years on Broadway, two years in the West End and for two summers already in the Olympia Theatre in Dublin. Now, due to phenomenal demand, the record-breaking stage show Once returns to the Olympia for 8 weeks only in summer 2017. Once is truly never enough to see this phenomenal production that has fans returning to see it again and again.  When you see it, you’ll understand why.

Landmark Productions, in association with MCD, are delighted to announce that this is the first ever all-Irish cast in any production, worldwide, of Once.  Over the last five years, Once has played on Broadway and across America, in London, Seoul, Melbourne and Toronto but only this summer will this quintessential Dublin story have an all-Irish cast for the very first time.

Described as ‘a love-song to Dublin’, the stunning music is performed by an extraordinary cast of actor-musicians, who sing, dance and play their hearts out live on stage. Between them, the 12 actors play 30 instruments during each performance, making Once a unique show that has the feel of a play and a music gig combined.

The cast includes Brian Gilligan as Guy, Niamh Perry as Girl, Sandra Dowd Callaghan as Baruska, Faoileann Cunningham as Reza, Phelim Drew as Billy,  David Ganly as Bank Manager, Turlough Gunawardhana as Emcee, Bob Kelly as Eamonn, Sam McGovern as Andrej, Bill Murphy as Da, Rickie O’Neill as Svec and Ruth Smith as Ex-Girlfriend.

The Producers are especially pleased that two Irish stars of London’s West End musical theatre will be appearing in the show.  Dubliner Brian Gilligan has played the lead role in The Commitments for over a year and appeared with Kit Harington in Doctor Faustus last year in London.  Niamh Perry, who came to prominence in the BBC talent show I’ll Do Anything, created the role of “Fleck” in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical Love Never Dies and appeared in the recent London production of Lloyd Webber’s and Ben Elton’s The Beautiful Game.

The cast will also include some of the best known and best loved Irish actors working in Ireland (Phelim Drew, returning in the iconic role of “Billy”) and in London (David Ganly – Shakespeare in Love in the West End).  As well as the hugely talented returning company, the casting for this year’s run is completed by rising stars of stage and screen: Sam McGovern (RTE’s Striking Out), Ruth Smith (The Evertides) and Faoileann Cunningham, who is about to graduate from RADA in London, and whose first professional engagement this will be.

Once is a funny, moving and life-affirming love story with glorious music that has captured hearts around the world. Seeing it where it all began, at home in Dublin, is very special. Based on the movie sensation of the same name, filmed and set in Dublin, it features music and lyrics by Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová and a Tony award-winning book by Enda Walsh. The show has all the magical songs from the much-loved film, including the Oscar-winning Falling Slowly.

Once has something unique to offer those who come to the Olympia. It has Dublin’s only on-stage bar where patrons can walk onto the set and buy a drink on stage. It really is a ‘once’ in a lifetime experience!  And brand new seating, with improved comfort and legroom, has been installed in the ground floor stalls area of The Olympia (just voted Hot Press Live Music Venue of the Year award for the second time running) along with a complete redesign of the four bars in the theatre.

The show continues to attract tens of thousands of overseas visitors from all over the world who have seen it in Dublin over the last two years.  Based on research from the recent “Let’s Celebrate 2017” report (produced by Wide Awake Communications – www.letscelebrate.ie), highlighting the cultural and economic contribution of live entertainment events in Ireland, nearly €10 million of additional revenue was generated into the local economy in 2016 as a direct result of the tickets bought for Once, by Irish and overseas visitors.  We anticipate that this figure will be surpassed in 2017.

Once is about the power of music to connect us.  See one of Ireland’s best-selling music theatre shows over the last two years at home in Dublin’s Olympia Theatre from 1 July – 26 August, 2017.

VIDEO

Watch the trailer for Once this summer at the Olympia Theatre  http://oncemusical.ie/video/ 

PRAISE FOR ONCE

  • ★★★★ ‘winning… the music is the show’s trump card’   The Irish Times
  • ★★★★ ‘hysterically funny… truly uplifting’   Irish Daily Mail
  • ★★★★ ‘gorgeous… a masterclass… exquisite’   The Herald
  • ‘brilliantly adapted… ingeniously staged… hilarious’  Sunday Times
  • ‘stellar… exceptional… a must-see’  Hot Press
  • ‘a love affair with music”  The New York Times

ONCE THE MUSICAL ONLINE

www.oncemusical.ie | @OnceMusicalDub  https://twitter.com/OnceMusicalDub | https://www.facebook.com/OncetheMusicalDublin/

DATES & BOOKING INFORMATION

 Venue: The Olympia Theatre, Dublin
Dates: 1 July – 26 August 2017

Mon – Saturday 8pm & matinees Saturday 3pm

Booking Information

Tickets from €25

Tel: 0818 719 300 | http://www.ticketmaster.ie/Once-the-Musical-Dublin-tickets/artist/1978797

Phone & internet bookings subject to 12.5% service charge per ticket (max €6.85), Agents max €3.30 per ticket

Notes for Editors

Once was originally 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.

Produced by Landmark Productions

Landmark Productions is one of Ireland’s leading theatre producers.  The company is led by Anne Clarke, who received the Special Tribute Award in The Irish Times Irish Theatre Awards for 2015, in recognition of her work ‘as a producer of world-class theatre in the independent sector in Ireland’. Landmark’s co-productions with Galway International Arts Festival include three plays by Enda Walsh: the world premieres of Arlington, which will play at St Ann’s Warehouse in New York in May 2017, and Ballyturk, which toured to Dublin, Cork and to the National Theatre in London, together with Misterman, starring Cililan Murphy, which toured to St Ann’s and to the National Theatre in London.  Landmark co-produced with Wide Open Opera the world premiere of a new opera by Donnacha Dennehy and Enda Walsh, The Last Hotel.  It premiered at the Edinburgh International Festival and toured worldwide.  A film version of the opera was commissioned by Sky Arts and co-produced with Brink Films.  Other recent work includes Enda Walsh’s The Walworth Farce, starring Brendan Gleeson, Brian Gleeson and Domhnall Gleeson and Mark O’Rowe’s Howie the Rookie, starring Tom Vaughan-Lawlor, which played at the Barbican in London and at BAM in New York, where it was co-presented by the Irish Arts Center as part of BAM’s 2014 Next Wave season.  Landmark received the Judges’ Special Award in the Irish Times Irish Theatre Awards for 2011, in recognition of its ‘sustained excellence in programming and for developing imaginative partnerships to bring quality theatre to the Irish and international stage’.

Written by Enda Walsh

(Playwright) Enda Walsh is a multi award-winning Irish playwright. His work has been translated into over 20 languages and has been performed internationally since 1998.  His recent plays include The Same, which was produced by Corcadorca in February 2017 at the Old Cork Prison; Lazarus with David Bowie, which recently finished a run at the Kings Cross Theatre in London and was previously seen at the New York Theatre Workshop; A Girl’s Bedroom, shown at the Galway International Arts Festival (2015); The Twits at the Royal Court; the opera The Last Hotel for Landmark Productions and Wide Open Opera (Edinburgh International Festival, Dublin Theatre Festival, Royal Opera House, London, St Ann’s Warehouse, New York, Les Théâtres de la Ville, Luxembourg, 2015-2017), Ballyturk, produced by Landmark Productions and Galway International Arts Festival (Galway, Dublin, Cork and London, 2014); Room 303, shown at the Galway International Arts Festival (2014); Misterman, produced by Landmark Productions and Galway International Arts Festival in Ireland, London and New York (2011-2012); and several plays for Druid Theatre Company, including Penelope, which has been presented in Ireland, America and London, from 2010–2011, The New Electric Ballroom, which played Ireland, Australia, Edinburgh, London, New York and LA from 2008-2009, and The Walworth Farce, which played Ireland, Edinburgh, London and New York, as well as an American and Australian tour, from 2007-2010. He won a Tony Award for writing the book for the musical Once in 2012, which played for three years on Broadway and two years in the West End, and is due to return to the Olympia Theatre in Dublin in July/August 2017.  His other plays include Delirium (Theatre O/Barbican), which played Dublin and a British tour in 2008; Chatroom (National Theatre), which played at the NT and on tour in Britain and Asia (2006-2007); and The Small Things (Paines Plough), which played London and Galway Arts Festival (2005). His early plays include Bedbound (Dublin Theatre Festival) and Disco Pigs (Corcadorca).  His film work includes Disco Pigs (Temple Films/Renaissance) and Hunger (Blast/FILM4).  In 2014 he received an honorary doctorate from NUI Galway.

Sabrina Sheehan, MPRII 

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