Hit Broadway musical Once heading to the Phoenix?
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London Theatre Direct
The 21 year run of Blood Brothers will come to an end this November and Theatreland has been buzzing with suggestions of which show might be able to fill the venue. It now looks that Once will be the most likely candidate and producers will be hoping that the show will be set for a long tenure. The show began it's theatre incarnation off Broadway in late 2011 at the New York Theater Workshop before transferring to the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre in February 2012.
The Daily Mail claims that Once, the surprise hit of last year's Tony Awards, is set to take up residence at the Phoenix Theatre next March. The show scooped and impressive 8 wins out of 11 nominations at the US ceremony. The production is based on the Dublin-set 2006 Oscar-winning indie film of the same name which starred Glen Hansard of Irish folk rock band The Frames and Czech singer Markéta Irglová. Hansard and Irglová penned and performed all of the songs in the film version, many of which are featured in the stage version including the Oscar-winning Falling Slowly which won the 2007 Academy Award for best song. The original film was written and directed by John Carney.
The New York Times reviewer Ben Brantley commended the progression the musical had made from its beginning off Broadway when reviewing the show at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre: "When I first saw the musical 'Once' at the New York Theater Workshop last December, it registered as a little too twee, too conventionally sentimental, for the East Village. Yet on Broadway — at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theater to be exact, where 'Once' opened on Sunday night — what is essentially the same production feels as vital and surprising as the early spring that has crept up on Manhattan .... And what was always wonderful about 'Once,' its songs and its staging, has been magnified. In the meantime its appealing stars, Steve Kazee and Cristin Milioti, have only grown in presence and dimensionality."[
There have been no announcements yet of the possible West End cast or production team. The US show picked up the 2012 Tony Award for Best Musical. In addition Irish playwright Enda Walsh won best book and John Tiffany was named best director of a musical. Designers Bob Crowley, Natasha Katz and Clive Goodwin were also won scenic, lighting and sound design awards. The show also picked up the 2012 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Musical.
Blood Brothers ends its run at the Phoenix Theatre on 10th November.
Book tickets for Blood Brothers here