ONCE

The Broadway musical version of Once has recouped its initial $5.5 million (£3.5m) costs in less than six months!

Producers said the pace was “faster than any Tony award-winning best musical in more than a decade”, with the stage version of the Oscar-winning 2006 film turned a profit in 21 weeks after 169 performances.

Only about three in every 10 Broadway shows tend to make a profit, with most needing a year or more to break even.

Based on the Oscar Winning movie, “Once - The Musical” opened on March 18 to rave reviews, with the New York Times calling it “as vital and surprising as the early spring that has crept up on Manhattan”, and Variety dubbing it an “impeccable, rhapsodic, unique musical that’s tender, funny and soaring.”

“Once” features music and lyrics by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, who starred in the film version as two songwriters who fall haltingly in love on the streets of Dublin (Steve Kazee and Cristin Milioti star in the stage version). Enda Walsh (“Penelope,” “Misterman”) wrote the book and John Tiffany (“Black Watch”) is the director. The show won eight Tony awards in June, including best musical, best direction and best performance by an actor in a lead role.

John Carney’s Once was one of the breakthrough films of 2007 and went on to win the Oscar for best original song.

The film was full picture and sound posted here at Screen Scene, and can be seen on television screens this Saturday, BBC2, 1.10am.

BONUS FACT: I wrote a spec script for a Once sequel entitled ‘Twice’ that charted Glen Hansard’s characters quest to get his piano back after coming down with a sudden case of buyers remorse. The screenplay could best be described as a singer songwriter version of ‘Eight Mile’ only with added nudity and knife fights. The script was rejected on the grounds of being “too amazing”.