We thought we were excited about Tony Award-winning musical Once coming to London, but these auditionees, desperate to win a starring role in the new West End musical, trump even us.
With instruments at the ready they descended on Whelan’s in Dublin last weekend like a swarm of cheery, musical locust all hoping to make an impression on the team who will bring the hit show to London.
Did any of them strike the right note? We don’t know yet. But maybe these pictures (courtesy of Collinsphotos) show the performers who will play the Irish busker and Czech mother who meet through a shared love of music and whose song writing sparks a romance that neither would have expected.
Once, which won eight Tony Awards when it opened in New York, is based on the Oscar-winning film of the same name and features a book by acclaimed Irish writer Enda Walsh, music by the film’s stars Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová, and direction by award winner John Tiffany.
Once runs in London’s West End at the Phoenix theatre from 16 March, after a short run at Dublin’s Gaiety Theatre. Its debut in the capital follows the winter season of family drama Goodnight Mister Tom, which runs at the Phoenix until 26 January.