Bennett And Cvitesic Confirmed In ONCE, Opening At Phoenix Theatre, Spring 2013

The London production of Once will open at the Phoenix Theatre on 9 April, with previews from 16 March 2013 and is currently booking to 30 November 2013. Prior to its West End opening Once will run at the Gaiety Theatre in Dublin from 22 February - 9 March 2013.

Once has book by award-winning Irish playwright and screenwriter Enda Walsh. Based on the 2007 motion picture written and directed by John Carney, music and lyrics are by Academy Award winning Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová who, for Falling Slowly, won the Oscar for Best Original Song. Scenic and costume designs are by Bob Crowley, with lighting by Natasha Katz, sound by Clive Goodwin, musical supervision and orchestrations by Martin Lowe and movement by Steven Hoggett.

Having received the most nominations (35) in the 2012 theatre award season, Once went on to become the recipient of 21 awards, the most on Broadway that year. As wellas winning eight Tony awards including Best New Musical, Once was named Best Musical by the New York Drama Critics Circle, Drama Desk, Drama League, Outer Critics Circle and Lucille Lortel Awards. The New York production of Once, the fastest Broadway musical to recoup in 16 years, opened at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre in March 2012 where it continues to break box office records.Oncewill begin a US national tour launched by The Road Company in the summer of 2013.

Declan Bennett and Zrinka Cviteši? will be joined by Valda Aviks, Ryan Fletcher, Aidan Kelly, Gareth O'Connor, Michael O'Connor, Miria Parvin, Jos Slovick, Flora Spencer-Longhurst, Jez Unwin and Gabriel Vick. Alternating the role of Girl's young daughter Ivanka will be Poppy-Lily Baker, Mia-Jai Bryan,Pacha Anna Green and Nancy Ann Jeans.

Based on the much-loved Oscar-winning film, Once is a celebration of love, friendship and music. When an Irish busker and a young Czech mother meet through a shared love of music, their songwriting sparks a deep connection and a tender, longing romance that neither of them could have expected.

Actor singer songwriter Declan Bennett (Guy) has appeared on Broadway and in the West End. His theatre credits include Rent and American Idiot on Broadway, Taboo at the Venue Theatre and It's a Lovely Day Tomorrowand Our Day Out for the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry. Following success as a member of the band PointBreak, he released his first solo album The Painters Ball in 2005. Bennett's most recent album Record: Breakup was released in April 2011 preceded by An Innocent Evening of Drinking in 2008. His film credits include Inside Llewyn Davis, Contagion and Downtown Express.

Croatian born Zrinka Cvitešic (Girl), a theatre, film and television actor, has been a member of the Croatian National Theatre since 2005 where her roles included Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, Irina in Three Sisters, Helena in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Gwendoline in The Importance of Being Ernest, Lulu in Shopping and Fucking and Jenny in The Threepenny Opera. For her performance in What is a Man Without a Moustache? she won several awards including The Heart of Sarajevo Award and Best Actress Awards at the Sarajevo Film Festival, the Golden Arena Festival and the Pula Film Festival. For her performance as Luna in the award-winning On the Path she was named the Croatian Shooting Star at the 2010 Berlin Film Festival and also received a nomination in the Best Actress category at the 2010 European Film Awards. Her other film credits include The Horseman and most recently she won the Bernhard Wicki Award for Best Actress at the 2012 Münich Film Festival for her role in My Beautiful Country. In 2010 Cvitešic won Ples sa zvijezdama, the Croatian version of Dancing with the Stars.