Multi-Tony Award winning theater and Academy Award nominated film producers John N. Hart, Jr, Jeff Sine and Fred Zollo have acquired the North American and worldwide live theater rights to ONCE, the 2007 Academy Award-winning film. ONCE, was written and directed by John Carney, and starred Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová, with original music and lyrics by Mr. Hansard and Ms. Irglová. The creative team for the theatrical musical adaptation of ONCE will be announced shortly, with the aim for the production to bow on Broadway during the 2010/2011 season.
"In a landscape where the American musical must evolve, ONCE provides a wonderful, unique opportunity," said producer John Hart. "Those of us who fell in love with it and it's score at the movie theater came out singing, and will do so again when it finds its way to the stage."
"The film was shot modestly, on a shoe-string budget and managed to capture the hearts of fans around the world, wildly exceeding all critical and box office expectations. It did so, because it invited its audience into the process of artists making music and did not stoop to melodrama," affirmed producer Fred Zollo.
ONCE is a modern day musical set on the streets of Dublin about a street musician and a Czech immigrant. During an eventful week the two meet, begin writing songs together, rehearse and record their songs to take to London in hopes of landing a music contract. Through the music they write, the duo works through their past loves, and are confronted with their new feelings for each other.
ONCE writer/director John Carney asked Glen Hansard, his bandmate from the popular Irish Rock band The Frames, to share his busker anecdotes as well as compose songs for a film he was working on about street musicians. When the lead actor withdrew from the project, Glen stepped into the role opposite first time actress Markéta Irglová. The independent Irish film was made for under $150,000, was shot in 17 days, and went on to gross over $10,000,000, becoming a critically acclaimed international smash. Glen and Markéta won the 2007 Academy Award for Best Original song for "Falling Slowly," the Los Angeles Film Critics Award for Best Music, and the soundtrack was nominated for two Grammy Awards. The duo has been on a highly successful worldwide tour performing music from the platinum selling film soundtrack.
BIOGRAPHIES
John N. Hart, JR (Producer) Prior to founding Evamere Entertainment LLC, Mr. Hart was the founding partner and President of Hart Sharp Entertainment, Inc., a New York based independent film production company. During his tenure at Hart Sharp, Mr. Hart produced 11 films and managed two private equity funds with an aggregate capital commitment of $23 million. Mr. Hart has produced 15 critically acclaimed feature films including Boys Don't Cry and You Can Count on Me, both of which were nominated for two Academy Awards. Other acclaimed films include, Nicholas Nickleby, Proof, Home At the End of the World, and The Night Listener. Mr. Hart began his entertainment career in New York City as a theater producer. His first Broadway show was Eubie! A Musical (1978), a tribute to Eubie Blake starring the Hines brothers. Mr. Hart has produced 11 Broadway and Off-Broadway shows, including the Nathan Lane, Faith Prince revival of Guys and Dolls, The Who's Tommy, Hamlet with Ralph Fiennes, and How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, starring Mathew Broderick. Current theater projects include the Tony Award-winning Broadway revival of Chicago. Mr. Hart's productions have personally garnered him five Tony Awards for Best Production. The shows that he has produced have won over thirty Tonys in various categories. Mr. Hart holds a B.A. from Dartmouth College (1975).
FRED ZOLLO (Producer) The producer of more than sixty plays on Broadway, Off-Broadway and in London, Frederick Zollo moved into feature films in 1988, and has produced such multiple Academy Award nominated films as Alan Parker's Mississippi Burning, written by Chris Gerolmo, Ron Howard's The Paper, Rob Reiner's Ghosts of Mississippi and Robert Redford's Quiz Show. He has produced such Emmy nominated television films as "In the Gloaming", directed by Christopher Reeve, and "Lansky" written by David Mamet and directed by John McNaughton. His theatre work has received scores of Tony Award nominations (Zollo is a four time winner) including best play nominations for Marsha Norman's 'night Mother starring Kathy Bates, David Rabe's Hurlyburly directed by Mike Nichols, Ernest Thompson's On Golden Pond, David Rabe's The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel starring Al Pacino, Tony Kushner's landmark Angels in America, Edward Albee's The Goat, Ariel Dorfman's Death and the Maiden, directed by Mike Nichols with Gene Hackman and Glenn Close, Christopher Hampton's Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Tony Kushner's opera Caroline, or Change, August Wilson's Broadway debut Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, a series of works by Eric Bogosian including Talk Radio, which Mr. Zollo directed: multiple works of David Mamet, from Glengarry Glen Ross to Oleanna to The Cryptogram, Frank Pugliese's AvenUboys for which he won the Obie award for his direction and the mammoth Broadway and West End success, Ian Flemming's Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
Jeff Sine (Producer) Recent Broadway producing credits include Spring Awakening (Tony Award), Butley, Martin Short's Fame Becomes Me, The Odd Couple, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and Lennon as well as the Tony nominated Frozen; Caroline, or Change; and La Bohème and the Tony Award-winning The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?; and Private Lives. Previous producing credits include Oleanna; Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll; and A Clockwork Orange. Mr. Sine is a board member of the Manhattan Theatre Club and the Play Company in New York and is an owner of the Hibernia Theatre in Prague, Czech Republic.
