BWW Flashback: Falling Slowly... ONCE Ends Run on Broadway Today

The Best Musical Tony Award and Grammy Award-winning global sensation Once will play its final Broadway performance today, January 4, 2015. As of that date, the musical will have played 1,167 performances and 22 previews. Below, BroadwayWorld takes you back through the musical's start on Broadway!

ONCE features a book by award-winning Irish playwright & screenwriter, Enda Walsh (Penelope, Hunger, The New Electric Ballroom), the Academy Award-winning music and lyrics of Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová, direction by the acclaimed John Tiffany (The Glass Menagerie, Black Watch), movement by Steven Hoggett (The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night- Time, Black Watch, American Idiot) and music supervision and orchestrations by Martin Lowe (Mamma Mia!).

The set and costume design are by six-time Tony Award winner Bob Crowley (The Coast of Utopia, MARY POPPINS), lighting design is by three-time Tony winner Natasha Katz (Aida, The Coast of Utopia), and sound design is by Clive Goodwin.

Featuring an impressive ensemble of actor/musicians who play their own instruments onstage, ONCE tells the enchanting tale of a Dublin street musician who's about to give up on his dream when a beautiful young woman takes a sudden interest in his haunting love songs. As the chemistry between them grows, his music soars to powerful new heights... but their unlikely connection turns out to be deeper and more complex than your everyday romance. Emotionally captivating and theatrically breathtaking, Once draws you in from the very first note and never lets go. It's an unforgettable story about going for your dreams and the power of music to connect us all.

The musical is based on the 2007 Academy Award-winning film, written and directed by John Carney. The independent Irish movie was made for $150,000 and shot in 17 days but went on to gross $20 million worldwide. Hansard and Irglová 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.

ONCE was originally developed for the stage at the A.R.T. in Cambridge in April 2011. After a developmental off-Broadway run (pictured below) at the New York Theatre Workshop in 2011, ONCE began previews on Broadway in February 2012.

Just before the production's Broadway opening, the Original Broadway Cast recording was released. Watch behind-the-scenes footage from the recording studio below!

ONCE opened on Broadway on March 18, 2012 at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre, featuring Steve Kazee as 'Guy' and Cristin Milioti as 'Girl'. Scroll down for a look at the cast in action! (Production photos by Joan Marcus; opening bow pics by Walter McBride.)

The most-awarded show of the 2012 New York theatre season, Once won eight Tony Awards including Best Musical. The production also swept the other major awards winning Best Musical from the New York Drama Critics Circle, Drama Desk, Drama League, Outer Critics Circle and Lucille Lortel Awards. Watch the company's performance at the 2012 Tony Awards!

In Fall 2012, it was announced that ONCE would be taking its story to the West End in spring 2013. The show also announced it would kick off a U.S. national tour in October 2013. Arthur Darvill (Guy) and Joanna Christie (Girl) joined the Broadway cast in April that year (photos by Joan Marcus), before the tour launch in Providence, RI.

ONCE hit the road on its first North American tour at the Providence Performing Arts Center on October 1, 2013. Before opening night, BWW's Richard Ridge stopped by for interviews at rehearsal in Rhode Island, and you check out what the cast had to say below!

Earlier this summer, Jessie Fisher joined Paul Alexander Nolan as the new 'Girl' to his 'Guy' in the long-running Broadway musical. See them onstage below (photos by Joan Marcus)!

Since their first bows, the London production of ONCE has won two 2014 Olivier Awards and the U.S. National Tour received a 2014 Elliot Norton Award nomination for Outstanding Musical Production. The musical has now amassed 51 award nominations and 24 awards from around the world.

An Australian production of ONCE opened in Melbourne in October 2014, and the U.S. tour played an engagement in Japan in November. The first non-English language production opened in Seoul, South Korea last month, with a Toronto production slated for a February 2015 opening.

Also in development are productions in Sweden, Brazil, Holland, Greece, The Czech Republic, Thailand and Ireland, along with a Japanese language production.

So this is far from goodbye, ONCE! We can't wait to see you all across the globe!