TV: Tony Winner Steve Kazee on How He Almost Passed on ONCE

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Steve Kazeeis this year's recipient of the Tony Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role of a Musical for ONCE.  In his emotional post-Tony interview, Kazee shares his reasons for almost passing on what has become the opportunity of a lifetime and why this recognition is truely icing on a very bittersweet cake.

Kazee's other Broadway credits include Monty Python's Spamalot as Sir Lancelot, Starbuck oppositeAudra McDonaldin the Roundabout's 110 in the Shade, To Be or Not to Be at MTC,Edward Albee's Seascape. Regional theater credits include The Subject Was Roses (Kennedy Center, Helen Hayes Award nomination for Best Actor alongsideBill PullmanandJudith Ivey). The actor has appeared Off-Broadway in As You Like It (NYSF).

His TV and film work includes "Working Class" oppositeMelissa Peterman, "100 Questions" (NBC), "CSI" (CBS), "NCIS" (CBS), "Numb3rs" (CBS), "Medium" (NBC), "Conviction" (NBC).

ONCE opened on March 18, 2012 at theBernard B. JacobsTheatre and stars Kazee as 'Guy' andCristin Miliotias 'Girl.' Also in the company areDavid Abeles,Will Connolly,ElizabethA. Davis,David PatRick Kelly,Anne L. Nathan,Lucas Papaelias, Ripley Sobo,Andy Taylor, Mckayla Twiggs,Erikka Walsh, Paul Whitty, andJ.Michael Zygo.

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 ofGlen HansardandMarkéta Irglová, direction by the acclaimedJohn Tiffany(Black Watch),movement bySteven Hoggett(Black Watch, American Idiot) and music supervision and orchestrations byMartin Lowe(Mamma Mia!).

ONCE is the celebrated new musical based on the Academy Award-winning film. It tells the story of an Irish musician and a Czech immigrant drawn together by their shared love of music. Over the course of one fateful week, their unexpected friendship and collaboration evolves into a powerful but complicated romance, heightened by the raw emotion of the songs they create together. Brought to the stage by an award-winning team of visionary artists and featuring an ensemble cast of gifted actor/musicians, ONCE is described as "a musical celebration of life and love: thrilling in its originality, daring in its honesty... and unforgettable in every way."

ONCE was originally developed at theAmerican RepertoryTheater (Cambridge, Massachusetts) in April 2011;Diane Paulus, Artistic Director; Diane Borger, Producer.