Tony-Winning Musical ONCE Comes to Segerstrom Center Tonight

ONCE, winner of eight Tony Awards including Best Musical and winner of the 2013 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album, will play at Segerstrom Center for the Arts for a limited engagement from tonight, August 19 through the 31st.

Single tickets start at $25 and are now available online at SCFTA.org, the Box Office at 600 Town Center Drive in Costa Mesa or by calling (714) 556-2787. For inquiries about group ticket savings for 10 or more, call the Group Services office at (714) 755-0236. The TTY number is (714) 556-2746. The 2 p.m. performance on Saturday, August 30 will include audio description, open captioning and sign-language interpretation.

ONCE, which was also named Best Musical by the New York Drama Critics' Circle, Drama Desk, Drama League, Outer Critics Circle and Lucille Lortel Awards, is currently running on Broadway at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre where it started performances on February 28, 2012 and opened March 18, 2012.

ONCE features the Academy Award-winning music and lyrics of Glen Hansard and Marke?ta Irglova?; book by award-winning Irish playwright and screenwriter Enda Walsh (Penelope, Hunger, The New Electric Ballroom); direction by the acclaimed Scottish director of Black Watch, John Tiffany; movement by Steven Hoggett (Black Watch, American Idiot) and music supervision and orchestrations by Martin Lowe (Mamma Mia!). The set and costume design are by five-time Tony Award winner Bob Crowley (The Coast of Utopia, Mary Poppins), lighting design is by Tony winner Natasha Katz (Aida, The Coast of Utopia) and sound design is by Clive Goodwin.

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 a musical celebration of life and love: thrilling in its originality, daring in its honesty ... and unforgettable in every way.

The 2007 Academy Award-winning film, Once, was written and directed by John Carney and starred Glen Hansard and Marke?ta Irglova?, with original music and lyrics by Hansard and Irglova?.

The Oscar winning independent Irish film, Once was made for $150,000. Shot in 17 days, it went on to gross $20 million worldwide becoming a critically-acclaimed international smash. It stars Glen Hansard, from the popular Irish Rock band The Frames, and Marke?ta Irglova?. Hansard and Irglova? won the 2007 Academy Award for Best Original Song for "Falling Slowly" and the Los Angeles Film Critics Award for Best Music. The soundtrack was nominated for two Grammy Awards.

ONCE was originally developed at the American Repertory Theater (Cambridge, Massachusetts) in April 2011; Diane Paulus, artistic director; Diane Borger, producer.

A developmental run of Once at New York Theatre Workshop (James C. Nicola and William Russo) began performances on November 15, 2011 and opened December 6. The production broke box office records and concluded a sold out engagement including a two week extension through January 15, 2012.

ONCE is produced by Barbara Broccoli, John N. Hart Jr., Patrick Milling Smith, Frederick Zollo, Brian Carmody, Michael G. Wilson, Orin Wolf and Executive Producer Robert Cole, in association with New York Theatre Workshop.

For more information about Once, visit www.ONCEmusical.com.

Segerstrom Center for the Arts is unique as both an acclaimed arts institution and as a multi-disciplinary cultural campus. It is committed to supporting artistic excellence on all of its stages, offering unsurpassed experiences, and engaging the entire community in new and exciting ways through the unique power of live performance and a diverse array of inspiring programs.

Previously called the Orange County Performing Arts Center, Segerstrom Center traces its roots back to the late 1960s when a dedicated group of community leaders decided Orange County should have its own world-class performing arts venue.

As Orange County's largest non-profit arts organization, Segerstrom Center for the Arts owns and operates the 3,000-seat Segerstrom Hall and intimate 250-seat Founders Hall, which opened in 1986, and the 2,000-seat Rene?e and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, which opened in 2006 and also houses the 500-seat Samueli Theater, the Lawrence and Kristina Dodge Education Center's studio performance space and Boeing Education Lab. A spacious arts plaza anchors Segerstrom Center for the Arts and is home to numerous free performances throughout the year as part of Segerstrom Center for the Arts' ongoing Free for All series.

The Center presents a broad range of programming each season for audiences of all ages from throughout Orange County and beyond, including international ballet and dance, national tours of top Broadway shows, intimate performances of jazz and cabaret, contemporary artists, classical music performed by renowned chamber orchestras and ensembles, family-friendly programming, free performances open to the public from outdoor movie screenings to dancing on the plaza and many other special events. It offers many education programs designed to inspire young people through the arts. These programs reach hundreds of thousands of students of all ages with vital arts-in-education programs, enhancing their studies and enriching their lives well into the future.

In addition to the presenting and producing institution Segerstrom Center for the Arts, the 14-acre campus also embraces the facilities of two independent acclaimed organizations: Tony Award®-winning South Coast Repertory and a site designated as the future home of the Orange County Museum of Art.

Segerstrom Center for the Arts is also proud to serve as the artistic home to three of the region's major performing arts organizations: Pacific Symphony, the Philharmonic Society of Orange County and the Pacific Chorale, who contribute greatly to the artistic life of the region with annual seasons at Segerstrom Center for the Arts.