Declan Bennett and Zrinka Cvitešić to Star in West End Premiere of Once

By Mark Shenton
25 Jan 2013

Declan Bennett
Declan Bennett

Declan Bennett and Zrinka Cvitešić will lead the cast as Guy and Girl, respectively, in the West End transfer of Broadway's Tony-winning musical Once, which begins performances at London's Phoenix Theatre March 16, prior to an official opening April 9.

Prior to London, it will run at Dublin's Gaiety Theatre, beginning performances Feb. 22 for a run through March 9.

Bennett and Cvitešić 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.

Bennett, an actor, singer and songwriter, has appeared on Broadway and in the West End. Broadway credits include Rent and American Idiot; in the UK, credits include Taboo at the Venue Theatre and It’s a Lovely Day Tomorrow and Our Day Out at Coventry's Belgarde Theatre. A former member of the band Point Break, he released his first solo album, "The Painters Ball," in 2005.  His 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."

Cvitešić is a Croatian-born theatre, film and television actor. She 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.  Film credits include "What is a Man Without a Moustache?" (for which she won The Heart of Sarajevo Award and Best Actress Awards at the Sarajevo Film Festival, the Golden Arena Festival and the Pula Film Festival), "On the Path" (for which 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), "The Horseman" and "My Beautiful Country" (for which she won the Bernhard Wicki Award for Best Actress at the 2012 Münich Film Festival). In 2010 she won "Ples sa zvijezdama," the Croatian version of "Dancing with the Stars."

Directed by John Tiffany, Once has a book by award-winning Irish playwright and screenwriter Enda Walsh, music and lyrics by Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová based on the motion picture written and directed by John Carney, scenic and costume designs by Bob Crowley, lighting by Natasha Katz, sound by Clive Goodwin, musical supervision and orchestrations by Martin Lowe and movement by Steven Hoggett.  



It is produced in the West End by Barbara Broccoli, John N. Hart Jr., Patrick Milling Smith, Frederick Zollo, Brian Carmody, Michael G. Wilson, Orin Wolf and Michael Rose Limited in association with New York Theatre Workshop.

To book tickets for the West End run, contact the box office on 0844 871 7629 or visit Oncemusical.co.uk for more details.