Lead cast for ONCE at Pitlochry Festival Theatre

12 Mar

Dylan Wood and Lydia White. Headshots provided by production.

The Scottish premiere of the Tony and Olivier award-winning musical Once is part of Pitlochry Festival Theatre’s 75th anniversary season and Alan Cumming’s inaugural as Artistic Director.

This uplifting and moving new production will reunite the original creative team behind the smash-hit musical this Spring.

Set in Dublin, the story follows Guy, a disillusioned street musician ready to leave his songs behind, and Girl, a spirited Czech immigrant who challenges him to believe in his talent. With the support of an unconventional group of friends and fellow musicians, they embark on creating an album together.

The musical, written by Enda Walsh with music and lyrics by Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová, is based on John Carney’s 2007 film, which featured the Oscar-winning song “Falling Slowly”. Premiering on Broadway in 2012, Once went on to win eight Tony Awards, including Best Musical and subsequently ran in the West End from 2013-2015, where it won two Olivier awards for Best Actress in a Musical and Award for Outstanding Achievement in Sound. Once is the only musical to have received an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, an Olivier Award, and a Tony Award. 

Dylan Wood (Hadestown, West End) and Lydia White (The Girl From the North Country, Old Vic) will play the lead roles of Guy and Girl, with the remaining cast to be announced soon.

Joining John Tiffany from the original Tony award winning creative team are Designer Bob Crowley (Mary Poppins, Broadway and West End); Choreographer Steven Hoggett (Hamlet, Royal Shakespeare Company); Lighting Designer Natasha Katz (Aladdin, Broadway and West End); Music and Orchestration Director Martin Lowe (Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour, National Theatre of Scotland); Sound Designer Clive Goodwin (The Glass Menagerie, Broadway). The production’s Casting Director is Stuart Burt CDG CSA.