Segal Centre to Present the Tony Award-Winning Best Musical ONCE

The Segal Centre for Performing Arts is kicking off the 2018-2019 theatre season with the Montreal premiere of Once. Playing in the Sylvan Adams Theatre from October 7 to October 28, 2018, this Tony award-winning musical takes audiences on the sweeping journey of star-crossed lovers accompanied by mesmerizing music.

Based on the hit 2007 film, Once has been an international success since opening on Broadway in 2012, where it won eight Tony Awards including Best Musical. With music that won an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, an Olivier Award, and a Tony Award, the musical features all the beautiful songs from the critically acclaimed film. The story takes place in Dublin and follows an Irish musician and a Czech immigrant drawn together by their shared love of music. Their unexpected friendship quickly evolves into a powerful but complicated love story. Achingly beautiful and joyously uplifting, the show strikes an unforgettable chord in audiences and speaks to the power of music to connect us all.

"We are opening the season with a musical unlike any other our audience has seen before. In this extraordinary company, actors and musicians are one and the same as they bring to life this universal story of friendship and longing that bursts through the intimacy of our stage," said Lisa Rubin, Artistic and Executive Director of the Segal Centre.

The cast of quadruple threat performers will be showcasing their many talents in this production as all actors also play their own instruments onstage. Taking on the lead roles of Guy and Girl are local musicians and performers Greg Halpin and Eva Foote, both making their professional theatre debuts. Greg is an established Montreal musician and songwriter who has played in bands Honheehonhee and Lakes of Canada. He toured his solo acoustic release, Notes from a Bedroom, by playing concerts in other people's bedrooms across North America. This tour was documented in the short film, These Beds Together that premiered at the Segal Centre earlier this summer. When he's not singing on stages or in bedrooms Greg can often be found performing on the platforms of the Montreal Metro. Eva is a recent graduate from the National Theatre School of Canada. She has appeared in the St. Lawrence Shakespeare Company's productions of As You Like It and Taming of the Shrew. In the summer of 2016, Eva released her second EP Funeral Walking, and plans to record and release her first full-length record in 2019. Also joining them for the first time at the Segal Centre are Eric Digras (a co-founder of Automatic Vaudeville), Olivier Gervais-Courchesne (Juste pour rire's Grease), Jon-Alex MacFarlane (Toronto and 1st U.S. National Tour of Once), Marie Mahabal (Theatre Calgary's The Light in the Piazza), Sophie Paradis (Le p'tit monde de Laura Cadieux), Bryan Quinn (Game of Thrones), Matthew Raudsepp (Juste pour rire's Grease), Mahalia Golnosh Tahririha (Belfry Theatre and GCTC's The Last Wife), and Mia Czarnecki and Liv Simcha Chaimberg sharing the role of young Ivonka. The Segal Centre is also thrilled to welcome back Al Goulem and Justin Rutledge (both featured in the META-winning production of The Graduate) to the stage.

Director Andrew Shaver is no stranger to the Segal Centre or Montreal audiences. The Montreal Gazette named him "one of Canada's best directors" for Sherlock Holmes which won him a META. He directed the critically acclaimed production of The Graduate and the massively successful French production of Grease for Juste pour rire, and has been the artistic director of SideMart Theatrical Grocery since 2007. He will be supported by Choreographer Annie St-Pierre who is currently working on productions with Cirque du Soleil, Musical Director David Terriault whose previous Segal Centre credits include Million Dollar Quartet, Forever Plaid, and On Second Avenue, and Assistant Director Sarah Segal-Lazar whose recent Fringe creation, Don't Read the Comments, won the Segal Centre's award for Most Promising English Company. Bringing Dublin to the Sylvan Adams Theatre with their designs are Set Designer Ken MacKenzie, Costume Designer Amy Keith, Lighting Designer Martin Sirois, Video Designer George Allister, and Sound Designer Brian Kenny.

Tickets are on sale now at 514.739.7944 or at www.segalcentre.org.

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