Once the Musical picked up two awards last night when the winners of the 38th Olivier Awards were announced at a glamorous and star-studded ceremony at the Royal Opera House.
Regarded as the most prestigious theatre awards in the UK, Once was the biggest Irish success story of the night, with six nominations.
First up was the award for Best Actress in a Musical which went to Croatian Zrinka Cvitešić who plays a Czech girl who falls for an Irish busker in the musical based on the award-winning movie.
Next The Autograph Sound Award for Outstanding Achievement in Music was claimed by Martin Lowe for composition and arrangements and Glenn Hansard and Markéta Irglová for music and lyrics.
Hansard collected the award saying that Markéta Irglová, who has just had a baby and is living in Iceland couldn’t be there but that he would give her the award.
There were disappointments for the Irish too.
Ardal O'Hanlon, nominated for The Weir at the Donmar Warehouse & the Wyndham’s Theatre lost out to Jack Lowden in the Best Supporting Actor category, while Cork actress Sarah Greene, nominated for The Cripple Of Inishmaan at the Noël Coward Theatre in the Best Actress in a Supporting Role lost out to Sharon D Clarke.
Big wins on the night included Lesley Manville for Best Actress for her role in Ghosts, and Rory Kinnear for Othello at the National Theatre. The Almeida Theatre led the way at collecting eight awards from its 10 nominations.
Along with the prize ceremony at the Royal Opera House, theatre fans gathered in Covent Garden Piazza to watch the show as it was streamed live to big screens.
As well as a performance from the cast of Once, the ceremony saw ABBA’s Benny and Björn join the cast of Mamma Mia! on stage to celebrate the show’s 15th birthday.
