The stage musical, based on the John Carney film, and adapted for the stage by Irish playwright Enda Walsh, leads the way in the Tony Award nominations, announced today. The musical bagged a whopping 11 nominations in all.

The acclaimed stage production features the songs of Glen Hansard and Markets Irglova, who together formed Swell Season. One of the songs from the original film, 'Falling Slowly', bagged an Academy Award as Best Original Song – but even that achievement might be eclipsed in what are the gold standard awards for theatre in the US.

The male and female leads, Steve Kazee and Cristin Milioti, have been nominated for best actor and best actress in a musical awards. Once is also nominated for – among other categories – the Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical and Best Scenic Design awards. Meanwhile Elizabeth A Davis is nominated in the Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical category.

"There simply aren't sufficient words to express my feelings this morning. I am so grateful to be included in this years Tony Awards class," Steve Kazee tweeted. The Tony Awards take place on June 10th

The full list of Tony nominations for Once is as follows:

BEST MUSICAL
BEST BOOK OF A MUSICAL - Enda Walsh
BEST ACTOR IN A MUSICAL - Steve Kazee
BEST ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL - Cristin Milioti
BEST ACTRESS IN A FEATURED ROLE IN A MUSICAL - Elizabeth A. Davis
BEST SCENIC DESIGN OF A MUSICAL - Bob Crowley
BEST LIGHTING DESIGN OF A MUSICAL - Natasha Katz
BEST SOUND DESIGN IN A MUSICAL - Clive Goodwin
BEST CHOREOGRAPHY - Steven Hoggett
BEST DIRECTION - John Tiffany
BEST ORCHESTRATION - Martin Lowe


Once has already been nominated for five Drama Desk Awards, in the following categories.
BEST MUSICAL
BEST DIRECTOR - John Tiffany
BEST MUSIC - Glen Hansard and Marketa lrglova
BEST LYRICS - Glen Hansard and Marketa lrglova
BEST SOUND DESIGN IN A MUSICAL - Clive Goodwin

And it was also nominated in the following categories in the Drama League Awards:
BEST MUSICAL
BEST PERFORMANCE: Steve Kazee
BEST PERFORMANCE: Cristin Milioti

And earlier, the musical had been signposted for seven Outer CriticsCircle Awards, as follows:
OUTSTANDING NEW BROADWAY MUSICAL
OUTSTANDING BOOK OF A MUSICAL
OUTSTANDING DIRECTOR OF A MUSICAL - John Tiffany
OUTSTANDING CHOREOGRAPHER - Steven Hoggett
OUTSTANDING SET DESIGN - Bob Crowley
OUTSTANDING ACTOR IN A MUSICAL - Steve Kazee
OUTSTANDING ACTRESS IN A MUSICAL - Cristin Milioti

It is, by any standards, an extraordinary achievement for what began as a low budget movie – which went on to rack up box office receipts of $20 million, making it one of the indie success stories of the past five years.