Once wins big at the Tony Awards

The Broadway adaption of Oscar winning Irish film Once cleaned up at this year's Tonys, picking up awards in eight of the 11 categories it was nominated in.

Beating out the Disney-produced Newsies to win Best Musical, Once also won for John Tiffany's direction, for it's book by playwright Enda Walsh and for leading man Steve Kazee's performance.

Kazee made a particularly emotional acceptance speech, using it as a chance to thank the cast for their support after the death of his mother.

"I want to say thank you to my cast and to my beautiful leading lady who has held me up for the last two months. My mother passed on Easter Sunday and this cast carried me around and made me feel alive and I will never be able to fully repay them."

Wins for Best Orchestrations (Martin Lowe), Best Sound Design (Clive Goodwin), Best Scenic Design (Bob Crowley) and Best Lighting Design (Natasha Katz) rounded out the eight awards.

Watch Steve Kazee's acceptance speech below and check out the interview with star of the original film, Glen Hansard in this week's issue of Hot Press (out Thursday) to hear him talk extensively about Once.