Once

Orpheum Theatre
1192 Market Street San Francisco

Once began as a music-fueled indie film that won hearts in 2006, its haunting love ballad "Falling Slowly" taking home an Oscar for Best Original Song. Now, Once has taken the Broadway stage by storm, earning eight Tony Awards including Best Musical. Now running at the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts, the romantic tale follows a downtrodden Dublin street musician and a delightfully quirky Czech woman who meet in the most unlikely of places -- a vacuum cleaner repair shop. Their complicated lives make the path to love a rocky one, and they channel their feelings into the music they produce together -- him on guitar, her on piano, two voices harmonizing and setting them free, for a time, from the harsh realities of their lives. An impressive ensemble of actor-musicians play their own instruments onstage in this breathtaking production that draws you in from the very first note and doesn't let go until the end.