It's hard to move these days for musicals-created-from-movies. From the sublime (Sister Act) to the ridiculous (Spamalot) it seems there is an audience for these reworks, so it's no surprise they keep on coming.

Once is a 2006 Irish musical film written and directed by John Carney. Low budget (£100,000) it was, and successful it certainly was picking up many awards along the way. It also provided a good basis for a musical, which started life at the New York Theatre Workshop (birthplace of Rent) in 2011, and transferred to Broadway earlier this year.

Plaintive and rousing songs by Irish troubadour Glen Hansard and Czech musician Markéta Irglová, who appeared as mismatched would-be lovers in the picture and won the 2008 Academy Award for writing its hypnotic signature ballad, 'Falling Slowly,' populate the new musical, as well as Irish and Czech folk songs.

Like the film, the tuner tells the bittersweet love story of an unnamed guy (Steve Kazee) and girl (Cristin Milioti) who over the course of a week meet and make beautiful music together. Oscar-winning song 'Falling Slowly' is already well known, but many of the show's tunes equal it, notably 'If You Want Me' and 'The Hill.'

The show has no orchestra (the actors play instruments throughout), but on stage it's an intrinsic part of the storytelling rather than a stunt. This means as many as eight guitars playing together, which - mixed with violin, viola and voice - proves surprisingly effective on this recording.

Eight of the 13 songs from the film are retained, with a few additions. Martin Lowe’s orchestrations build on Hansard and Irglová’s songs with both inventiveness and restraint. The intricate harmonies and layering of instrumentation are glorious. Some numbers, like 'Gold,' become quieter and more introspective; others like 'Say It to Me Now' and 'When Your Mind’s Made Up' acquire breathtaking power.

For me, it worked better as a listening experience, rather than a cast album. I've said before that, for me, a successful cast album allows the story to shine through as much as the songs. This isn't the case here - addition of some dialogue in and out of the songs
would have helped, but there's no doubting this is a great listen. Masterworks Broadway, and in particular producers Steve Epstein and Martin Lowe have done a fabulous job of re-creating the authentic irish sound.

Whether it's a great cast album is another matter.

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Ian Gude