Character guide
Guy
from Once
Guy is the heartbroken Irish street musician at the center of Once, the intimate stage musical built from the acclaimed 2007 film.
- Show
- Once
- Broadway premiere
- 2012
- Role
- Lead
- Music by
- Hansard & Irglová
Guy: from the film to Broadway
Broadway compared with the 2007 film
The stage Guy is headed to a different city. In John Carney's 2007 film, his ex-girlfriend has moved to London and he plans to follow her there; the musical moves her, and his plans, to New York. Both versions keep him as a Dublin busker who repairs vacuum cleaners in his father's shop, and both end with Girl coming home to a piano he bought her.
Glen Hansard, who co-wrote the songs with Markéta Irglová, played Guy on film. Steve Kazee originated the role Off-Broadway in 2011 and on Broadway in 2012, winning the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Musical.
Who is Guy?
Guy busks on the streets of Dublin, torn between giving up music altogether and holding onto a fading relationship with an ex girlfriend who moved to New York. His chance encounter with a young Czech immigrant, known simply as Girl, reignites his creative spark and sets the story in motion over the course of just a few days.
Rather than a conventional romance, Once traces a quieter, more bittersweet connection between two people who help each other move forward without necessarily ending up together, which gives Guy's arc an unusually honest, understated shape for a musical lead.
Playing Guy on stage
As a lead role, Guy demands a performer who is also a genuinely skilled musician, since the show is famously staged with the cast playing their own instruments live rather than relying on a hidden pit orchestra. The part calls for raw, folk inflected vocals and an unforced emotional openness rather than big belted showstoppers.
Audiences and performers are drawn to Guy because he feels lived in and real, a quietly wounded artist rediscovering his voice. That grounded, intimate quality is part of what made Once stand out from more traditionally theatrical musicals when it arrived on Broadway.
Guy: frequently asked questions
What show is Guy from?
Guy is the lead character in Once, which opened on Broadway in 2012.
Is Guy a lead or supporting role?
Guy is a lead role, serving as co-protagonist alongside Girl.
Who wrote the music for Once?
The score was written by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, drawn from their work on the original film.
Think you can name today's mystery character in eight guesses?
Play today's Character Guesser