Intimate, curious, funny and melancholy. This 2020 touring musical stage adaptation of the acclaimed film Once is equally full of warm and satisfying surprises.

It is refreshingly different from most musical shows you will see, offering charm by the bucket load.

A two-hour 25-minute piece of musical theatre where you really care about the characters from the outset and be carried away by their dreams.

Once has made its mark on Broadway since 2011 and with West End audiences.

It is a cleverly-written piece of entertainment from Enda Walsh.

There are stunning ballads and Irish reels from the award-winning team of Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova.

There is also the Oscar -winning song Falling Slowly to savour. Pure genius.

And the acapella Gold is a sheer, tingly delight.

Once is a modern day love story where pauses in dialogue speak volumes in a tale that more than tugs at the heart strings.

Never soppy but achingly senstive at times and also providing many laugh-out-loud moments.

Directer Peter Rowe - who did such sterling work at the Liverpool Everyman - keeps perfect pace throughout.

A Dublin bar is the permanent on stage set which converts into other locations when called for by the arrival of various props including tables, beds, chairs becoming a recording studio, a repair shop and bank manager's office.

One exceptional inventive visual highlight sees a nightime sequence where love is written in the stars . . . literally.

Love is indeed in the air between the two likeable central characters simply called Guy and Girl.

Busker Guy is played by Daniel Healy and he has a voice similar to Neil Finn of Crowfed House fame.

While his inspirational Girl - from the Czech Republic - is performed beautifully by the piano- playing Emma Lucia.

Every member of the cast can play an instrument and does so with all the zest and delight of an impromptu bar session in Dublin's O'Connell Street.

It is the pure and yet complex relationship between Guy and the Girl that keep us gripped and hoping that true love prevails.

Will they or won't they find true love?

Once you see the show you will be hooked.

Globe Verdict: Captivating. 4 Stars

Till Saturday

Tickets: 0844 871 3017