We went to the Kennedy Center for a special performance of the award-winning musical Once Wednesday evening and snapped the show's two terrific stars, Stuart Ward, who plays Guy, and Dani de Waal, who plays Girl, during a private pre-show reception celebrating Ireland.

The musical, about an Irish songwriter and his band, was an occasion to celebrate all things Irish, including a $20M gift from Irish Boeing chair James McNerney and next year's Irish Festival. Here, Irish Ambassador Anne Anderson joins Kennedy Center President Deborah Rutter and Chairman David Rubenstein, or is it David O'Rubenstein? 

Each evening before the show, members of the audience are invited on stage for drinks on set at the Irish pub where the story takes place, to set the tone for the fun evening. We still can't stop singing Falling Slowly, which won the Academy Award for Best Original Song when the story was first produced as a movie. This terrific show, written by Tony winner Enda Walsh with music by Glen Hansard, runs until Aug. 16.