Once on This Island
Once on This Island is a coming-of-age one-act stage musical with a book and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens and music by Stephen Flaherty. It is based on the 1985 novel My Love, My Love; or, The Peasant Girl by Rosa Guy, a Caribbean-set retelling of Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale The Little Mermaid.[1] It concerns a peasant girl in the French Antilles who falls in love with a rich boy and makes a deal with the gods to save his life.
Once on This Island
The original Broadway production ran from 1990 to 1991, and the West End production opened in 1994, where it won the 1995 Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Musical. The musical was revived on Broadway in a production that opened on December 3, 2017 at the Circle in the Square Theatre. The revival was showered with critical acclaim, with New York Times critic Jesse Green describing it as "ravishing"[2] and The Huffington Post praising it for creating "an aesthetic experience unlike anything seen on Broadway."[3] It won the 2018 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical.[4]
A Disney film adaptation is currently in development for Disney+.[5]
Production history[edit]
Once on This Island was originally staged at Off-Broadway's Playwrights Horizons, running from May 6, 1990, until May 27, 1990. The Broadway production opened on October 18, 1990, at the Booth Theatre and closed on December 1, 1991, after 469 performances and 19 previews. With direction and choreography by Graciela Daniele, the musical featured LaChanze as Ti Moune, Jerry Dixon as Daniel, Andrea Frierson as Erzulie, Sheila Gibbs as Mama Euralie, Kecia Lewis as Asaka, Gerry McIntyre as Armand, Milton Craig Nealy as Agwe, Eric Riley as Papa Ge, Ellis E. Williams as Tonton Julian and Afi McClendon as Little Ti Moune.
Daniele returned as director/choreographer for a U.S. national tour, which opened at the CIBC Theatre in Chicago on March 31, 1992 and closed at the Heinz Hall for the Performing Arts in Pittsburgh on January 3, 1993. Gibbs reprised her role as Mama Euralie and Gerry McIntyre (the original Armand) played Papa Ge. James Stovall (who replaced Eric Riley on Broadway as Papa Ge) played Agwe. The rest of the cast included Vanita Harbour as Ti Moune, Darius de Haas as Daniel, Natalie Venetia Belcon as Erzulie, Carol Dennis as Asaka, Miles Watson as Tonton Julian, Monique Cintron as Andrea, Keith Tyrone as Armand, and Nilyne Fields as Little Ti Moune.
In 2002, the original Broadway cast was reunited with special guest Lillias White to perform the show for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and the Cantor Fitzgerald Relief Fund.
The European premiere took place in 1994, hosted by the Birmingham Rep, and then transferred to the West End Royalty Theatre (now the Peacock Theatre) in September 1994. The production won the Olivier Award for Best New Musical.[6]
The musical was revived in the UK in 2009 at Birmingham Rep, Nottingham Playhouse, and the Hackney Empire Theatre in London. Susie McKenna directed, with Sharon D. Clarke reprising her 1994 role as Asaka.[6][7][8][9] The original West End Ti Moune, Lorna Brown, played Erzulie in this production.
In June 2012, the Paper Mill Playhouse presented a production directed by Thomas Kail,[10] with Syesha Mercado as Ti Moune[11] and Darius de Haas as Agwe.[12]
A new London production directed by Ola Ince and starring Gabrielle Brooks as Ti Moune was announced for May 2023 at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre.[13]
The first Broadway revival of Once on This Island, produced by Ken Davenport, directed by Michael Arden and choreographed by Camille A. Brown, began previews on November 9, 2017, and officially opened on December 3 at the Circle in the Square Theatre. This production featured a stage covered in sand, with live animals onstage, and set and costume design intended to suggest a wrecked beach community recovering from a hurricane.[14] The opening night cast included Hailey Kilgore as Ti Moune, Isaac Powell as Daniel, Alysha Deslorieux as Andrea, Phillip Boykin as Tonton Julian, Kenita R. Miller as Mama Euralie, Alex Newell as Asaka, Merle Dandridge as Papa Ge, Quentin Earl Darrington as Agwe, Lea Salonga as Erzulie and David Jennings as Armand.[15] The revival closed on January 6, 2019, after 458 regular performances.[16]
The Broadway revival production tour in North America starting at The Carson Center, Paducah, Kentucky on October 12, 2019,
with the official opening on October 15 at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center, Nashville, Tennessee. The tour is directed by Michael Arden with choreography by Camille A. Brown. The tour featured onstage seating, "creating a unique experience within the footprint of every theatre we play... Audiences will be invited to put their feet in the sand and surround our company, becoming part of the show."[17] The tour ended early due to the COVID-19 pandemic at the Smith Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.[18]
Note: The original cast was chosen along racial lines with darker-skinned actors portraying the peasants and lighter-skinned actors portraying the upper-class landowners. In the script, the writers provide small line changes that can be used to remove references to skin color to accommodate multi-ethnic productions, while preserving the storyline about differences between the upper and lower classes.[19]
Notable replacements in the original Broadway cast
Notable replacements in the 2017 Broadway revival cast
Film adaptation[edit]
On July 30, 2020, it was announced that Walt Disney Pictures and producer Marc Platt bought the film rights to adapt Once on This Island into a feature film for the Disney+ streaming service. Playwright Jocelyn Bioh will pen the script and Wanuri Kahiu will direct.[41]