Like Lewis Carroll’s Alice, who seeks to escape the doldrums down a rabbit hole, or L. Frank Baum’s Dorothy, who dreams of ditching Kansas for somewhere over the rainbow, the protagonist of Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty’s one-act musical “Once on This Island” sets out in pursuit of bigger and better things.
The show’s heroine, a Creole peasant girl named Ti Moune (pronounced “tea moon”), strikes a deal with the gods for a shot at love with an aristocrat from the wealthy side of the island. A fantastical journey ensues. But unlike those other travelers—Alice, who wakes up to enjoy a cup of tea with her sister, or Dorothy, who finds her way back to Aunt Em’s warm embrace—Ti Moune isn’t spared from learning her lesson the hard way.
Based on the novel My Love, My Love by Trinidad-born writer Rosa Guy, with book and lyrics by Ahrens and music by Flaherty, “Once on This Island” centers on the racial and socio-economic differences dividing the inhabitants of a fictitious island in the French Antilles. With adult themes ranging from extramarital sex to implied suicide, one wouldn’t automatically think of this show as family-friendly entertainment. It’s certainly not Rodgers and Hammerstein. Yet, when El Camino College (ECC) Department of Theatre premiered it on March 17, they delivered a musical that was both appropriate and entertaining for audiences of all ages.
Children will appreciate the bright costumes, colorful sets and cheerful calypso music, without the burden of understanding the plot’s mature subtext. Adults will enjoy all of those same elements, with the added challenge of relearning a painful truth: life simply isn’t fair.
ECC’s “Once on This Island” is incredibly successful from a production standpoint. The set design, lighting, sound, staging, choreography, costumes and props are all striking in concept and execution. It would be impossible for the cast to create the right ambience without these components.
Even before the show begins, John Patrick’s lush set design engages the senses, transporting the audience to the Caribbean through a carved, latticework screen, which looks onto a sunset-drenched backdrop. Two palms, shown in silhouette, appear to bend in the breeze. Changes in time and weather are illustrated by dynamic, graphic projections including a blazing sun, a mysterious moon, drifting clouds and swirling rain. Expert lighting by Leigh Allen animates the Antillean landscape with flickering fires and starlit skies. Flashes of lightning and torrential rains are enhanced by Kenny Lefort’s sound design, which also serves to animate the vivid noises of tropical wildlife.
“Once on This Island” begins around a campfire, where the Storytellers recount the tale of an orphaned peasant girl, Ti Moune (Michelle Zelina), who was found in a tree and adopted by a native couple, Tonton Julian (Vincent Aniceto) and Mama Euralie (Debbie Zaldivar Bowler). The cast acts out the fireside tale through song, dance and mime. With elaborate staging and excellent choreography, courtesy of Camden Gonzales, the actors are able to communicate various aspects of island culture—huts, trees, frogs, etc.—through movement alone.
When Ti Moune grows older, she prays to the gods to let her find love with a Grand Homme, a member of the wealthy class of French descendants who live on the other side of the island. Perhaps for their own amusement, the gods decide to intervene and grant Ti Moune’s wish, but not without caveat.
The God of Water, Agwe (Lorne Stevenson Jr.), creates a violent storm causing rich boy Daniel Beauxhomme (Jeffrey Hurley) to crash his car. The tempest is narrated in “Rain,” one of the production’s best musical numbers. The orchestra thrills with a driving samba beat layered over with flute, eerie keys and atmospheric guitar. A psychedelic dance number with transparent mini-umbrellas and rain-colored ribbons orbits furiously around the firm anchor of Stevenson’s self-assured, electrifying vocals.
The car accident renders Daniel unconscious and critically injured. Ti Moune takes it upon herself to care for him. Meanwhile, the Goddess of Love, Erzulie (Marqueta Floyd), and the Demon of Death, Papa Ge (Roy Okida), make a wager as to which force is stronger: love or death. Okida’s sinister portrayal of Papa Ge sends a collective chill through the audience, as he agrees to spare Daniel’s life only if Ti Moune agrees to die in his place. Ti Moune accepts these terms. Daniel’s family retrieves him and brings him back to his side of the island where he can presumably receive proper medical care.
Zelina perfectly captures Ti Moune’s lovesick naiveté as she pleads with Mama Euralie and Tonton Julian to allow her to cross the island and find Daniel. Aniceto and Zaldivar Bowler are excellent in their shared role as Ti Moune’s concerned parents, who reluctantly grant their beloved adopted daughter permission to follow her heart in the bittersweet farewell song “Ti Moune.”
As Ti Moune embarks on her adventure, the Mother of the Earth, Asaka (Ann-Marie Wightman), swoops in as a sort of fairy-godmother figure. Asaka promises to help Ti Moune reach her destination in the calypso-meets-gospel number “Mama Will Provide.” Bursting with energy and brightness, and hitting all the big notes with confidence, Wightman provides another of the show’s musical highlights.
When Ti Moune finds Daniel—a plastic, haughty Ken doll, in Hurley’s deft interpretation—he takes her as his lover, neglecting to inform her of his imminent marriage to society girl Andrea (Laurel Anderson). As he reasons in his solo, “Some Girls,” there is a difference between the kind of girl one marries and the kind of girl one loves.
One of the most entertaining moments of the show occurs when Daniel takes Ti Moune to an elegant ball. All the guests are dancing a waltz, naturally, and Andrea persuades Ti Moune to demonstrate the beautiful dance moves Daniel has purportedly attributed to her. Unfortunately what Zelina gives us is more Isadora Duncan than Josephine Baker. She doesn’t manage to look exotic at all, but she does succeed in looking painfully out of place amongst the ball guests.
Ti Moune’s dance piece at the ball quickly evolves into a scene out of a coming-of-age film, where, in a miraculous turn of events, the underdog is recast as the cool kid. Ti Moune is able to garner the praise and imitation of every aristocrat in the ballroom.
Her glory is short-lived. Ti Moune is soon informed of Daniel’s betrothal and dismissed by him as a fling. Papa Ge presents her with a choice: Kill Daniel and return to her peasant life or die. This isn’t Wonderland or Oz. On this island, our heroine has to make choices and pay consequences.
El Camino College Theatre Department presents Once on This Island, directed by caryn desai, in the Campus Theatre, 16007 Crenshaw Boulevard, Torrance. Performances Friday and Saturday (March 23, 24, 30 and 31) at 8 p.m. and Sunday (March 25 and April 1) at 3 p.m. Closes April 1. Tickets, $25 adults; $18 children 12 and under. Onsite parking, $2. Call (310) 329-5345 or go to centerforthearts.org.
