Review: ‘Once on This Island’ ably balances a weighty story with songs of joy
Was it me, or was it the show?
My hazy memories of the original Broadway version of “Once on This Island” recall a spirited but generic piece of folklore, forgettable fun that got lost in the wake of “Miss Saigon” and “The Will Rogers Follies.” (Those two musicals and “The Secret Garden” skunked “Island” at the 1991 Tonys.)
Yet here it came to Belk Theater Tuesday night on its Broadway Lights tour, bearing the 2018 Tony for best musical revival it snatched away from “Carousel” and “My Fair Lady.” Suddenly it seemed tauter, more energetic, less of a fairy tale about ill-chosen love and more of a story about people we might pass on the street, if we lived on an island in the French Antilles.
That comes partly from Dane Laffrey’s scenic design, which begins with the stage looking like a beach town devastated by a hurricane, and partly from Michael Arden’s direction, which keeps the action ebbing and flowing in all areas. (Audience members seated on stage looked like bobblehead dolls as they followed it.)
This adaptation of Rosa Guy’s novel “My Love, My Love” remains “The Little Mermaid” with a Caribbean accent. Humble Ti Moune saves the life of a privileged man and falls in love while he’s unconscious. He goes back where he belongs, to the rich end of the island where peasants are banned, never knowing her identity. She makes a deal with a supernatural being, offering her life upon demand in return for sparing her beloved. They reunite and fall in love, but he has a marital obligation within his class. Ti Moune can witness his happiness without sharing it.
The dark elements in Lynn Ahrens’ book emerge more sharply after 29 years. Her depiction of an upper class that exploits and deludes the poor seems more bitterly apt today. The black-on black racism seems just as sad as it did in 1990: The coffee-colored grand hommes — the “great ones” descended from a French colonial who slept with his servants — sneer at the darker residents they keep in poverty, who refuse to complain but feel contempt for the rich.
This potentially weighty story has been balanced by Ahrens’ and composer Stephen Flaherty’s songs of joy and self-discovery. “We Dance,” the opening number, sets the tone: Whether the gods send tempestuous winds or torrential rains or deign to supply a little sunshine, there’s always some reason for optimism.
Courtnee Carter, who plays the perennially hopeful and strong-willed Ti Moune, carries most of the emotional burden. Carter retains her stubbornly buoyant attitude until Fate stuns her, then bravely soldiers on, and she wins us over from the first beaming smile.
Nobody else has much character development in a show that’s just under 90 minutes, but all the gods — especially Kyle Ramar Freeman in the showstopping “Mama Will Provide” — and Ti Moune’s strong-voiced parents (Phillip Boykin and Danielle Lee Greaves) leave vivid impressions. It takes a village to raise “Once on This Island” to the level it has achieved, and this village has no dull inhabitants.
“Once on This Island”
WHEN: Through Nov. 17 at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday-Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, 1:30 and 7 p.m. Sunday. Audio Description and ASL provided at Sunday matinee.
WHERE: Belk Theater, 130 N. Tryon St.
RUNNING TIME: 90 minutes with no intermission.
TICKETS: $25-$134.50.
DETAILS: 704-372-1000 or blumenthalarts.org.
This story is part of an Observer underwriting project with the Thrive Campaign for the Arts, supporting arts journalism in Charlotte.
This story was originally published November 13, 2019 at 10:52 AM.