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Youth Musical
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All About Theatre proudly presents Once On This Island as our Fall / Winter Youth Production.
This highly original and theatrical Caribbean adaptation of the popular fairy tale "The Little Mermaid" garnered eight Tony
nominations for its Broadway run, including Best Musical, Book and Score. In almost non-stop song and dance, the show tells
the story of Ti Moune, a peasant girl who rescues and falls in love with Daniel, a wealthy boy from the other side of her
island. When Daniel is returned to his people, the fantastical gods who rule the island guide Ti Moune on a quest to test
the strength of her love against the powerful forces of prejudice, hatred and death.
"Once On This Island" is a director/choreographer's dream, an intimate show presented in a dance/movement-driven style
reminiscent of story theatre, with a small band and minimal - though colorful - sets and costumes that capture the imagination
of the audience. Its catchy, contemporary, and Caribbean-flavored score by the Tony® Award-winning songwriting team of Lynn
Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty ("Ragtime" and the animated film "Anastasia") includes tender ballads and rousing celebratory
numbers for an ensemble cast of strong singers.
Performance Dates:
December 4th through 12th, 2009.
Synopsis:
In the opening number "We Dance," the peasants
describe their world; their lives are ruled by powerful gods, and their
island is ruled by the wealthy "grands hommes." They explain that the
peasants and the grands hommes belong to "two different worlds, never
meant to meet." In "One Small Girl" they begin the tale of Ti Moune, a
peasant girl from their side of the island who fell in love with a grand
homme after being "chosen by the gods for a magical fate." They describe
how she was saved from a flood by the gods when she was a child and
raised by loving adoptive parents. At the end of the song, Ti Moune has
turned into a beautiful young woman. In "Waiting for Life," Ti Moune,
who is now working in the hot fields, yearns for an undefined future
which she feels she has been promised by the gods. She reminds them they
have singled her out and tells them not to forget her. A grand homme
dressed in white drives past her and she decides he will someday carry
her off to a new life.
In "And The Gods Heard Her Prayer," the gods of Earth, Water, Love, and
Death decide to allow Ti Moune to have her wish--she will meet her
grand homme. The gods make a wager--by her actions, she will prove
whether love or death is the more powerful god. They will each play a
part in her journey.
Agwe, the God of Water starts by creating a night of "Rain," and causes
the young grand homme, Daniel, to crash his car on a dark road. Ti Moune
discovers him. Cradling the injured Daniel in her arms, Ti Moune
realizes that the gods have answered her prayer.
Despite the objections of the peasants, Ti Moune cares for Daniel. As
her father, Tonton Julian, goes off in search of Daniel's family, Ti
Moune's mother, Mama Euralie, observes that Ti Moune has become obsessed
with this boy. Tonton Julian discovers Daniel's family, who live behind
the guarded gates of a fine hotel on the other side of the island.
Meanwhile, the peasants fear Ti Moune's folly will bring the wrath of
the gods down upon them. They "Pray" to ward off evil as a terrible
storm rises.
Inside her hut, Ti Moune pledges her love to Daniel in the song "Forever
Yours". She imagines him handsome and well. Suddenly, Papa Ge, sly the
Demon of Death, appears to claim Daniel. Ti Moune promises to give up
her own life and soul if Papa Ge will only spare Daniel. He gleefully
agrees to her bargain.
The peasants perform "The Sad Tale of The Beauxhommes," a pantomime in
which they enact the history of the island. They show the French
arriving to conquer the island and describe how a French aristocrat
fathered a son by a dark-skinned peasant girl, beginning the
lighter-skinned Beauxhommes dynasty. A revolution is enacted in which
the peasants drive the French off the island, leaving the Beauxhommes
to inherit their ancestor's wealth. But they are now a cursed people,
longing for France but sentenced to remain on the island because of
their blood.
Tonton Julian leads Daniel's family to him and they carry him off in a
stretcher. Ti Moune insists on following Daniel. Although her parents
plead with her to remain with them, they finally allow her to leave with
their blessing ("Ti Moune").
Ti Moune's journey begins as the storytellers enter dressed as colorful
birds, trees, frogs, and breezes. They introduce Asaka, the formidable
Mother of the Earth, who promises Ti Moune that "Mama Will Provide" all
the things she is likely to need on her way. As Ti Moune ventures on,
the storytellers plays the parts of vendors, gods, city folks, tourists,
and the guard at the gates of the Hotel Beauxhomme. They mime her
journey and the things "Some Say" she must have experienced.
Ti Moune enters Daniel's room where he lies in bed, still feverish from
his injuries. She convinces him that she has come to heal him, and he
agrees to let her stay the night. As Ti Moune tends to him, the
Goddess of Love, Erzulie, appears to preside over them in "The Human
Heart."
In "Pray - Reprise" the storytellers become gossips, commenting on the
unlikely union of a grand homme and a peasant girl, as Daniel and Ti
Moune fall deeply in love. The gossips insist Ti Moune may be Daniel's
mistress, but will never become his wife.
On a starlit evening, Ti Moune tells Daniel of her dreams for their
future. He replies she is different from "Some Girls" he has known and
says "some girls you marry, some you love." As he sings, another girl
dresses before a mirror, her elegant movements and clothes in contrast
to Ti Moune's simplicity and earthiness.
At the Hotel Beauxhomme, a ball is held and the grand hommes eagerly
wait for a glimpse of Ti Moune. She arrives, dressed beautifully but
simply. Daniel introduces Ti Moune to Andrea Devereaux, the girl we saw
dressing for the ball. At Andrea's request, Ti Moune dances, enchanting
everyone at the ball. As Ti Moune celebrates her triumphant performance,
Andrea asks her to perform at her wedding, explaining it is she who will
be marrying Daniel.
Daniel tells Ti Moune he was promised to Andrea as a child and "this is
how things are done." Ti Moune is in shock and Daniel bluntly tells her
they could never have married.
Desolate and alone, Ti Moune hears critical voices from the past,
echoing in her head. Papa Ge appears and reminds her of her promise,
reprising "Forever Yours." However, he says that instead of
surrendering her own soul, she can choose to kill Daniel and have her
own life back. Reminding her of Daniel's betrayal, he gives her a knife.
She is about to kill Daniel when Erzulie appears to remind her she is
part of "The Human Heart - Reprise." Ti Moune hurls down the knife,
choosing her love for Daniel over her desire to live. Erzulie has
triumphed over Papa Ge--love is indeed stronger than death.
Ti Moune is thrown out of the Hotel Beauxhomme. She waits, not eating or
sleeping, until Daniel and Andrea pass by her after their wedding,
tossing coins to the peasants. She calls out to Daniel and he pauses by
her side for a moment, then moves on. She curls up in despair, and from
her hand falls the coin Daniel has pressed into it.
Mama Euralie begins a lament for Ti Moune, "Part of Us." The
storytellers enact Ti Moune's death. She is passed gently from one god
to the next, until at last Asaka takes Ti Moune to her breast, and lays
her to rest in the earth.
Ti Moune is resurrected from the earth as a beautiful tree, one which
will shelter peasants and grand hommes alike for years to come. The
storytellers tell the little girl how Daniel's young son encountered a
beautiful peasant girl in the tree and the spirit of Ti Moune set them
free to love one another. This is "Why We Tell the Story." They sing to
the little girl, "For out of what we live and we believe, our lives
become the stories that we weave."
As the little girl picks up the thread of the story and begins to tell
it, the storytellers resume their places around the fire and the stars
come out, as the lights fade on them.
Staff:
Artistic Director - Lindsey Chester
Show Director - Lara Foy
Choreographer - Brance Souza
Musical Director - Mazera Cox
Assistant / Vocal Coach - Briana Michaud
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