Sunday, December 3, 2017






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Once on This Island--Still Jubilant but Overbloated

By Joseph Cervelli

What originally was a lovely, charming and sweetly ingratiating musical has been turned by into an overbloated revival under director Michael Arden’s frantic staging .  “Once on This Island” at Circle in the Square originally opened back in 1990 and made a star of the effervescent LaChanze portraying  the peasant girl Ti Moune (played by the equally winning Hailey Kilgore) who falls in forbidden love with Daniel better known as one of the “grand hommes” from the wealthy part of the island. Not only is Ti Moune poor but dark skinned unlike the lighter skinned Daniel who is a descendent from the original French who took over the island years ago. 






Dane Laffrey has realistically designed an island (though not sure about that truck located near the rear of the stage) that has been hit after a huge storm.  The various actors come onto the stage which is the floor of the theater in a kind of preshow to clean up the strewns of palm leaves and  bring out chickens and even a rambunctious goat who enjoys all the leaves it is being fed. The actors (and even the goat) travel up and down the various aisles of the stadium seating of the theater throughout the show which leads to much distraction, and the story gets lost in the excessively busy staging by Arden. If you are unfamiliar with the story you may not know exactly  whom a few of the characters are, and it does not help that the program omits the description of several of them. It is easy to figure out that the ominous Papa Ge (Merle Dandridge) is Death but will most know that Lea Salonga portraying as Erzulie is the Goddess of Love?  Most of the other gods are boisterous but don’t have much of a personality. The very talented Quentin Earl Darrington makes little impression as Agwe, the God of Water. Worse yet is the excessively bland and expressionless Alex Newell as Asaka (Earth Mother). She needs to have a universal full embodied warmth which is missing from her performance. When she sings the immensely rousing and crowd pleasing “Mama Will Provide” it comes across lacklustre. 

Yet, among all the hurlyburly and over amplified sound there are some very special moments thanks to both  Kilgore’s splendid performance and the always valuable Phillip Boykin as Tonton, Te Moune’s adoptive father as well as Kenita R. Miller as her adoptive mother, Mama Euralie.  Their duet “Te Moune” is powerful in its simplicity.  Powell makes for an excellent Daniel and his interaction with Kilgore is honest and touching. Thankfully, Arden captures the essence of the play more in the latter half which deals with a love doomed because of people from  two different backgrounds.  Sure, it is “West Side Story” and other likewise shows  but “Island”  has an ingrained beauty that cannot be denied. 



       The  resoundingly wonderful score by Lynn Ahrens (book and lyrics) and Stephen Flaherty (music) still remains among the bounciest in years despite the fact that the ensemble numbers don’t give much justice to the delightful lyrics which are not always clearly understood. 

The last scene which should have us with a bright and hopeful smile on our faces left this reviewer with a blank look. While I won’t get into the reason for the tree at the end, what was presented was disappointing and misses the point. The tree should be flourishing representing the particular character’s soul inner beauty. Yet, it appeared to be more of a log which was a huge letdown. 

While  Camille A. Brown’s energetic choreography and Clint Ramos’s colorful costumes are assets the jubilation is overshadowed by the overwhelming bustling atmosphere. 

Tickets are available at Circle in the Square Theater 235 West 50th Street or by calling 212.239.6200.

PHOTOS CREDIT: JOAN MARCUS

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