Meadow Brook gives 'Island' a warm Michigan welcome
I knew little about "Once on This Island" when I entered Meadow Brook Theatre on a frigid afternoon last weekend. I left impressed by the performances and the physical staging, both of which were top-notch, and also warmed by the message of true love, sacrifice and hope that the show so beautifully conveys.
The title island is in the Caribbean. As the show begins, a little girl who has become frightened by a storm has her fears quelled when she's told a folk story about the orphan Ti Moune (Darilyn Castillo), a courageous young peasant girl who is intent on discovering her purpose in life. When handsome young Daniel (Jeremy Gaston), a boy from the wealthy side of the island, is involved in a car accident, Ti Moune makes a pact with the island gods: If they let him live, she will trade her life for his.
Daniel lives, indeed, and Ti Moune cares for him around the clock, causing speculation among his rich friends and relatives. They suspect that the girl's so-called powers of healing are really nothing more than sex. They also know what Ti Moune doesn't: That once Daniel is better, there is no way he will marry her.
"Once on This Island" had its initial Broadway run in 1990 and was nominated for a handful of Tony Awards, none of which it won. The Meadow Brook production, the show's first professional staging in Michigan, was more than worth the wait.
As with last season's "Lysistrata Jones," director Travis W. Walter has cast his net widely, attracting talent from several cities, none of them near Detroit. The only truly local actresses are the two girls playing Young Ti Moune. A charming Jada Marie Sanders nailed the part during the performance I saw.
Castillo makes a vulnerable, sensual Ti Moune and is equally adept as both a singer and dancer. She displays the latter when she accompanies a healthy Daniel to the palace. Her dance, earthy and primal, presages her dismissal from the palace and the kind of tragedy usually reserved for grand opera, or maybe Shakespeare.
There are also standouts in the supporting cast, especially Jayne Trinette's gospel-infused take on earth mother Asaka. She nearly brings down the house with her second-act anthem "Mama Will Provide" after getting the last word earlier with "And the Gods Heard Her Prayer."
All of the performers make the most of the Lynn Ahrens-Stephen Flaherty score, a combination of soulful ballads and catchy calypso ditties that sound like castaways from "The Little Mermaid." (Not surprisingly, the composers were also behind the non-Disney animated "Anastasia" in 1997.)
The real stars of "Once on This Island" may be the set and costume designers, who perform Broadway-caliber magic on a Meadow Brook budget. Jeremy Barnett meticulously arranges weathered green-painted fence boards to depict ramshackle surroundings and a violent storm's aftermath. He also revives the ramp from his last MB production, "Next to Normal" and employs its various elevations to reflect class differences inherent in the island culture.
By dressing higher-class characters in white, Corey T. Globke reinforces themes from the original production, in which much is made of the shades of black skin — darker for the peasants, lighter for the ruling class. He also fashions fabulous depictions of the various deities, from the statuesque Erzulie, the goddess of love, to Asaka's Carmen Miranda-worthy head piece.
At under 90 minutes (without intermission), "Once on This Island" is among the most satisfying productions I've seen this season. At its conclusion, it leaves theatergoers in state like that of the little girl they meet at the show's beginning: educated, entertained and full of hope.
Contact John Monaghan: madjohn@earthlink.net
'Once on This Island'
Four stars
out of four stars
8 p.m. Wed.-Fri., 2 & 8 p.m. Sat., 2 & 6:30 p.m. Sun. Through March 8.
Meadow Brook Theatre
207 Wilson Hall, Auburn Hills
248-377-3300
$26-$41