{"id":58536,"date":"2017-12-03T22:20:23","date_gmt":"2017-12-04T03:20:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/in-broadway-revival-of-once-on-this-island-a-modern-fable-beautifully-told-review\/"},"modified":"2017-12-03T22:20:23","modified_gmt":"2017-12-04T03:20:23","slug":"in-broadway-revival-of-once-on-this-island-a-modern-fable-beautifully-told-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gayfriendschat.com\/socialblog\/in-broadway-revival-of-once-on-this-island-a-modern-fable-beautifully-told-review\/","title":{"rendered":"In Broadway Revival of \u2018Once on This Island,\u2019 a Modern Fable, Beautifully Told: REVIEW"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Broadway Revival of \u2018Once on This Island,\u2019 a Modern Fable, Beautifully Told: REVIEW<\/b>
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A storm in the first minutes of <\/span>Once on This Island<\/span><\/i> brings the realities of its setting into sharp focus. Islands like the French Antilles, where this fable is set, are ruled by the elements and marked by extremes: wealth and poverty, leisure and toil, joy and sudden loss. The same holds true of director Michael Arden\u2019s vivid and transporting revival of Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty\u2019s bittersweet musical one-act, which opened last night.<\/span><\/p>\n

Broadway\u2019s only theatre-in-the-round, Circle in the Square is already a kind of island, one scenic designer Dane Laffrey ingeniously transforms into an actual one. Sand fills a stage surrounded by seating on all sides (and water on one), the scent of burnt garlic wafts through the air, there\u2019s even a live<\/a> goat (!). That visceral quality suffuses every aspect of Arden\u2019s production, reaching its height in an explosive Salome-inspired dance performed by the show\u2019s breakout star Hailey Kilgore. <\/span><\/p>\n

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The show-stopping scene, vibrantly choreographed by Camille A. Brown, marks a moment of desperation for Ti Moune, played by Ms Kilgore. Based on a 1985 novel by Trinidad-born Rosa Guy, the musical mixes elements familiar from both fairy tales and Shakespeare: a girl<\/a>, orphaned in a storm and saved by divine intervention, is taken in by a peasant couple<\/a> (Phillip Boykin and Kenita R. Miller, both exceptional). She grows up fast and just as quickly falls for the French-descended and light-skinned Daniel (Isaac Powell), whom she saves from near death, beginning a fated (and fatal) love story across class and cultural lines.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not a simple plot to stage, much less in 90 minutes. But Arden\u2019s hyper-imaginative revival, the first since the musical\u2019s premiere in 1990, engulfs audiences in Ahrens and Flaherty\u2019s elemental fable, and makes a convincing case for the power of storytelling extolled by the score. <\/span><\/p>\n

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One source of that power here lies in the production\u2019s casting of the deities, which include Lea Salonga (Tony winner for <\/span>Miss Saigon<\/span><\/i>) as Goddess of Love in an otherwise all-black ensemble, a regal turn from <\/span>Glee<\/span><\/i>\u2019s Alex Newell as Mother of the Earth, and Merle Dandridge as Demon of Death, a role originally written for a man<\/a>. (Quentin Earl Darrington rounds out the divine foursome as God of Water.)<\/span><\/p>\n

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The presumed moral of the story \u2014 about a woman<\/a> whose entire reason for being is to love a man<\/a> who, let\u2019s be fair, turns out to be two-timing trash \u2014 may not stand up to close inspection. But how the story is told, and who\u2019s doing the telling \u2014 in this case, a phenomenally talented cast of color, demonstrating in body and in voice the resilient spirit of a people whose stories are so often lost \u00a0\u2014 is something to be inspired by.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Follow Naveen Kumar on Twitter: @Mr_NaveenKumar<\/a>
\n(photos: joan marcus)<\/em><\/p>\n

The post In Broadway Revival of \u2018Once on This Island,\u2019 a Modern Fable, Beautifully Told: REVIEW<\/a> appeared first on Towleroad<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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In Broadway Revival of \u2018Once on This Island,\u2019 a Modern Fable, Beautifully Told: REVIEW<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n