ONCE ON THIS ISLAND Will Get June Staged Reading Before Sailing to Broadway

As BroadwayWorld reported earlier this week, Once On This Island, the Olivier Award-winning and Tony Award-nominated Best Musical, is returning to Broadway this fall. Now according to an Equity casting notice, the show will get a staged reading this June to prepare for its Broadway return.

A December 2016 workshop featured: Katie Boeck (Vocals/Guitar), Chloe Bryan, Darlesia Cearcy, Lawrence Clayton, Carrie Compere, Patrice Covington, Quentin Earl Darrington, Charity Angel Dawson, Mike Evariste, Sean Grandillo (Vocals/Bass), Adrianna Jackson, Bre Jackson, Cassondra James, Isaiah Johnson, Mykal Kilgore, Grasan Kingsberry, Kenita R. Miller,Dimitri Joseph Moise, Maria Wirries.

"[It] was absolutely thrilling." Flaherty told BroadwayWorld. "In collaboration with director Michael Arden, vocal designer Ann Marie Milazzo and orchestrator Michael Starobin, we explored many exciting new musical concepts for the piece. Lynn [Ahrens] and I look forward to taking these ideas further with our new collaborators in the New Year."

Directed by Tony nominee Michael Arden and written by the Tony Award-winning team of Lynn Ahrens (book and lyrics) and Stephen Flaherty (music), Once On This Island will begin preview performances on Thursday, November 9 and officially open on Sunday, December 3 at a Broadway theater to be announced.

Originally staged on Broadway in 1990, Once On This Island is based on the novel "My Love, My Love" by Rosa Guy. The 2017 production will feature new orchestrations by original orchestrator Michael Starobin and the vocal designer for the production will be AnnMarie Milazzo. The creative team includes Camille Brown (choreographer) and Dane Laffrey (Scenic Design). Additional members of the creative team will be announced soon.

ONCE ON THIS ISLAND, Broadway's joyous musical celebration, is the extraordinary story of a fearless young dreamer named Ti Moune. After a massive storm rages through her village, a ray of hope appears through a young man from the wealthy side of the island. An unexpected romance blossoms. But when their different cultures threaten to keep them apart, Ti Moune-guided by the island gods-sets out on a journey to stay beside the man who has captured her heart. The exuberant score by Tony Award® winners Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens (Anastasia, Ragtime), along with the visionary production by Tony Award-nominated director Michael Arden (Spring Awakening revival), transforms the reality of post-storm Haiti into a fantastical world bursting with Caribbean rhythms and dance.

An unprecedented international casting search for the lead role of Ti Moune will start in Port-au-Prince, Haiti (April 7), and continue to Detroit (April 14), Chicago (April 15), Los Angeles (April 27), New Orleans (April 29), Atlanta (April 30), New York (May 2).