STAGE TUBE: Flashback to the Caribbean with the Original ONCE ON THIS ISLAND
By: Nicole Rosky Aug. 30, 2016
As BroadwayWorld reported earlier today, producer Ken Davenport announced that he is bringing a new production of the Olivier Award-winning, Tony-Nominated musical, ONCE ON THIS ISLAND, to Broadway.
The 1990 hit musical, with book and lyrics by Tony Award-winners Lynn Ahrens and music by Stephen Flaherty, will be directed by Tony Nominee Michael Arden (Spring Awakening), with new orchestrations by original orchestrator Michael Starobin. The vocal designer for the production will be Ann Marie Milazzo. A musical exploration/reading will take place in December, with Jason Michael Webb serving as musical director.
The original Broadway production played from 1990 to 1991, followed by a run in the West End, where it won the 1995 Olivier Award for Best New Musical. Based on the 1985 novel MY LOVE, MY LOVE; OR, THE PEASANT GIRL by Rosa Guy, ONCE ON THIS ISLAND is set in the French Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean Sea and centers on a peasant girl on a tropical island, who uses the power of love to bring people together.
In celebration of the news, we're flashing back to the original production with a medley performed at the 1991 Tony Awards, followed by "Waiting for Life", performed by original Ti Moune, LaChanze.
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