Review: ONCE ON THIS ISLAND at Village Theatre

Dear Readers, we’re about to enter the realm of one of my favorite shows, “Once on This Island”, currently playing at Village Theatre.  This gem of a show is, sadly, not often produced.  In fact, I’ve only seen it twice, once on Broadway in 2017, and once in 2005, again from Village Theatre.  Both of those productions hold very special places in my memory as being stellar shows.  I tell you this for one reason and one reason only, I am very picky when it comes to this show.  I know the story and the music backwards and forwards.  And I am loathed to say that this current production suffered from bad choice after bad choice, misstep after misstep, resulting in something that resembled the gem, but ultimately did not shine.

The story is slightly reminiscent of “The Little Mermaid” but with no mermaids.  We’re on a Caribbean island and being told a fairy tale of the haves and have nots.  On one side of the island are the light skinned blacks, descended from the French and wealthy.  On the other side are the dark-skinned black peasants who work the land and pray constantly to the gods.  The two sides do not mix, so when Daniel (Jeffery Wallace), from the wealthy side, crashes his car on the poor side, he’s nursed back to health by Ti Moune (Sydney Quildon) and of course the two fall in love which throws this world into upheaval.  So much so that the Gods who watch over the world step in, partially for Ti Moune but mostly for their own amusement, to see if the power of love can overcome the power of death.

This stunning piece written by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, with its calypso style songs and soaring romance should be a no brainer.  There are two main elements here as are spelled out in the songs.  We dance.  We tell the story.  Unfortunately, director and choreographer Ameenah Kaplan failed on both fronts.  The choreography was uninspired and sloppy.  And the staging seemed to thwart telling the story at every turn, whether it was singing a song about lovers directly to the audience while completely obscuring them or completely missing the two most critical and climactic moments of the end of the story.  Honestly, I have a list of missed moments and opportunities for this show if the folks at Village want it, but I won’t bore you here. 

I will, however, bring up the other gigantic downfall, and to be honest, obstacle of the show that made some of the other bad things happen, the set from Bryce Cutler.  First off, he chose spectacle over function with an overly complicated and clunky series of turntables to create an island on stage.  The opening line of the show starts with, “There is an island …”.  That’s enough for me to know we’re on an island, we don’t need to see it.  But Cutler chose to give us an island with interlaced turntables, and a shore leading out to the ocean painted on the stage which effectively reduced the playing/dancing area for this cast of villagers and gods by half so the choreography was lackluster and the cast was constantly wandering around trying to get out of each other’s way.  If that’s not enough, the lower level of the island was dotted with mini-houses that the cast attempted to work around.  So apparently this story is about villagers, gods, and giants that walk among us.  And don’t get me started on the overly busy backdrops.  Again, I could go on but suffice to say, Mr. Cutler, your set is not the story.

The cast does what they can with the impediments placed before them, but even they looked so unsure at times that I wonder if they had enough rehearsal time.  The majority of the voices are outstanding.  Quildon as Ti Moune is amazing.  With a killer set of pipes and some wonderful character choices she was by far the shining star of the show.  Similarly, Wallace had some great moments and terrific chemistry with Quildon and his voice was awesome.  Marlette Buchanan brought in some insane vocals as Mama Euralie as did Kataka Corn as the God Erzulie.  Their rendition of “The Human Heart” soared into the rafters.  I just wish it had been focused on the lovers they were singing to.  And I must mention Yusef D. Seevers as the demon of death, Papa Ge, who brought in a delicious sense of playful menace along with some stunning vocals. 

I was looking forward to this production all season so it was even more disappointing when I got a production that was just OK especially when compared to the Broadway and Village productions I had seen previously.  And so, with my three-letter rating system, I give Village Theatre’s “Once on This Island” a let down MEH+.  It’s still “Once on This Island” with some great singers, so if you’ve never seen it you may want to go for it since you may not get many other chances.  But for those that love this show and are going to be picky like me, maybe you keep those previous memories intact.  And you may say it’s not fair to compare this production to the Broadway one.  To that I refer to one of the things Artistic Director Adam Immwewahr said in his front of house speech.  “We are one of the best musical theater houses in the country.”  To that I say, prove it.

“Once on This Island” performs at Village Theatre in Issaquah through June 16th before moving to their Everett location running June 22nd, through July 14th.  For tickets or information visit them online at www.villagetheatre.org.

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