Review: ONCE ON THIS ISLAND, Regent's Park Open Air Theatre

A modern musical fairytale, Once On This Island is Romeo and Juliet set in the French Antilles with the two lovers on opposite sides of a race and class divide. Regent's Park Theatre opens its 2023 season with a humdinger of a revival, a real foot-stomper that rings in the ears long after the last song finishes.

On one side of this love battle is Ti Moune (an effervescent Gabrielle Brooks), a dark-skinned peasant girl adopted by Mama Euralie (Natasha Magigi) and Tonton Julian (Chris Jarman). She meets the light-skinned local aristo Daniel (Stephenson Ardern-Sodje) when he smashes his motor vehicle near her village and is rescued by Ti Moune.

The pair are the unwitting subjects of a celestial bet between the goddess Erzulie (Emilie Louise Israel) and the demon Papa Ge (Lejaun Sheppard) who want to know which is more powerful: death or love? Before long, our heroine has sacrificed her soul to save her car-crash crush and abandons her family and friends to spend a week shacked up under a bedsheet with him. Daniel's cowardly betrayal and Ti Moune's righteous rage bring things (and a sharp knife) to a head, finally deciding the wicked wager.

Social divisions caused by money and skin colour are as prevalent and relevant now as they were when this American musical first debuted in the early days of the Clinton era. Before they scored big with Ragtime, Lynn Ahrens (book and lyrics) and Stephen Flaherty (music) used the 1985 novel My Love, My Love by Rosa Guy to create work which is surprisingly humanist given the number of gods that wander around like heavenly Kardashians. This is an unabashed love story which doesn't shy away from a somewhat downbeat ending. The show is carried along by an engaging plot which never gets lost and a songbook which consistently punches hard and hearty.

Director Ola Ince keeps the action moving at a cracking pace and, despite no break in the ninety-minute runtime, there are no discernably dull moments. Her visual style is both exciting and ambitious: actors and musicians make superb use of the space outside the main stage; Daniel's French ancestor Armand is portrayed as a huge puppet head and hands; fierce fire licks the borders whenever Pape Ge turns up the heat; and water cascades down the stage as Ti Moune descends into the ocean.

Vibrant colours and sassy movement enliven every scene, pulling us into the drama, even if we can't quite make out all the lyrics or the acting occasionally leaves us non-plussed. Melissa Simon-Hartman's costumes burst with detail and every shade but grey; quite why she decks out earth goddess Asaka in a panel skirt made from what appear to be two sheets of astroturf is unknown, but we can let that one slide in the scheme of things.

Elsewhere, this production is full to the brim with splendid touches. The set designed by Georgia Lowe effortlessly transports from Ti Moune's simple village to the splendour of Daniel's not-so-humble abode. A live band at the back led by musical director Chris Poon on keys gives the ever-vivacious singing a fine platform to reach the sky. Kenrick 'H20' Sandy has done wonders with the choreography, the movements adding fizz and fun to the group numbers. The programme lists all cast and crew alphabetically emphasising the community vibe of Ahren's words. Let's just hope that "Rain" - a song which makes everyone watching painfully aware of the lack of overhead shelter - is not too tempting for the weather gods to respond to.

Once On This Island continues at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre until Saturday 10 June.

Photo Credit: Marc Brenner

More photos can be seen here.

This review is dedicated to Johnny Fox who passed away on 17 May, 2020.

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