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Went to see Once On This Island last night courtesy of ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
maureen_the_mad, and WOW!
Please note - this review contains spoilers... assuming you don't know how the non-Disney version of Little Mermaid ends.
A short, intense, and beautiful show, Once On This Island is a bright, intimate, and beautifully painful remake of The Little Mermaid by way of the novel My Love, My Love. This is the original Mermaid, full of pain, sacrifice, misunderstanding, and even racism; it doesn't wipe away the gnarly bits in a splash of sparkles a la Disney. And yet it is still bright and colorful; set on a generic island in the Antilles, the set is nothing more than some painted poles and colorful costumes, using every shade in a parrot's plumage. The singing and dancing were fantastic, with the sole exception of the actress playing Little Ti Moune, who could do little of either.
The cast - an intimate group of 11 - shifts from role to role as they tell the mythology of their island. "An island where the poorest of peasants labor and the wealthiest of grand hommes play. Two different worlds on one island."
The worlds collide when wealthy, priviledged, mulatto Daniel crashes his car on the beach in the rain, and is nursed back to health by Ti Moune, a dark orphan raised by peasants. Deprived of the Disney "Romeo and Juliet gone right" ending, Daniel choses and Ti Moune loses, going down in one of the most beautiful (and oddly comforting) onstage suicides I've ever seen. Erzulie, Goddess of Love flew Ti Moune to the beach. Agwe, God of water, wrapped her in a wave and swept her away from her pain. Papa Ge, Demon of Death, was gentle. Agwe returned her to the beach and as she was laid in the earth, Asaka, Mother of the Earth, cradled her to her breast. And that's as it should be, because the story told on this island is not about the futility of trying to mix two worlds, a la Anderson, nor about how blithely they are breached, a la Disney. It is a story of how sacrifices pave the way for future successes, and that is a tale of both heartbreak and hope.
It's a fantastic show, in its final three days at the Roundhouse Theater in Bethesda. Highly recommended.
maureen_the_mad, and WOW!Please note - this review contains spoilers... assuming you don't know how the non-Disney version of Little Mermaid ends.
A short, intense, and beautiful show, Once On This Island is a bright, intimate, and beautifully painful remake of The Little Mermaid by way of the novel My Love, My Love. This is the original Mermaid, full of pain, sacrifice, misunderstanding, and even racism; it doesn't wipe away the gnarly bits in a splash of sparkles a la Disney. And yet it is still bright and colorful; set on a generic island in the Antilles, the set is nothing more than some painted poles and colorful costumes, using every shade in a parrot's plumage. The singing and dancing were fantastic, with the sole exception of the actress playing Little Ti Moune, who could do little of either.
The cast - an intimate group of 11 - shifts from role to role as they tell the mythology of their island. "An island where the poorest of peasants labor and the wealthiest of grand hommes play. Two different worlds on one island."
The worlds collide when wealthy, priviledged, mulatto Daniel crashes his car on the beach in the rain, and is nursed back to health by Ti Moune, a dark orphan raised by peasants. Deprived of the Disney "Romeo and Juliet gone right" ending, Daniel choses and Ti Moune loses, going down in one of the most beautiful (and oddly comforting) onstage suicides I've ever seen. Erzulie, Goddess of Love flew Ti Moune to the beach. Agwe, God of water, wrapped her in a wave and swept her away from her pain. Papa Ge, Demon of Death, was gentle. Agwe returned her to the beach and as she was laid in the earth, Asaka, Mother of the Earth, cradled her to her breast. And that's as it should be, because the story told on this island is not about the futility of trying to mix two worlds, a la Anderson, nor about how blithely they are breached, a la Disney. It is a story of how sacrifices pave the way for future successes, and that is a tale of both heartbreak and hope.
It's a fantastic show, in its final three days at the Roundhouse Theater in Bethesda. Highly recommended.
