Once On This Island - Was 1991 A Slow Year?- Page 2

[bjivie2]

Posted: 4/4/07 at 9:22pm

You may have the London cast recording which is pretty awful. The original Broadway cast, however, is pretty divine.

I still think it's one of the best endings of a show ever. The last 12 minutes or so are just heartbreaking.

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 4/4/07 at 9:31pm

I saw a local production here last summer with the correct ethnicities, and I guess it was alright. I didnt really feel strongly either way. It was a simple show, not quite sure how it go to Broadway only because I don't think it's a big enough show for Broadway or the right kind of show, but it did have some good songs. I've never been really overwhelmed by their work as composer/lyricist, something always feels a little cheap to me, even Ragtime and Man of No Importance, but that's me.

[sparrman]

Posted: 4/4/07 at 10:16pm

My wife and I saw the original cast on Broadway. We had avoided seeing it, weren't very intrigued by it. But we had seen everything else on Broadway and Off-...so what the heck, we went.

That evening was the single most amazing theatregoing experience I have had in a 40+ year lifetime of theatregoing. My wife and I were completely speechless at the end, we were so moved and blown away. We just sat there in our seats, looking at each other stupidly, tears still streaming down our faces.

Graciela Daniele's staging was absolutely remarkable, using the simplest of devices for maximum effect. And that cast! Incomparable.

The show was an absolute, uncompromised, perfect work of art sitting there as if by accident in a commercial Broadway house.

[jv92]

Posted: 4/4/07 at 10:26pm

The opening number is quite exiting as are many of the other more uptempo songs, especially Mama Will Provide. The ballads are quite pretty, but if not performed correctly come of corny I guess. Is it Ragtime? No. But is it a simple, rather charming, well constructred piece? Absolutely. It's very good.

Edit: I did not see the original production, sadly. I hear, not only from the above poster but from others (such as Frank Rich) that it was a marvel. I'm sure it played better then than in the various school productions I've seen. Updated On: 4/4/07 at 10:26 PM

[OOTI2004]

Posted: 4/4/07 at 10:41pm

The show has such gorgeous songs..."Some Girls", "Ti Moune" and "Forever Yours". Then it has the upbeat and catchy "Pray", "Rain" and "Why We Tell the Story". I honestly love this show, the score is great and while I do find the book odd, its still a very moving show.

I think the only song that has cheesy lyrics is "The Sad Tale of the Beauxhommes". I've always hated that song, but it continually grows on me.

[Sykes24]

Posted: 4/4/07 at 10:49pm

It's a great show!!!!

[sparrman]

Posted: 4/4/07 at 11:41pm

This thread caused me to dig up Frank Rich's review...here's how it concludes:

'Once on This Island' has the integrity of genuine fairy tales, in that it doesn't lead to a saccharine ending but to a catharsis, a transcendent acceptance of the dust-to-dust continuity of life and death. 'Why We Tell the Story' is the concluding song for the evening's storytellers, and one of those reasons is that 'our lives become the stories that we weave.' As the story and its tellers at last come full circle in 'Once on This Island,' the audience feels the otherworldly thrill of discovering the fabric of its own lives in an enchanted tapestry from a distant shore.

Posted: 4/4/07 at 11:51pm

Is there a link to the TOny clip? i never even thought to look if it had a tony performance!

I'm glad so many fans love this show--fter the first post I was afraid my view would be coloured by lots who don't like it

I know the British version is looked down on though apparantlyt hey made the theatre almost like a Caribbean village--was a song added to it? Updated On: 4/4/07 at 11:51 PM

[wickedrentq]

Posted: 4/5/07 at 1:30am

I love this show. It was the first pit score I ever played. And my high school had the correct ethnicity, and ours was a wonderful production. Our Mama Euralie was essentially a Gospel singer, and our Papa Ge had a better voice than the dude on the CD.

I adore the score (perhaps a tad biasly). It has a nice Caribbean flavor in the sound and integrates motifs well. The island motif, the one small girl motif, some girls motif, etc. Waiting for Life is a great song, as is Rain (and the orchestrations provide an amazing atmosphere--it's certainly a highlight of the show (if you have a good Agwe). Pray, too has wonderful orchestrations and a sound to the music, and really creates tension. The island motif appropriately goes minor here. Forever Yours is just a gorgeous song, and its change in tone...gah.

Ti Moune has absolutely gorgeous orchestrations, with the clarinet answering the singers and though it's a simple message, it's an important kind of song whose theme I don't think is explored enough--the child leaving the parents, proving her independence, her parent's unwillingness to let her go, but then let her go out of love...it's so beautiful.."you know where we'll be"

Mama Will Provide is just exciting, and a great chorus really adds to it. The Human Heart is also beautiful, and it's awesome that the show has two different yet both wonderful love ballads. Some Girls has a lot it has to do...express and convince the audience of Daniel's love for Ti Moune, introduce Andrea and the fact that Daniel must and will marry her, etc. The exciting lift in the music when he starts to sing "You are not small talk..." I love that part.

Forever Yours reprise when performed well can be menacing.

The whole tree thing--yes if you describe the plot to someone in a couple of sentences, ending it that way seems pretty silly. But as others have said, the whole idea of storytelling, and myths often have a kind of...this person is connected to this aspect of the world or nature, whether it be the cause of seasons or fire, etc. So in that context it makes sense that she becomes a tree..."touched their heart and set them free to love." And Why We Tell The Story, great upstanding beat. The fact that Ti Moune's last line is "and forgive." You'd think she'd sing about loving or something like that, but she now introduces the new idea of forgiveness so late in the show. And the last lines (in song) really express the theme of the show "Our lives become the stories that we weave"

[bjivie2]

Posted: 4/5/07 at 1:40am

What is "Is it Ragtime? No." Of course it's not Ragtime. It's not a gigantic 60-person epic musical. Once on this Island is an intimate, charming piece of theatre. You really can't compare the two. I can compare the positives and negatives of the two, but they're essentially different genres within musical theatre. I think the structure of Island is better and while it plays on one's emotions, it does it in a very honest way where as Ragtime does it more with it's epic-ness and plays to our feelings on things babies being burried in the ground. Ragtime forces people to feel whereas Island invites and invokes those feelings.

But I still love me some Ragtime.

[Rose_MacShane]

Posted: 4/5/07 at 1:52am

It really depends on the production. The first time I saw it, I saw a high school production where every islander was a white kid covered in bronzer and dressed like Survivor rejects, except for Ti Moune, who looked and dressed vaguely Polynesian. I was bored out of my mind and thought it was patently ridiculous.
My college mounted it in February, and at first I was very leery, but ultimately I think we did a good job. The cast was much more diverse and I loved our ensemble. This is one of those shows that rests on its ensemble. After watching the first run-through I thought "Oh, so this is what all the fuss is about."

Posted: 4/5/07 at 2:05am

I think the points made about this production really depending on a strong cast, more than many shows, are good ones.

Found the Tony clip (so nice we can post youtube now)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uwS1KXc81U

[COOOOLkid]

Posted: 4/5/07 at 2:15am

If students of the "correct ethnicity" don't audition, what are you supposed to do, draft them?

If the students of the "correct ethnicity" don't audition, then they shouldn't do that show in the first place. It's not like Once on this Island is the only musical that exists!

[andyf]

Posted: 4/5/07 at 2:33am

Love the score and the show (which might not be perfect, but it's got quite a bit of heart; and the end is really beautiful).

Just wanted to comment on how funny it is that someone said "It's not Ragtime" because the opening of OOTI absolutely is Ragtime. The end of "We Dance" is exactly the same as the end of "Ragtime" and I love it.



Anyway, Lillias rocked the Tony performance. She is one crazy b*tch.

[bjivie2]

Posted: 4/5/07 at 3:06am

There is an alternate version of the show with minor changes to lyrics and lines if a theatre doesn't have the resources to do the show with the 10 black and 2 mulato actors. It makes it about class rather than race, which isn't as powerful but it allows the show to be done which is great.

Posted: 4/5/07 at 5:42am

Was this LaChanze's first major show (interestingly I saw her play Sarah in Ragtime in Vancouver in '98--brilliant)?

Lilias does a charming version of the cut song, Come Down from That Tree on one of the Lost in Boston CDs--worth checking out if you love this show

I swear I read the London CD had a bonus track added to the show but can't find it now

[mattonstage]

Posted: 4/5/07 at 7:12am

I love this show. I saw it originally for the first time at Hoboken High School in NJ. I was blown away. At the time, the Papermill Playhouse (side note: Save It), was doing a program honoring all the NJ high schools in a Tony-like ceremony, and this production won best musical.
It's a beautiful show, so moving. And remember, IT'S A FAIRYTALE!!! When Jack goes up the beanstalk, is that cheesy?

Also, it's interesting to see Lilias White on the Tony telecast, since she was not in the original cast. Asaka was originally played by Kecia Lewis-Evans (The Drowsy Chaperone).

[JRybka]

Posted: 4/5/07 at 7:21am

Oh My! I love and adore Once on this Island. And if you get a chance pic up the small novella is was based on by Rosa Guy called My Love, My Love... It can be hard to find now a days but it is worth finding a copy. The story is a wonderful fairy tale... a sweet story of life about the power of love over all obsticles. And if you think about it.. it is a re-telling of the Little Mermaid story (not the Disney-a-fied version) but the original version.

What a great little 90 Minute musical about love in the face of anything!

[philcrosby]

Posted: 4/5/07 at 8:19am

I am in agreement with all the positive posts about this lovely show ... the score is magical, and Graciela Daniele's staging was simple yet always evocative. There was more love and genuine emotion in this 90 minute production than in bloated spectacles like "Miss Saigon."

Sometimes (well, actually almost all the time) simpler is better.

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 4/5/07 at 9:59am

This was the best musical of that season imo, having seen all of the best musical contenders. I was so impressed with this production, I saw it 4 times. It was enchanting and quite beautifully directed and choreographed by Daniele. The cast was first rate.
On Broadway, LaChanze had previously been in Uptown, It's Hot and the revival of Dreamgirls, understudying Deena and Michelle. (Her name is Rhonda Sapp. She has gone by R. LaChanze Sapp.)

The "cheezy" story of a girl who becomes a tree has been around for centuries, and this was a new take on this old fable, written as a novel by Rosa Guy. The roots of the story are in the greek myth of Daphne, as an innocent girl who longs to become a tree instead of dealing with love/men (that's an oversimplification, to be sure.) This was written as a lovely opera by Richard Strauss.

Ahrens and Flaherty did a terrific job, only challenged that year by "The Secret Garden" which to me was a surprising delight as well.

Will Rogers Follies was a big disappointment to me, as was Buddy...biopic musicals are tough to pull off, and each fell flat to me, save for the leading men in each.

Miss Saigon had alot going for it, particularly the two leads and some of the score. It also had a ready made plot, just the wars and the names were changed :) Still, it was very enjoyable, but felt over directed to me...large and clunky.

Shogun was quite nice actually, had a lovely score and standout performances by June Angela and Francis Ruivivar, and some of the best sets and costumes I've ever seen. It was too much story and far too confusing (and too expensive, perhaps) to keep going.

1990-1991 was anything but a slow year. Check into the mid 80s for some lean years on Broadway.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 4/5/07 at 10:10am

I believe 88-89 was still the lead standard for bad musical seasons. STARMITES, anyone??

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 4/5/07 at 10:19am

I'd choose 1985, borstal...Big River, Quilters, Leader of the Pack and Grind all nominated for Best Musical...yikes!
No Best Actor or Actress in a musical could be nominated...not enough contenders.

actually, 1989 WAS bad too...Starmites was one of the highlights of that season!

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 4/5/07 at 10:38am

I believe 1985 was also the same year RAGS bombed big-time.

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 4/5/07 at 10:44am

Rags was 1987...the same year as Les Miz and, Me and My Girl and Starlight Express.

[Ourtime992]

Posted: 4/5/07 at 10:49am

Yeah, poor Rags. Les Miz was a juggernaut from the get-go, while Starlight Express did big business at the start, and Me and My Girl was an absolute delight. At least Judy Kuhn got to perform twice at the Tonys that year.