Goodness me, there are some powerful voices in Ola Ince’s striking revival of this 1990 Broadway musical, which puts a Caribbean spin on the story of The Little Mermaid (well-timed, since the highly-anticipated Disney live-action film of the same tale is released next week). The tale of Ti Moune, a foundling peasant girl who falls for one of the wealthy, lighter-skinned “grand hommes” of her island (identified here as Haiti) is a simple one, bordering on the simplistic; it’s billed as suitable for children over 10.
But it’s told in just 90 minutes with real force and verve. The long-running composing and writing partnership of Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty has stripped the narrative back to basics here while packing the score with an array of belting anthems, insistent rhythms and sly wit.
