A tragic tale rollicking with positive energy, the 1990 musical Once on This Island gives the Little Mermaid and its sacrificial heroine a twist of Romeo and Juliet’s star-crossed conflict. Ola Ince’s forceful new production identifies its Caribbean setting with Haiti – an implicit reminder of a fragile natural world.
Ti Moune (a storming Gabrielle Brooks), a resourceful orphan rescued from a flood by a peasant couple, saves the life of Daniel, one of the island’s snooty aristocrats (the pale-skinned grands hommes). She offers the gods her own life in exchange for his.
