Once on this Island

For days now, I had been bugging B to accompany me in watching Once on this Island at the RCBC Theater. My girlfriends and I had planned to watch it last weekend, but one of them got sick, so we weren't able to push through with that plan. The musical will only be running until the end of May however, and with shows only on the weekends (Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays), it seemed like we didn't have enough free time to catch the show, and it would end up on my wish-i-did-but-i-didn't-have-time-for-it list.

But it turns out B also wanted to watch the show (because of Jett Pangan). Finally, last Friday, 10 minutes before showtime, we were able to buy some tickets to watch Actor's Actors Inc. staging of Once on This Island at the RCBC Theater.

The musical itself debuted on Broadway in 1990, and was nominated in that year's Tony Awards for Best Score, Best Book and Best Musical. It didn't win, but nevertheless, it's a fun musical worth catching.

Here's a short summary I lifted from somewhere in the web (sorry, didn't feel like summarizing it on my own):

Freely adapted from the novel My Love, My Love by Rosa Guy, Once On This Island is a twist on the traditional Little Mermaid tale, as it tells of Ti Moune, a poor,orphaned, peasant girl who falls in love with Daniel, an upper class boy whose life she saves after a car crash. There are four gods that the peasants believe rule their lives; Erzulie (the goddess of Love), Asaka (Mother of the Earth), Agwe (God of Water), and Papa Ge (The Demon of Death). These gods cause the lives of the young lovers to intersect, and Ti Moune leaves her adoptive parents and village on the fateful journey that tests the strength of her love.

Ti Moune's story is told by the villagers (or should I say islanders) as a story that happened "once on this island". The island, as they tell it, is divided into two worlds -- the world of the rich foreigners, and the world of the poor native peasants. The first scene shows the villagers, huddling together in the midst of a storm, telling Ti Moune's story to a little girl. The Caribbean beach-y island theme is carried out in the whole musical -- even the costumes are in various shades of flowing tie-dyed island wear. The set is simple, just a bare stage with lots of bamboo banigs hanging all over the place. The effect however, is great. Lighting carries a big part in how the characters are depicted. There are scenes of Jett Pangan (as the Demon of Death), looking menacing under the yellow-red spotlight.


(**Pictures from oarhouse.blogspot.com and thespoke.net)


If you look hard enough, the story tackles racial differences, culture, family, love. The circle of life (enter soundtrack of The Lion King) is emphasized. The musical starts as a story being told to a young girl, and ends with the young girl now telling the story. "Our lives become the stories that we weave...", her audience chants. Praise should be given to how the story is told. I found it fascinating that despite the tragic story of Ti Moune, one leaves the theater happy, the cheery island music humming in one's brain.

Fellow UP graduate and former Smokey Mountain member Jeffrey Hidalgo plays Daniel, the male love interest. Since he's supposed to be "upper class", he prances around in an all-white suit with a white bowler hat, in contrast to everyone else who're dressed in island attire. Though he falls in love with Ti Moune, he actually is engaged to marry someone from his class. "Some girls you marry, some you love," he sings, just before Ti Moune finds out about his engagement. And you just know this weak man is going to break her heart.

"Born Diva" winner Raki Vega is great as Ti Moune. I wasn't able to watch "Born Diva" on TV, so I didn't really know how Raki Vega would look like. I was expecting someone with a boob job (Born Diva sponsors free plastic surgeries as part of its bid to 'better' the contestants), but she's this thin girl with the great voice, and she really did do justice to her role as Ti Moune, singing her heart out with great emotion. Others in the cast include Kuya Bodjie (as Ti Moune's adoptive dad), Jett Pangan (God of Death), Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo (swirling in a pink dress as the goddess of love), Michael Williams (as God of Water), Micheal de Mesa (chorus/Daniel's Dad), and Bituin Escalante as Mother Earth. Although when we watched last Friday, it was Bituin's alternate Radha who played Mother Earth. I remember Radha from Kulay, and now she's even chubbier than Bituin, but she still does justice to her solo, "Mama Will Provide".

"Once on This Island" is at turns touching and funny. It runs until May 29 at the RCBC Theater, Makati City. It is directed by Bart Guingona (Actor's Actors). For tickets, contact Ticketworld.