Play Review Of Once Upon This Island By Stephen Flaherty

Once Upon This Island is a wonderful play that tickles the audience’s imaginations. I had the great opportunity of watching it on Friday May 5, 2017 at precisely 10 A.M. It was magnificently performed by the CMT Rising Stars in the Children’s Musical Theater of San Jose. The play was written by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, and was first performed on May 6, 1990.
Once Upon This Island was directed by Ian Leonard. The play was a traditional musical, with beautiful songs and dances. It combines elements from many stories, such as Romeo and Juliet, and The Little Mermaid. The play celebrates life and death, and most of all, love. It starts with Ti Moune rescuing a wealthy boy named Daniel. She takes care of him, while Ti Moune’s adoptive
Every actor and dancer, big or small, tried their hardest and did very well in their parts. Two actors that stood out to me would have to be Ti Moune and Papa Ge, the God of Death. Ti Moune was a strong singer; one could tell that she sang with her heart. She also used body language, and moved freely around the stage, which made everything seem more realistic and natural and less staged. Papa Ge was also a very good actor. Although the singing was not as strong as Ti Moune’s, Papa Ge had very good facial expressions. He conveyed evil and dark thoughts through the movements of eyes and eyebrows. His evil laugh was very strong and very well done. During his scenes with Ti Moune, Papa Ge used body language that showed that he was intimidating, such as going up on his toes to seem taller, or running after her in a slightly aggressive
For example, the French people had all white costumes, to show that they are snobby and wealthy, while the peasants had colorful, traditional-like costumes, that showed that they are poor, but embrace the culture of the island. Hair and makeup also reflected the different characters. For example, the water god, or Agwe, has shimmery blue eye shadow and lipstick, to show that he was in fact a god of water, The music was very well chosen. It was upbeat and Caribbean-like, which helped the audience travel to a whole new world. Transitions were very smooth, and lights were just the right amount. Set design was quite cute; they had an interesting rotating platform that provided for any scene, even if it the scene was taking place in a different place. Palm trees and greenery were placed all across the stage, which made it more believable that this was taking place on an island instead of a stage. Although there were not too many props, the ones that were used, such as the car, were good and came on at the right