USC’s all-student Musical Theatre Repertory opens its 2022-2023 season to engaging effect with Once On This Island, Lynn Ahrens’ and Stephen Flaherty’s magical musical tale of star-crossed island lovers.

Based on the novel My Love, My Love: or The Peasant Girl, Rosa Guy’s tropical adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid, 1990’s Once On This Island transforms Andersen’s sea sprite into T’Moune (Kayla Campbell), orphaned as a young child and raised by Tonton Julian (Jamari Wright) and his wife Mama Euralie (Mimi Sledge) as their own on an island called Jewel Of The Antilles.

Colonized by the French, Jewel Of The Antilles now finds its population split between mixed-raced descendants of frisky plantation owners like Armand (Abbe Pingol), his handsome young playboy son Daniel Beauxhomme (Daniel Voight), and the island natives who revere gods and goddesses like Demon of Death Papa Ge (Rafi Perez), Goddess of Love Eruzlie (Maya Lee), God(dess) of Water Agwe (Estefani Lopez, who shares the role with Carlos Lao), and Mother of the Earth Asaka (Patricia Ogbac).

When Agwe causes a recklessly-driving Daniel to crash his car one dark and stormy night, it’s up to T’Moune to nurse him back to health and teach him the meaning of true love, albeit one forbidden by generations of island prejudice and tradition.

 As anyone who’s seen Ragtime, Seussical, A Man Of No Importance, Lucky Stiff, or Dessa Rose can tell you, lyricist Flaherty and lyricist Ahrens never fail to reinvent themselves, and in Once On This Island, their tropical melodies, rhythms, and vernacular prove positively intoxicating.

Book writer Ahrens tells T’Moune’s story almost entirely through song, and what a bunch of beauties she and Flaherty have created, from the exquisite “Forever Yours,” “The Human Heart,” and “Some Girls” to the calypso-flavored “Mama Will Provide,” “Why We Tell The Story,” and “We Dance.”

The first thing audiences will notice on entering USC’s black box Massman Theatre is scenic designer Maya Channer’s tropics-evoking set, painted in vivid hues by Monica Kosmos and adorned with bougainvillea and hanging vines, and when Jacob Hollens’ gorgeously saturated lighting adds extra brilliance to Alexandria Gee and Grayson Abdalla’s colorful island wear, Diaya ‘Day’ Fuller’s hair and jewel-adorned makeup designs, and Juliana Pincus’s carefully selected props, the end result is one of Musical Theatre Repertory’s most memorable production designs.

Under Neema Muteti’s carefully thought out direction, Campbell and Voight make for engaging star-crossed lovers, Perez’s spooky, androgynous Papa Ge and Mimi Sledge’s warm-hearted Mama Euralie (both of them vocal standouts) do compelling work, Pingol is a charmer as Armand, and Mackenzie Jaimes is a lovely Andrea Deveraux.

Ogback (who has the cast’s most powerful pipes), Lee, and Lopez add committed support as assorted gods and goddesses, and Nya Manneh is a captivating Young Ti Moune, with Wright’s Papa Ge and storytellers Vanessa Cardona and Shanae Wise completing the hard-working cast.

MTR’s Once On This Island is most effective and beguiling when its cast members dance in unison to Muteti and Janae Holster’s enchanting island choreography or join voices to harmonious effect under Soni Sharma’s expert musical direction.

Sharma doubles as conductor of Once On This Island’s topnotch live orchestra: Victoria Bogomilova and Jack Lin on keyboards, John Bulda on reeds, Ari Hyman on guitar, Cameron Davidson on bass, and Preston Spisak on percussion to a conga drum beat.

Indeed Sharma and her musicians are so very good that it’s a shame they often drown out spoken narration and some of the cast’s less powerful voices, making it hard for audiences not familiar with the show to follow its plot. (Even someone like myself who’s seen the musical several times before had to listen especially carefully to keep track of the action.)

Once On This Island is produced by Greg Ward and Abdalla. Jacob Hollens and Ben Nicholas are sound designers.

Maycee Campano is stage manager and Eileen Yang is assistant stage manager. Alex Muir is technical director.

Abigail (Abitha) Nunis is dramaturg. Maya Gardner and Joy Jaensubhakij are co-EDIA coordinators. Lexa Ornes and Oliviana Marie are co-music coordinators.

Erica Ammerman and Rhea Mehta are production managers.

If there’s anything that’s been missing from the over two dozen Musical Theatre Repertory production’s I’ve reviewed over the past fourteen years, it’s been a general lack of diversity in casting.

The entirely student-run company’s decision to program a musical specifically written for non-white performers represents a conscious decision to pursue inclusivity and change.

That Once On This Island makes for an entertaining talent showcase for its primarily black, entirely POC cast is added reason to enjoy this visit to the tropics.

Massman Theatre at USC. Through October 23. Friday at 7:30 and 11:00 pm. Saturday at 2:00 and 8:30. Sunday at 2:00.
www.uscmtr.com

–Steven Stanley
October 20. 2022
Photos: Erin Newsom https://www.enewsomphoto.com/

Tags: Los Angeles Theater Review, Lynn Ahrens, Musical Theatre Repertory, Stephen Flaherty, USC School Of Dramatic Arts