Once on this Island

The Caribbean gets a whole lot closer when Tartan Theatre debuts its new production April 13 at Tartan High School in Oakdale.

Written by the team of Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty (Ragtime, Suessical and Anastasia), Once on This Island is an enchanting musical fable that tells the story of forbidden love between a peasant girl and a rich city boy whom she saves from death.
Originally inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid, the Broadway show transports the story to a Caribbean island where social prejudice divides the island. A group of storytellers tell the tale of the young peasant girl, Ti Moune, who was saved from a flood by the gods as a child and raised by a pair of kindly old peasants. As she grows up, however, Ti Moune longs for a grander life than the one she faces and, inspired by the sight of a young and
handsome rich boy driving past in a white car, prays to the gods to grant her wish.

The New York Times calls it “A sugar-and-cartoon-free answer to The Little Mermaid. A 90-minute Caribbean fairy tale told in rousing song and dance, this show is a joyous marriage of the slick and the folkloric, of the hard-nosed
sophistication of Broadway musical theater and the indigenous culture of a tropical isle.”

In conjunction with the performances, Tartan Theatre is teaming up with Global Vision Citadelle Ministries to aid in their work in Haiti.  Global Vision stands for an overall concern for the whole person: spirit, soul and body.  GVCM is in the country working on making it a better place to the 7.3 million people who call Haiti home.  They have built a
school, provided funding, food and spiritual support for the residences of the island. 

“Teaming with GVCM only felt right in regards to the themes in our production.  The show talks about strife among the rich and poor residence of the island and the daily troubles they endure,” states the shows director, Ryan DeLaCroix.  “GVCM is working on a daily bases to make the lives ofthe Haitian people better and to provide them the basic necessitates of living and we couldn’t be more proud to assist them in their efforts.”

Tickets are available online through tickets.tartantheatre.org.  The show opens on April 13 at 7 pm with performances continuing on April 14, 20 and 21 at
7 pm and April 15 and 22 at 2 pm.  Tickets are $8 for adults, $5 for senior citizens and $3 for students (with a valid id).  VIP Seating which will allow patrons seating in the first five center rows are an additional $2 each.  There will be a special matinee for seniors on Sunday, April 15 with tickets $3 each.  Any patron who brings a pack of school supplies to aid our efforts with GVCM, will receive $1 off their ticket.  Tickets will be also available beginning one hour prior to each performance.