The faithful Once On This Island production now at the Aurora Fox Theater is a testament to two things: There is no shortage of talent these days in the metro area, and a recipe for good stew makes for a middling show.
This 1990s Tony Award winning musical parable set on a Caribbean island has come and gone like a warm, blue tide over the years. It’s more operetta than traditional musical. One act, a string of narrative songs, mostly light and playful, the blunt tragedy built into the story stings like a comfortable fairy tale. Based on the book “My Love, My Love; or, The Peasant Girl,” by Rosa Guy, the show is often compared to Hans Christian Andersen’s iconic story, “The Little Mermaid.” The message is one focusing on racism and class struggles, and that love is fickle, obsessive, powerful, and not always victorious.
In the Once On This Island story, a young girl terrified by a storm on a fictional French Antilles island is told the tale of another young girl affected by a worse gale, Ti Moune. Ti Moune as a child was orphaned by a tempest on the peasant side of a post-colonial island. Raised by a generous couple, Ti Moune attracts the attention of the four island gods, Land, Sea, Death and Love. When a young fair-skinned man from the wealthy side of the island is hurt in a car crash, Ti Moune falls in love with him and becomes a pawn between the gods of Love and Death. Pushing beyond caste and racist boundaries, she saves young Daniel and returns him to his wealthy, “beautiful” people on their side of the island. While Ti Moune believes that their love can muscle past class barriers, the gods and everyone on the island believe otherwise.
Sound familiar? The story’s been told endless ways by the Greeks, Shakespeare, Hollywood, Nords and everything between.
What sets this show apart is the unique, sanguine creole attitude about surviving a harsh life. That temper is reflected in a series of songs that never get cynical, even when they’re dramatic.
The entire cast, and it’s a pretty big one, delivers one astonishing song after another for the entire show. Denver’s rising R&B star SuCh, as Ti Moune, gives up one of the most compelling musical performances the area has seen in years. The numbers are long and sometimes cumbersome, but SuCh never comes close to stumbling.
Despite the ease with which SuCh could have made the show all hers, much of the cast hold their own. Anna High as Mama Euralie was captivating every time she offered up her powerful and remarkable voice. Likewise, Dwayne Carrington sounds commanding as the vengeful God of Death, Papa Ge.
But all this talent and verve from the cast struggles to keep the show on track. The production seems lost on an island of possibilities.
Rather than play the show full hilt as a stylized impression of a Creole parable, director Candy Brown takes a sometimes minimalist approach, not altogether a bad idea. Because of the rich calypso score and captivating narrative, it’s easy to imagine simplicity and pantomime adding to the charm of the story. But the show doesn’t stay the course. Crowded by a set that’s anything but suggestive, the choreography gets claustrophobic and awkward. Sometimes the show seems to try to capitalize on a campy bent, but the effect ends up coming across as parody of itself. Headdresses look like an afterthought. The garish light and some scrim scenes take on a distracting life of their own. If you don’t know the story and why a tree figures critically into the end, it feels like the production suddenly washes ashore instead of reaches a finale. With so many flavors, nothing but the songs make it to the end.
Fortunately, the music and the remarkable cast behind it are not only the main attraction of the show, but still plenty of reason to come.
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Once on This Island at the Aurora Fox Theatre, 9995 E. Colfax Ave. Friday, Saturday and Sunday through Oct. 5 Curtain at 7:30 p.m., and 2 p.m. some matinees. Tickets are $14-$31. Call 303-739-1970 or visit aurorafoxartscenter.org.