One Small Girl

Once on This Island – Broadway in Chicago

In this gorgeous National Tour, as in the Circle in the Square Broadway revival, it’s all about telling the story. Two-time Tony Award nominated director Michael Arden gets it right, even before the first notes of music. A joyfully improvised prologue unfolds by the Storytellers, and is especially played to the onstage audience, seated upstage among Dane Laffrey’s extraordinarily detailed two-story set. This magical 1990 one-act musical, with a Tony nominated book, music and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty (“Ragtime,” “Anastasia”), is a heartwarming fable set on a sun-drenched island, the Jewel of the French Antilles.

 The story’s based upon Rosa Guy’s romantic novel, My Love, My Love; or The Peasant Girl. It tells the tale of Ti Moune, a little girl discovered by an older couple clinging to the top of a tree. Orphaned by the tropical storm that just decimated the island, Tonton Julian and Mama Euralie, played by the wonderful, extraordinarily talented Phillip Boykin and Danielle Lee Greaves, rescue the child, name her Ti Moune, and raise her to be a kind, empathetic young woman. 

One stormy night a car crashes on the nearby road. In the mangled vehicle, Ti Moune finds Daniel, the handsome, young driver, who’s critically injured. She bargains with Papa Ge, the morose god of Death, to spare him in exchange for her own soul. While Ti Moune nurses Daniel back to health, Tonton Julian learns that he’s the son of the affluent, lighter-skinned grands homme, descendants of French planters and their slaves. When the young man is taken back to his wealthy family on the other side of the island, Ti Moune follows him. 

On her journey, Ti Moune’s assisted by the other island gods: Asaka, the Earth Mother; Agwe, the god of Water; Erzulie, the goddess of Love. However, while there Ti Moune experiences unexpected prejudice because of her darker skin and lower social status. Ti Moune’s love is dashed and, because her life belongs to Papa Ge, the demon of Death, the story has a bittersweet ending. The musical brings the story of “One Small Girl” full circle, as she’s transformed into a stately tree that keeps the gates of the grands homme city open and allows all social statuses to become one.   

This uplifting, infectiously tuneful production’s strengths are many. Director Michael Arden, while guiding his gifted ensemble of actors, creates a strong feeling of community. He allows every member of his cast to be affable storytellers, while drifting in and out as specific characters of the musical. Flaherty and Ahren’s score is quite simply brilliant, borrowing heavily from Reggae and African rhythms, that make every theatergoer want to get up and dance. Camille A. Brown’s exciting, pulsating choreography and Chris Fenwick’s fine musical direction, along with Steven Cuevas’ talented, onstage instrumental accompaniment, work so well together in creating the Caribbean look and sound that’s an integral part of this story. The island costuming designed by Clint Ramos is both creative and colorful and adds another dimension to each character. The only difficulty in this production is that it’s sometimes, unfortunately, difficult to hear or understand the lyrics of this mostly sung show. This muddiness will hopefully be remedied as sound operators find the right balance for the acoustics of this space. 

Other strengths in this production include the mostly young, talented cast.  As Ti Moune, lovely Courtnee Carter is as enthusiastic and sincere an actress as you could imagine in this role. She lights up the stage with her voice, smile and honest expressiveness, as does young Mimi Crossland as the Little Girl (played by Mariama Diop at certain performances). American Idol star Tamyra Gray makes a deliciously menacing Papa Ge; former Chicagoan Jahmaul Bakare is outstanding in his National Broadway Tour debut as Agwe; gracefully gorgeous Cassondra James is captivating as Erzulie; and Asaka, the bountiful earth goddess, is portrayed with contagious charismatic conviviality by Kyle Ramar Freeman. The actor brings down the house with the delightful “Mama Will Provide.” Handsome Tyler Hardwick is perfection as Daniel, as is the rest of the ensemble, all strong and commanding in their multiple roles.

Storytelling is at the heart of every good piece of theatre, and this show offers a memorable tale well worth experiencing. This bewitching National Tour of the Tony Award-winner for Best Revival of a Musical is a must-see event. Directed by talented Michael Arden, he’s reshaped his original 2017 environmental, in-the-round Broadway production into an exquisite proscenium production, and it works almost as well. The catchy, rhythmical score by Flaherty and Ahrens brings both the sunshine and shadows into this story, making it a perfect  family show. And, although warmer days are still  a long way off, this tuneful theatrical trip to the Tropics will delight audiences with a preview of the summer to come.

Highly Recommended

Reviewed by Colin Douglas

Presented January 21-February  2 by Broadway in Chicago at the Cadillac Palace Theatre, 151 W. Randolph, Chicago.

Tickets are available at all Broadway in Chicago box offices, the BIC Ticket Line at 800-775-2000 or online at www.BroadwayInChicago.com.

Additional information about this and other area productions can be found by visiting www.theatreinchicago.com.