Once On This Island
Writer: Lynn Ahrens
Director: Brittanie Shipway
Hayes Theatre, Potts Point
August 2 – 21, 2025
Curveball Creative and Hayes Theatre’s production of this award-winning musical is a blaze of warmth and exuberance that is much appreciated on these chilly Sydney nights. It has garnered both Olivier and Tony awards and presents a dramatic story of love, fate and community through a feast of delightful music and movement.
Based on the novel My Love, My Love by Rosa Guy (an adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid), the musical tells the story of a peasant girl who risks everything for love. Although set on an island in the Caribbean, elements of Australian Aboriginal and New Zealand Maori culture are touched on, resulting in a stage brimming with colourful, whirling dancers.
Ti Moune is an orphan rescued after a tremendous storm and raised by a kindly couple, Mama Euralie and Tonton Julian. Having reached womanhood, Ti Moune prays to the island gods to direct her future. The gods, as customary, are cavalier about human fate. However, Erzulie, the Goddess of Love, prevails, suggesting they give Ti Moune love as it is the most powerful element. Papa Ge, the Demon of Death, disagrees and issues a challenge: if Ti Moune fails to find love, she must lose her life.
In order for Ti Moune to meet Daniel, a wealthy young man from an aristocratic family, Agwe, the God of Water, creates an enormous storm in which Daniel is severely injured in a car accident. Ti Moune finds Daniel and while nursing him back to health, falls in love with him. She believes he loves her in return, but it is not to be, as Daniel is already betrothed.
At a ball in the city, Andrea, his fiancée, explains their marriage was arranged when they were children, and they must obey their families’ wishes. Sadly, Ti Moune accepts her fate, but the gods transform her into a tree, which becomes a symbol of life and love, allowing people of all social statuses to come together.
Director Brittanie Shipway, herself of Gumbaynggirr and Turkish extraction, does a fine job of putting the cast of twelve energetic performers through their paces on a compact stage, their precision resulting from close collaboration with the choreographer, Leah Howard.
The entire cast manages this ‘triple threat’ situation with consummate ease, but the principals are especially excellent – Thalia Osegueda Santos as Ti Moune is particularly impressive, displaying powerful vocal ability in her solos; Alexander Tye as Daniel the conflicted love interest; Zahrah Andrews as Mama Euralie, and Sione Mafi Latu as Tonton Julian, the kindly parents.
The ingenious set (Nick Fry) composed of varnished pallets, is embellished with greenery in planter boxes, suggesting the kind of rustic make-do décor of islander living. The costumes (Rita Naidu), which echo Salvadoran traditional dress, are a visual delight – the gods being clad in bright, modern-styled gowns with tiara-like headdresses, while the peasants are clothed in more neutral shades as befits their station.
The musicians, under the direction of Dylan Pollard, though unseen, certainly make themselves heard, blending Caribbean-inspired and Calypso rhythms, among others, to accompany the more than twenty song repertoire and providing some powerful drumming percussion during the more dramatic dance sequences.
Both cast and crew have worked tremendously hard to bring this vibrant production to the stage, with its exploration of love, fate, community and cultural diversity, and as such, deserve a visit – it’s a delightful treat for Sydney’s musical theatre fans!
