PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — “Once on This Island,” the Tony Award-winning musical of an island folk story, opened this week at the Arden Theatre in Old City. Director Amina Robinson calls the musical a “Little Mermaid”, “Romeo and Juliet” love story.
“It gets a little supernatural and fun,” she said, “because there are gods who rule over the island that the people pray to. And they decide to take out a bet to see if love can conquer death. And so [a young girl] goes on this long journey … to see which wins, love or death.”
The show is written to be set on a fictional island in the French Antilles based on the history of Haiti, but Robinson decided to bring the story into the real world.
“I placed it in Haiti 2024, right now, with the current socio political upheaval,” she said. “We are at a marketplace where people have fled, because the gangs have taken over their houses … and they have set up an encampment.”
While the original production had the characters telling a story to comfort each other from a storm, in Robinson’s production, they are comforting each other from a figurative “storm of violence.”
“They decide to tell the story because there is that sort of despair, and that exploration of how do we pick up? How do we rebuild? How do we find ourselves again?”
The cast is made up entirely of people of color — an important point for Robinson.
“Representation is such a huge thing in life in general,” she said, “because it helps people see what's possible for them.”
She also said that working with an all-BIPOC cast has allowed them to explore deeper topics in a way that feels safe.
“We don't have to shy away from certain things. … The show also deals with a bit of colorism, and so we get to have conversations about that and how it impacts the story. And a lot of the time, it feels like a huge celebration of culture.”
The show is recommended for ages 12+, and the Arden is hosting a Teen Night on June 1 with $15 tickets for ages 13-18 and a post-show talkback.
The show runs through June 23. More details and tickets are available on the Arden Theatre website.