The past few years, my theatre-going habits have become... well, some might say a little overboard. To give you some idea, in 2016 we saw thirteen shows, in 2017 we saw twenty-five shows, and in 2018 we've seen fifteen so far. Now, that is including local community and high school productions as well as professional ones in NY, but it still amounts to a LOT of shows.
All of this to say that seeing live theatrical performances is nothing unusual or new for me. However, I did see one on Sunday that was new to me so I thought I'd write about it here.
My brother Randy is my prime theatre-going enabler; we always enter online Broadway lotteries, and he has this unique habit of winning. On Sunday, July 1st he won the Wicked lottery so we hopped in his car and drove into the city. After Wicked was over, we realized that Once on This Island was right next door and it's a show my brother has been dying to see. That show doesn't do an online lottery so we're never able to enter for discounted tickets; however, they do an in-person lottery, and since we happened to be standing in front of it, we were able to enter it... and of course with Randy's luck, we won again! So there we were in NYC for a two-show-day on one of the hottest days of the year!
Once on This Island is a unique show. The story is pretty simple: it's basically kind of a Romeo and Juliet or Little Mermaid tale. It's the story of a girl, Ti Moune, who is part of the dark-skinned peasant class on her island, and she falls in love with Daniel, a member of the lighter-skinned and wealthier grands hommes class from the other side of the island. As Ti Moune ventures out to find Daniel, she is assisted by the gods of water (Agwe) and love (Erzulie), Mother Earth (Asaka), and the demon of death (Papa Ge).
One of the things that makes this story so interesting is how it's framed. Ti Moune's story is actually a legend on this island. So in addition to her story which is the main plot, we're actually seeing islanders telling her story to a little girl. It ends up having a point about the power of both love and storytelling.
However, the most interesting thing about this show are its production choices. It's at the Circle in the Square theatre, which is what they call an arena stage, which means the stage is in the middle and its surrounded by the audience on all sides. In this particular theatre, the audience is actually raised and looking down on the action (think of it like a college athletic stadium, only on a much more intimate scale).
 |
| Circle in the Square Theatre, empty |
The choice of an arena setting really immerses the audience in the production, because you are right in the middle of the action. I've seen several shows now in this space (Fun Home and In Transit, previously) and it's totally unique. Each show has its own way of dealing with the surrounding audience and ensuring that the actors play in 360, rather than facing one direction.
In Once On This Island, however, they took scenery to a new level. Guys, the entire floor was sand (this is, after all, a Caribbean island). One whole corner was a pool of water that the actors actually went in and out of. Real water fell from the lighting grid as rain, and they lifted up an entire telephone pole to 90 degrees to simulate a tree. And, then there was a live goat. The cleaning-crew at the Circle in the Square have their work cut out for them because when we left, there were even sandy footprints in the lobby carpeting from where the actors ran through it to make entrances at the top of the auditorium.
I will admit that Once on This Island is not among my favorite shows. Neither the story nor the music have ever really grabbed me, though of course I enjoy seeing it in the moment. However, I'm really glad that I was able to see this one-of-a-kind production of it simply for the spectacle of seeing some really cool theatrical choices.
No comments:
Post a Comment