Imaginatively directed and choreographed by Ricardo Aponte, and joyously performed by a vibrant 11-member cast — under the musical direction of the peerless S. Renee Clark, leading an invigorating five-piece band on piano — Georgia Ensemble Theatre opens its 25th-anniversary season with a bang to make the outgoing Robert Farley proud. (Farley, who co-founded the Roswell company, is stepping down as artistic director next spring.)
"Once on This Island," featuring the music of Stephen Flaherty and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens (who also wrote the script), opens with its own bang, fittingly enough. As a thunderous tropical storm sweeps across a remote Caribbean island, a group of villagers unite to help calm the fears of a little girl (played here by an adorable Myshay Pretty).
In the spirit of their “peasant superstitions,” they spin for her a star-crossed folk tale about Ti Moune (India Tyree), an impoverished young woman who falls in love with Daniel (Christian Magby), a privileged young man from a “different world” — even if it’s just on the opposite side of the same small island. Besides their economic distinctions, that she’s “dark-skinned” and he’s “light-skinned” is an additional social taboo they face.
The establishing scenes are rather fuzzy in Aponte’s production, but a few of the storytellers eventually assume the identities of various “temperamental gods” ruling over the island: Asaka (Mahalia Jackson), the Mother of the Earth; Agwe (Benjamin Moore), the God of Water; Erzulie (Adrianna Trachell), the Goddess of Love; and Papa Ge (Brian Walker), the Demon of Death. Debating whether true love can conquer even death, they put Ti Moune’s very heart and soul to the ultimate test.
(A more minor complaint is how Pretty, to whom the whole story is being told, occasionally observes the action from the sidelines, and then disappears from the stage altogether for extended periods of time.)
Although the buoyant show is bolstered by several rousing group numbers, almost every performer gets his or her individual moment to shine: Jackson’s “Mama Will Provide,” Trachell’s “The Human Heart,” Moore’s “Rain.” Other song highlights include Tyree’s “Waiting for Life” and “Forever Yours,” Magby’s “Some Girls,” and Robert John Connor and Terry Henry’s “Ti Moune” (as the orphaned heroine’s adoptive parents).
Marcus Hopkins-Turner and Adrianna Jackson complete the uniformly fine cast. The top-notch design team features Alex Riviere (the evocative lighting), Emmie Tuttle (costumes), Preston Goodson (sound) and sisters Isabel and Moriah Curley-Clay (who have fashioned yet another of their typically marvelous sets).
As Georgia Ensemble approaches the end of one era and the start of a new one — former Atlanta Lyric associate artistic director Alan Kilpatrick takes over for Farley with the 2018-19 season — “Once on This Island” begins the transition with considerably momentous fanfare indeed.
THEATER REVIEW
“Once on This Island”
Through Oct. 1. 7:30 p.m. Wednesdays; 8 p.m. Thursdays-Fridays; 4 and 8 p.m. Saturdays; 2:30 p.m. Sundays. $33-$43. Roswell Cultural Arts Center, 950 Forrest St., Roswell. 770-641-1260, www.get.org.
Bottom line: Delightful.
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