Hayes Theatre, August 6
4/10
I don’t recall attending another show at the Hayes Theatre where the best part was strolling past the El Alamein Fountain. That Once on This Island won an Olivier Award (Best New Musical) and a Tony Award (Best Revival of a Musical) beggars belief. Even were those productions of a higher standard than this Curveball Creative one, the show itself is irretrievably flawed.
Because it’s set in the Caribbean (being based on the novel My Love, My Love, or, The Peasant Girl by Rosa Guy, which, in turn, was based on Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid), composer Stephen Flaherty has drawn on that region’s musical vibrancy. So far, so good. But then he’s overlaid those rhythms and textures with some truly loathsome vocal melodies, and added hackneyed key changes at every turn.
The cause is not aided by Lynn Ahrens’ book and lyrics, which combine lame rhymes with such slushy sentimentality as leaves one gasping for air. Often it’s like watching a cross between a crass soap opera and excerpts from a Caribbean Spinal Tap.
Seldom do vocal melodies force vocalists to sing this badly. Nothing wears the ears like screeching, and this was akin to dusk in Katoomba, when the sky turns white with sulphur-crested cockatoos shrieking their excitement at going off to roost.
In fairness, the show duly received a standing ovation with the obligatory whooping. But then try attending a Sydney opening night where that doesn’t happen. They’re engineered. The only genuine standing ovation I’ve experienced recently was for Grief Is the Thing with Feathers at Belvoir – and that’s theatre of a monumentally different order.
Let’s talk about the positives. Thalia Osegueda Santos, who plays Ti Moune, the teen who falls for the wrong boy (obviously having failed to read The Little Mermaid), can dance with abandon, and shows flashes of star-power. She urgently needs to find herself a serious singing teacher, however, and learn to craft high notes that aren’t aural daggers.
Zahra Andrews gives the standout performance as Mama Euralie, who adopts Ti Moune. She has a warmth of voice and ease of acting that are conspicuous on a stage where falseness is the norm. This stiltedness can occasionally work in Brittany Shipway’s production, when there’s a story within the story, for instance. But the performers are caught in a pickle, because the characters, including Daniel, Ti Moune’s love interest (Alexander Tye), have no more substance than the songs. How do you play a cipher?
There are a few striking scenes, as when the gods (Googoorewon Knox, Paula Parore, Rebecca Verrier and Cypriana Singh) laugh at Ti Moune’s prayer to them, when Daniel’s backstory is told in silhouette upon a screen, and when the journeying Ti Moune discovers birds, trees and frogs. Then Shipway’s staging is a delight. But ultimately it’s putting lipstick on a mortally wounded body.
Until August 31.