Under the direction of NWSA theatre faculty Jennifer de Castroverde, the college musical theatre students present the mainstage production Once on This Island, a musical story of love, grief, faith and hope. Once on This Island tells of peasant girl Ti Moune, a boy called Daniel, and a union that prejudice forbids. Against the heat of the Caribbean sun and destruction of tropical storms, can Ti Moune settle the wager of the Gods, and prove that love is more powerful than death? With a Calypso-flavored score from Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, the Tony Award-winning songwriters of Anastasia and Ragtime, Once on This Island is a captivating adaptation of the beloved fairy tale The Little Mermaid.
“The journey into this musical has been a deeply spiritual, collaborative one for me and the cast of student actors from the college and the high school here at New World School of the Arts. On This Island there is a deep division of race, color, and class,” explained de Castroverde. “By challenging individualized points of view, the opportunity to see the world through the eyes of a different race, color, and class, becomes an opportunity for resolution, forgiveness, and love.”
