A parable for our time

You have seen them, these island women, in the canvases of Gauguin, their brown bodies burning brass in the Tahitian sun. You have read about them, these sirens of the southern seas, in the novels of Joseph Conrad. You have met them in Nordhoff and Hall’s Bounty trilogy on Pitcairn Island.

You have seen one of them on the stage, Liat, performing her finger dance for Lt. Cable on the magical island of Bali Hai in Rodger’s and Hammerstein’s South Pacific. You have been enthralled by them on the silver screen as they were portrayed by Maria Montez and Dorothy Lamour, Bo Derek and Brooke Shields, in loin cloth or sarong, their sun-drenched bodies seen against sand and surf and sea – these women of the islands feeding the fantasies of men who yearn for an island under a tropic sky in the heat of a tropic sun.

The mechanization of the modern world, the reliance on science and technology and the computerization of life today threaten to bring about a de-humanization, an escape to which romantic idealists seek to find in a remote island far from the madding robotic crowd. The rise of feminism and the range of its influence from family and home to society and government had an emasculating effect to which men who believe in the superiority of their sex cannot submit. Hence, they fancy a primitive life when the women of an island paradise serve their men like kings.

This restoration of primitive life also necessitates a return to nature and a transcendental vision of the universe. The sun, the moon and the stars are divinities that demand worship. Human passions are as powerful as the planets in ruling over man’s existence. Love is a goddess and death a dreadful god, both of whose ways are inscrutable and invulnerable. Thus, the ancient Greeks believed them to be. In the same manner, island dwellers believe them to be.

Back to primitive life, back to nature, back to the gods who rule over men and women as on an island in the sun-lit sea. This is the world recreated in Once on This Island, the musical staged at the Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium, RCBC Plaza in Makati City by Actors’ Actors Inc. (AAI).

Winner of the Laurence Olivier Best Musical Award, the show is a collaboration between Tony Award winner Stephen Flaherty who composed the music and Lynn Ahrens who wrote the book and lyrics. The plot, based on a novel My Love, My Love by Rosa Guy, is a variation of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale Little Mermaid.

Nothing could be as old a yarn as that of the poor peasant girl who falls in love with a rich boy but the musical dresses up this plot into an elaborate tapestry that depicts the two worlds of an island in the Caribbean in the French Antilles – that of poor peasants in the village and that of the grand hommes in the city. The first is that of Ti Moune (Kristian Lei / Raki Vega; Little Ti Moune: Gala Sanchez) a foundling who has been adopted by Tonton Julian (Bodjie Pascua) and Mama Euralie (May Bayot) when they found her on the night of a terrible storm. The other is that of Daniel (Jeffrey Hidalgo) who is engaged to marry Andrea (Cathy Azanza), a lady of his own class.

These two worlds collide when Ti Moune rescues Daniel from a car crash and falls in love with him.

Into the warp and woof of this tapestry is also woven the realm of the gods. The deities of the island, Asaka, Earth (Bituin Escalante/Radha; alternate: Ring Antonio), Erzulie, Love (Menchu Lauchengco-Yulo), Agwe, Water (Michael Williams) and Papa Ge, Death (Jett Pangan; alternate: Red Nuestro) interfere in the destiny of Ti Moune – from the night of the storm, through her journey to the city, to her return to the village, and beyond.

The storytellers also include Ring Antonio and Michael de Mesa.

Bart Guingona in his director’s notes observes that Once on This Island makes a strong impression on the Filipino audience: "The divide between rich and poor, the ethnic prejudices, the necessity of dance and song and humor as slaves to scarred existences – these and the disdain and cynicism of the privileged minority for the teeming unwashed ‘heathen’ are parallels that sent shivers of recognition down my spine. Set in a fabled Caribbean island, Once on This Island could also have been set in Bacolod or Cebu or any of the nameless, feudal turfs that dot our islands…"

Aside from an outstanding cast of players who can act, sing and dance and an insightful director whose life is devoted to theater, the production boasts of an artistic staff that includes choreographer Denisa Reyes, musical director Rony Fortich, production designer Gino Gonzales and lighting designer John Batalla.

The songs of Flaherty are not tuneful as those of Oscar Hammerstein II or Andrew Lloyd Webber and you won’t leave the theater humming his melodies. Neither will you fantasize about the island of this play, which is a microcosm of our own problematic socio-economic world.

You can always dream of your own magical island with its beautiful bronzed bodies bathing in the sun-drenched sea…

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For comments, reactions, and invitations, send e-mail to jessqcruz@hotmail.com.