Once on This Island is a one-act musical with a book and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens and music by Stephen Flaherty. Based on the 1985 novel My Love, My Love; or, The Peasant Girl by Rosa Guy, it is set in the French Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean Sea. The show includes elements of the Romeo and Juliet story and elements of the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale The Little Mermaid. It concerns a peasant girl on a tropical island, who uses the power of love to bring together people of different social classes.
The original Broadway production ran from 1990 to 1991, and the West End production opened in 1994, where it won the 1995 Olivier Award for Best New Musical.
Spectrum Theatre Company’s (STC) production will be directed by Executive Director/Artistic Director Dr. Billy Harden and choreographed by Sade Jones. This colorful and exciting musical production of Once On This Island will mesmerize and entertain you as you witness the magic of Austin’s ONLY professional African American theater company. Our stellar cast include STC company members and Austin favorites: Janis Stinson, Jacqui Cross, Judy Arnold-Hunter, Carla Nickerson, Rebekka Bryant, Cameron McKnight, Robert King, Jr., Jayden Blackmon and Patrick Gathron just to name a few. This production is also a debut for Spectrum Theatre Company in the iconic Boyd Vance Theater which STC hopes will be their resident home in the near future.