A musical by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens. Once on This Island touches on issues including race relations, magic, voodoo, and santeria, in the context of a Romeo and Juliet-style love story.
The gods, Erzulie (goddess of Love), Asaka (mother of the Earth), Agwe (god of Water), and ]Papa Ge] (sly demon of Death) watch over, discuss, and shape the lives of Ti Moune, her adoptive parents, Daniel Beauxhomme and his family.
Set on a remote, French-speaking island in the Carribean, OOTI begins with the people of the small, poor villages of the coastal areas. They live, constantly at the whim of the gods--they survive through tsunami, floods, drought, and hurricanes--as well as more personal disasters (death, love). They dance through their lives, literally and figuratively, as each day passes. We Dance
Sometimes, though, despite their prayers, disasters do strike these little villages. One Small Girl loses her mother and her home, and everything she knows to a storm. Her life is saved, literally by the grace of god, and she is left afraid and alone in a tree.
After the storm, she is found by TonTon Julien and Mama, an older couple, who decide (with help from Erzulie) to take in this poor lost orphan.
Ti Moune grows up under the loving care of Mama and TonTon, but into a restless and ambitious young woman, Waiting for Life to really begin. She asks the gods to bring her adventure, to bring her the "stranger in white, in a car" whom she sees racing past her little village, obviously off to do something far more exciting than fishing or keeping house.
And the Gods Heard Her Prayer.... They laugh at her impertinance, but grant her wish to settle an argument between themselves--which is stronger, Love or Death. Agwe brings a great Rainstorm, and Daniel Beauxhomme's car crashes near where Ti Moune is walking. She pulls him from the wreckage, and takes it upon herself to nurse him back to health, as TonTon goes in search of Daniel's people.
Tonton searches, praying to Asaka for guidance, while Ti Moune can see nothing but Daniel, so in love is she. The villagers Pray to the gods that this stranger will not bring bad luck to them, despite this impertinant girl's blatant disobedience in trying to save him. Ti Moune, however, has no such humility. She confronts Papa Ge, and offers her life in the place of Daniel's. He agrees to the bargain, so that either Daniel will love Ti Moune, or she will die. Forever Yours
In the meanitme, TonTon reaches the city and the Hotel Beauxhomme, and they take Daniel back to his family. Their sad story, The Sad Tale of the Beauxhommes is one of adultery and betrayal resulting in a curse--the family is disgraced, and can never return to France, because they are half-black. Because of this, they hate the villagers, for reminding them of their ancestry.
Ti Moune is devastated at the loss of her love, and decides that she has to follow, though she does not know the way. She sets out, trusting that Mama Will Provide, and somehow reaches the city. Some Say
She is heartbroken to discover that Daniel does not remember her, but the language of love (and Erzulie) remind him that they are Part of the Human Heart. Daniel begins recovering, faster than ever, but Ti Moune's presence in the house evokes the gossip of the townspeople Pray reprise because what Daniel has not told Ti Moune is that, though he loves her, he has been engaged since birth to Andrea Deveraux, a snobbish girl from a good French family. He laments Some Girls you marry, some you love... but when Andrea and Ti Moune meet at The Ball, Andrea tells Ti Moune of her and Daniel's engagement When We are Wed. Andrea has Ti Moune thrown out of the Hotel Beauxhomme, as they prepare for their wedding.
The betrayal is too much for Ti Moune. She dies Forever Yours reprise and even the gods are moved by the power of her love. A Part of Us.
The storytellers/chorus wrap up the show, explaining the triumph of Love over even Death Why We Tell The Story
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