Kenyon College Musical Theater-Opera Workshop presents Once on This Island

GAMBIER, Ohio (May 2, 2005) The Kenyon College Musical Theater-Opera Workshop presents Once on This Island at 8:00 p.m. on Sunday, May 8, in the College's Rosse Hall Auditorium. The public is invited to attend this production at no charge.

Composed by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, who also composed the Broadway hit Ragtime, Once on This Island is set in the French Antilles. Based on the novel My Love, My Love by Rosa Guy, the show is a twist on the traditional "Little Mermaid" tale, and tells the story of Ti Moune, a poor peasant girl who falls in love with Daniel, an upper-class boy whose life she saves after a car crash. Central to the story are four gods that the peasants believe rule their lives. The gods of Love (Erzulie), played by Courtney E. Snow '05; Earth (Asaka), played by J. Eliza Huberth '08; Water (Agwe), played by Stephen M. Ellis '08; and Death (Papa Ge), played by Christopher M. Audain '08; cause the lives of the young lovers to intersect, and send Ti Moune on the fateful journey that tests the strength of her love. Dealing with themes of parenthood, coming of age, story-telling as a way of making sense of life, love, pain, and rebirth, Once On This Island is an often moving, often comic musical suitable for people of all ages.

A four-piece student orchestra accompanies the show's lively Caribbean music. The cast of twenty-three includes twenty Kenyon students, two Kenyon faculty members, and Lily McBride, a fourth grader at Wiggin Street School, as the young Ti Moune. Anna K. Stevens '08 stars as Ti Moune, Michael R. Krantz '07 as Daniel, Lauren E. Hauser '07 as Andrea. The production is under the direction of Adjunct Instructor of Music Nancy Jantsch and features choreography by Magic McBride.