WHY WE TELL THE STORY
I remember sitting in the Booth Theater next to Eric, both of us enthralled with the calypso-infused score and the delightful storytelling of Once On This Island. It was 1990, and a time of transition for me. When I had moved to New York six years earlier, I wanted a career as a Director, and I had already directed several large productions of classic American musicals in the heart of Manhattan. But Eric had a different idea. It was around this time that Eric had suggested we try writing musicals. Writing them! He would write music, and I would write lyrics. “Why keep directing revivals of The Music Man and Oklahoma!?,” he said, “you need to be directing NEW musicals. So we should write some!”
The idea seemed crazy, but it sat there in the back of my mind as I began work on my next directing project. And it was still percolating in my mind as Eric and I watched the Original Broadway production of Once On This Island. It was a beautiful production. The music was infectious. The dancing, full of energy. The acting just perfect. The plot involved a community, sharing a folk tale with a frightened little girl. The folk tale came to life on the Broadway stage, and told a lesson of love conquering death. The island people took comfort in the telling of the story, and the show’s finale included a beautiful anthem:
AND THIS IS WHY
WE TELL THE STORY
LIFE IS WHY
PAIN IS WHY
LOVE IS WHY
GRIEF IS WHY
HOPE IS WHY
FAITH IS WHY
YOU ARE WHY WE TELL THE STORY
And ya know? I can’t exactly explain why, but this song – this lyric by Lynn Ahrens – pierced to my heart. Tears welled up in my eyes in a joyful way, and I reached over and touched Eric’s arm. I think he felt the emotion, too. Whatever it was, I look back on that moment as the moment I realized I wanted to be a storyteller. I wanted to write musicals.
So it was with great excitement that I sat in the audience a week ago at the Circle In The Square theater, watching the second Preview performance of the brand new revival production of Ahrens & Flaherty’s Once On This Island. Would the show affect me the same way? Would it be anywhere near as good as the original? It did, and it was.
Director Michael Arden and the creative team have re-imagined the setting and the style of the production. This revival is a full-sensory experience, with all the sights and sounds and smells transporting you to what feels like a very real Caribbean island. When you enter the theater, an islander is cooking up onions and sausages on a grill. Another man is painting the hull of his boat. A goat – a real goat – browses around the sand-filled stage while another islander bickers with a rooster. And that’s all before the show begins! The cast tells the story with all the heart and passion and creativity I remember loving in the original production. They were all stellar performances, but the standouts, for me, were Hailey Kilgore as “Ti Moune,” Kenita R. Miller as “Mama Euralie,” Lea Salonga as “Erzulie,” and my personal favorite, in the role of “Asaka,” Alex Newell (whose broad range and amazing voice came to my attention on TV’s The Glee Project where Alex was “discovered” and offered a recurring role on Glee). Alex blows the roof off the theater with “Mama Will Provide.” The orchestrations have been re-imagined as well, and suit both the score and the new production beautifully. The show opens officially on December 3, and if you will be in New York during this Broadway season, I recommend you get your tickets now, before the reviews come out and make this the most difficult ticket to get.
After the performance, the group I was with was treated to a Talk Back session with Ken Davenport, the Producer. Ken talked about how the show affects him, saying that even though something sad happens at the end of the story, he still feels joy. Musical theater should, Ken says, “shine a little sunshine.” He said, to the writers in our group, “When you’re dealing with dark subjects, find the joy!” It was a comment that hit home to me, since that is what Eric and I have done with our musical about the Donner Party: a dark, tragic tale in which we have found inspiration and hope.
It’s almost thirty years since Eric and I sat together in the Booth theater, hearing that score for the first time. And in those thirty years since I first realized I wanted to write musicals, Eric and I have written several. We’ve been honored to see them performed, to see audiences react to them, to hear amazing singers give voice to our songs. And in the years ahead, we’ll write more. Because we can’t not write them. We have stories to tell.
