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ImageThe first musical of the Hangar Theatre's 35th season will be Once On This Island, performing June 18 through July 4. The original Broadway production of Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty's musical received eight Tony Award nominations including Best Musical, Book, and Score. Soulful song and dance inspired by African-Caribbean rhythms tell the story of young love caught between two different worlds on a colorful island in the West Indies.

One stormy night, a village comes together to comfort a scared little girl by telling the story of the beautiful peasant Ti Moune, who nurses the wealthy aristocrat Daniel back to health, after he's in a car crash. Their love that grows is challenged by fate and dictated by the gods that control the island. Fanciful storytelling, rough magic, and inspired song and dance make this a theatrical experience not to be missed.


Directing the play is Jesse Bush, Associate Artist and Education and Outreach Coordinator at the Hangar Theatre. At the Hangar, Bush directed Les Misérables: School Edition and Columbinus and acted in Disney's Beauty and the Beast and The Overwhelming. At the Kitchen Theatre Company in Ithaca Bush directed Happy Days, The Drunken City, and Bed, No Breakfast, among others.

Flaherty's musical score includes everything from rhythmic songs that will make you dance to heart-wrenching ballads. J. Oconer Navarro is the musical director and pianist of the production. Navarro has previously conducted Mary Poppins and Avenue Q on Broadway and Adding Machine, The Apple Tree, and Curtains in New York City.

 

Once On This Island will feature choreography by CJay Philip who has choreographed productions of The Who's Tommy, Your Arms Too Short To Box With God, Dickens on Ice, Oliver and more. Philip's choreography has been showcased in the Miss Black USA pageant, Dance Break 2007, and in special events across the country.

 

The adult Ti Moune will be performed by Joaquina Kalukango who is currently a student at the Julliard School. Jewell Payne, a sixth-grader at Boynton Middle School in Ithaca, will be performing as the little girl/Ti Moune.

 

Other cast members features in the production are Jamal Lee Harris (Daniel), Darryl Jovan Williams (Armand), Lauren Davis (Andrea), James Jackson, Jr. (Tonton Julian), and local actress Jacque Tara Washington (Mama Euralie).

 

The four gods who rule the island are performed by Raena White (Asaka, Mother of the Earth), Frank Viveros (Agwé, god of Water), Brianna Horne (Erzulie, goddess of Love), and Isaiah Johnson (Papa Ge, Demon of Death).


Steve TenEyck, the scenic and lighting designer, previously designed the set of the Hangar's production The Overwhelming and the school tour production The Truth About Dinosaurs. TenEyck currently serves as the associate chair for the Department of Theatre at Ithaca College, where he teaches lighting design.

 

Sound designer Don Tindall will be returning to the Hangar once again, having previously worked on Oklahoma!, Hair and Bloodline. Kenann Quander will be the costume designer and has worked for many regional theaters such as Arena Stage and the Signature Theatre.

 

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