Once on This Island

Once on This Island is a coming-of-age one-act stage musical with a book and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens and music by Stephen Flaherty. It is based on the 1985 novel My Love, My Love; or, The Peasant Girl by Rosa Guy, a Caribbean-set retelling of Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale The Little Mermaid. It concerns a peasant girl in the French Antilles who falls in love with a rich boy and makes a deal with the gods to save his life.

The original Broadway production ran from 1990 to 1991, and the West End production opened in 1994, where it won the 1995 Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Musical. The musical was revived on Broadway in a production that opened on December 3, 2017 at the Circle in the Square Theatre. The revival was showered with critical acclaim, with New York Times critic Jesse Green describing it as "ravishing" and The Huffington Post praising it for creating "an aesthetic experience unlike anything seen on Broadway." It won the 2018 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical.

A Disney film adaptation is currently in development for Disney+.

Once on This Island was originally staged at Off-Broadway's Playwrights Horizons, running from May 6, 1990, until May 27, 1990.

The Broadway production opened on October 18, 1990, at the Booth Theatre and closed on December 1, 1991, after 469 performances and 19 previews. With direction and choreography by Graciela Daniele, the musical featured LaChanze as Ti Moune, Jerry Dixon as Daniel, Andrea Frierson as Erzulie, Sheila Gibbs as Mama Euralie, Kecia Lewis as Asaka, Gerry McIntyre as Armand, Milton Craig Nealy as Agwe, Eric Riley as Papa Ge, Ellis E. Williams as Tonton Julian and Afi McClendon as Little Ti Moune.

Daniele returned as director/choreographer for a U.S. national tour, which opened at the CIBC Theatre in Chicago on March 31, 1992 and closed at the Heinz Hall for the Performing Arts in Pittsburgh on January 3, 1993. Gibbs reprised her role as Mama Euralie and Gerry McIntyre (the original Armand) played Papa Ge. James Stovall (who replaced Eric Riley on Broadway as Papa Ge) played Agwe. The rest of the cast included Vanita Harbour as Ti Moune, Darius de Haas as Daniel, Natalie Venetia Belcon as Erzulie, Carol Dennis as Asaka, Miles Watson as Tonton Julian, Monique Cintron as Andrea, Keith Tyrone as Armand, and Nilyne Fields as Little Ti Moune.

The European premiere took place in 1994, hosted by the Birmingham Rep, and then transferred to the West End Royalty Theatre (now the Peacock Theatre) in September 1994. The production won the Olivier Award for Best New Musical.

The first Broadway revival of Once on This Island, produced by Ken Davenport, directed by Michael Arden and choreographed by Camille A. Brown, began previews on November 9, 2017, and officially opened on December 3 at the Circle in the Square Theatre. This production featured a stage covered in sand, with live animals onstage, and set and costume design intended to suggest a wrecked beach community recovering from a hurricane. The opening night cast included Hailey Kilgore as Ti Moune, Isaac Powell as Daniel, Alysha Deslorieux as Andrea, Phillip Boykin as Tonton Julian, Kenita R. Miller as Mama Euralie, Alex Newell as Asaka, Merle Dandridge as Papa Ge, Quentin Earl Darrington as Agwe, Lea Salonga as Erzulie and David Jennings as Armand. The revival closed on January 6, 2019, after 458 regular performances.