'Once on this Island' to come to Sweet Home stage
by JILL SCHMELZER Reporter

Andrea Finley, left, who plays Erzulie, the Goddess of Love, rehearses with Kelsey McGinty (Agwe, the Goddess of Water) and Ashlee Williams (Asaka, Mother of the Earth). Photos by John Rusac Purchase photos at www.beenews.com

"Once on this Island," which tells the tale of "The Little Mermaid" with a twist, will be told by students at Sweet Home High School this weekend when the musical hits the stage.

The curtain will go up at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Feb. 9 and 10, and also at 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 11 at the school, 1901 Sweet Home Road.

The story is about four gods and their influence on human life.

"I'm a puppeteer," said sophomore Andrea Finley, who plays Erzulie, Goddess of Love. "We watch from above."

Erzulie fights with Papa Ge, Demon of Death, played by Tim Corner. It's a struggle between life and death, according to Finley.

The musical is set on an unspecified island in the French Antilles. A violent tropical storm sweeps the island, and a group of island peasants huddles together around a fire, said musical director Lori DePoint.

A young child cries out in fear as the storm rages, and the peasants try to soothe her and divert her attention by acting out a story on the power of love.

Jim Kennedy, who plays Daniel in "Once on this Island," sings a duet with on-stage love Ti Moune, played by Amanda Skinner.

The telling of the story spans the course of the night, with the peasants weaving their tale in song and dance, DePoint explained.

The story is about Ti Moune, portrayed by sophomore Amanda Skinner. She is a peasant girl who is saved from a violent storm by the gods, the director said.

The storms are created by Agwe, the Goddess of Water, played by Kelsey McGinty.

Years later, the gods send Daniel, played by Jim Kennedy, a grand homme (from the wealthy side of the island), to cross her path during another violent storm made by Agwe, DePoint said.

Ti Moune finds Daniel after he is injured in a car crash and saves him from death, Skinner said.

"I set the scene for the car crash,"McGinty said, also a sophomore.

"It's the gods against the gods," Skinner added.

Will love prevail over death?

After Ti Moune nurses Daniel back to health and falls in love with him, he eventually returns to the wealthy side of the island - where their love is forbidden.

Ti Moune follows him there, and the tale of their love unravels. Unfortunately, Daniel has been promised to another woman, Andrea, played by Christina Preziuso, another grand hommes.

"I am in love with her (Ti Moune)," Kennedy said. "But on the rich side (of the island), it's old-fashioned, and I am promised to someone else."

Through Ti Moune's anger, she lashes out at Daniel, attempting to kill him, but cannot because of her love for him.

Papa Ge gives Ti Moune the chance to get her life back if she can kill Daniel, Kennedy said, but she can't bring herself to do it.

Ti Moune is cast out of the Hotel Beauxhomme, on the wealthy part of the island, and for two weeks pines for Daniel and eventually dies, "proving that love can withstand the storm, and cross the earth, and survive even in the face of death," De- Point said.

Her soul is transformed into a tree, which cracks the wall of the city so that its gates can never close again.

Tickets cost $9, or $7 for senior citizens during Sunday's matinee show. Call 250-1261.