Once On This Island -- Reprise

I had listened to a friend's CD of this show, and while I liked the music, I didn't really understand what was going on.  Yes, I read the synopsis, but I don't think that I was concentrating at the time, so that doesn't help, I guess.

When my friend told me that Reprise Theatre Company would be putting on this show, I was intrigued, and decided to go on the same night as a couple of friends.  Even though we ordered our tickets separately, I ended up sitting right in front of them, so that was cool.

The show played in the Freud Playhouse at McGowan Hall on the UCLA campus.  I hadn't been to the campus in a long time, but was able to get there just fine, and won a $5.00 bet against myself.  Yeah, you read that right.  I owe myself five bucks.  I really need to start a fund somewhere from my high-risk gambling winnings. ;)

Anyway, the theatre was a bit small, but I liked the intimate setting.  It's an older theatre, and if someone in your bank of seats moves, then all of the seats do, so I hope they plan a remodel of the place.

The set was minimal, but their presentation didn't really need fancy stuff.  The setting of the play was that of a show being given for a princess' coronation, about her family, which, I learned, is not the original setting of the play.  I liked it, though.

I really enjoyed this musical.  The story was quite interesting, and the actors did a great job.  I enjoyed the singing very much, although I thought that the lead, Kristolyn Lloyd (Ti Moune), had too much of a nasal quality to her voice for me to fully enjoy.  I especially liked Ledisi's voice, as did the rest of the audience, it seemed.  She just plain rocked the house whenever she sang a solo.  I loved all of the movement in the show: the dancing was very well done, and the staging itself was interesting.  I liked the use of flashlights as headlights, although I did question what car would loop around in the manner when the guy did a cartwheel-type move. ;)  I also liked that everyone was dressed in white.  It made their characters stand out more when I didn't have to be distracted by elaborate costumes.  I guess I like minimalism.

With this high quality of production, I wish that I had enough money to buy the whole season worth of shows from Reprise.  I do look forward to one more show, though, and I really hope that I get a chance to see it.  After all, it's "Chess," one of my favorite musicals.

"Once On This Island" is playing through Sunday, September 14.  I highly recommend it to any of you out there that love this genre.  It's not a well-known musical, but it should be.  I bought a CD after the show from a guy that's really looking forward to "Chess," too.

Oh, and I saw Jesse Nager (Daniel) in the parking lot as I was backing out of my parking space, and gave him a thumbs up. Where the heck have I seen him before?!  It's not anything from his bio in the program, so it's driving me nuts.  It's probably just from seeing him at the beginning of the show, because most of the other actors made me feel like I'd seen them before, too.  Perhaps it's because they all played more than one part in the show?  I don't know.  But I did get a smile from him in the parking lot.  That's all that matters....because he was cute!  Those dang tenors...