History Theatre / OnceOnThisIsland

* GenderFlip: In the 2017 Broadway revival, Papa Ge is portrayed by actress Merle Dandridge (she's still credited as ''Papa'' Ge, however).

The story is a loose Caribbean retelling of "Literature/TheLittleMermaid" tale, though this only becomes more obvious towards the end. On an island in the French Antilles, there is a strong gap between the rich and poor. The peasants, alienated because of their darker skin, labor and pray to the Gods every day, while the Grand Hommes ([[BilingualBonus great men]]) live a carefree life. The four gods (Asaka, mother of the Earth, Agwe, God of water, Erzulie, [[LoveGoddess Goddess of love]], and Papa Ge, [[TheGrimReaper demon of death]]) are temperamental and constantly cruel. However, during one of Agwe's greatest floods, he decides to spare a young orphan girl. She is found and taken in by two peasants - Mama Euralie and Tonton Julian.

* RichBitch: Andrea. She spends most of the ball sequence trying to humiliate poor Ti Moune.

* PetTheDog: Depending on how Andrea's actress plays it. Despite trying to lure Ti Moune to humiliate herself, when Ti Moune ends up dazzling everyone, Andrea compliments Ti Moune's dancing and thanks her for healing Daniel. Andrea seems to feel awful that Ti Moune was not informed of Daniel's engagement and tries to break the news to her in the kindest way.

* Determinator: Ti Moune will '''not''' let Daniel die. Under any circumstances.
--> "The only thing that will save the boy's life is ''ME''.

* PoorCommunicationsKills: What breaks Ti Moune's heart. Daniel sincerely does love her, but it's implied he intended to have her as a mistress rather than a wife as he feels he cannot defy his match to Andrea.

''Once On This Island'' is a musical adaptation of Rosa Guy's book ''My Love, My Love, or The Peasant Girl''. With music by Stephen Flaherty and a book by Lynn Ahrens, the musical debuted on Broadway in 1990. The show has been relatively successful, with three official cast recordings.

* TheGrimReaper: Papa Ge

[[quoteright:231:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1_1_2225.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:231:"Choose your dreams with care, Ti Moune..."]]

* CutSong: "Come Down from the Tree" was a final solo for Ti Moune as [[spoiler: her spirit looks upon the romance of Daniel's son and a peasant girl]] that was cut, probably to avert EndingFatigue.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: Ti Moune is dead, and everyone is devastated, but hey, at least she came back as a cool tree! Actually, this tree also is where Daniel's son's future bride will be found, saved from a storm...]] This was changed from the complete DownerEnding of the book.

** Some Junior productions [[spoiler: omit Ti Moune's forced suicide and have the gods simply turn her into a tree]]. although some do keep it.

* BrokenAesop: The storytellers tell you that the story is about how love can conquer death...when the real message is "Go after a boy who doesn't really care about you - [[spoiler: you'll die]], but it's still the power of love!"
** [[CompletelyMissingThePoint Yeah...]] Either that or, "Even if you are betrayed in the most horrible way possible, you should still continue to be a good person."
---> "So I hope that you will tell this tale tomorrow. It will help your heart remember and relive. It will help you feel the anger and the sorrow... ''[[TearJerker and forgive.]]''

** There is the penultimate scene, which brings the fairy tale full-circle, where [[spoiler: Ti Moune must kill Daniel with a dagger to escape her deal with Papa Ge, and she, of course, refuses, compelling her to drown herself.]]

The story is a loose Caribbean retelling of "Literature/TheLittleMermaid" tale. On an island in the French Antilles, there is a strong gap between the rich and poor. The peasants, alienated because of their darker skin, labor and pray to the Gods every day, while the Grand Hommes ([[BilingualBonus great men]]) live a carefree life. The four gods (Asaka, mother of the Earth, Agwe, God of water, Erzulie, [[LoveGoddess Goddess of love]], and Papa Ge, [[TheGrimReaper demon of death]]) are temperamental and constantly cruel. However, during one of Agwe's greatest floods, he decides to spare a young orphan girl. She is found and taken in by two peasants - Mama Euralie and Tonton Julian.

** There's more. In one scene, Ti Moune has to wear painful shoes (referencing the Little Mermaid constantly feeling as if she is to be stabbed by daggers). In the original book, as well, a parallel for the mermaid losing her voice is given with Ti Moune being unable to talk with the diplomats.

** There's more. In one scene, Ti Moune has to wear painful shoes (referencing the Little Mermaid constantly feeling as if she is to be stabbed by daggers).
** There is the penultimate scene, where [[spoiler: Ti Moune must kill Daniel with a dagger to escape her deal with Papa Ge, and refuses.]]

* {{Bowdlerise}}: In order to make the junior version more accessible to middle and high school students, the racial divide between the ButNotTooBlack rich and the very dark-skinned poor is completely removed. The song relating to the history of Daniel's family is removed from the junior version because of this tension (he is the result of [[SonOfAWhore an affair between his father and a peasant woman]]). However, the "Some Girls" song is also cut, resulting to Daniel having ''virtually no singing'' at all.

* StarbucksSkinScale: In the song telling of Daniel's history, his skin is described as being similar to "coffee mixed with cream."