Top Five Songs: Once On This Island

Seeing the revival of this Ahrens & Flaherty musical last summer was so great. As is typical for this duo, there’s some breathtaking music here and some pretty gorgeous lyrics, both of which brought tears to my eyes when I saw it live.  These are my favorites (a few spoilers.)

“We Dance” – As I say each time I do a Top Five Songs for an Ahrens & Flaherty show, these two really know their way around an opening number.  This song introduces the island, the gods, the peasants, and the grand hommes, and it does it all in a beautifully-melodic way that immerses you in the world of the show from the first note.

Best lyric:  “How fine our clothes are! / How fast we drive! / We dance at parties…” – “While we are dancing just to stay alive.”

“One Small Girl” – Such a lovely, lovely number, showing how Mama and Tonton find young Ti Moune in the tree and take her in.  It so beautifully captures the way love can change hearts, can make room in lives that were thought full enough already, can go against our judgment for the better.  The melody is simple but wonderfully sweet.

Best lyric:  “And the hut was crowded / And food was scarce, / And somehow, their lives held more. / One small girl / To live for.”

“Waiting for Life” – Easily the standout song of the show, Ti Moune’s “I want” number is as full of yearning as it is spirit.  Our leading lady is effervescent dreaming about more than unchanging peasant life, praying for the real beginning she knows has to be coming.

Best lyric:  Oh, Gods, / Oh, Gods, / Please, be there. / Don’t you remember / Your little Ti Moune from the tree? / Wake up! / Look down! / Hear my prayer! / Don’t single me out / And then forget me!”

“Forever Yours” – This is where, out of her love for Daniel, Ti Moune offers her life to Papa Ge in exchange for his.  And look, I know Daniel isn’t worth it – hell, I know no guy would’ve been worth it.  And that’s right, it’s as it should be.  But there’s still something bold about Ti Moune standing up to a demon of death, not only for the sake of this man she wants to save, but also for the life she’s never known that she dreams of.  The melody is haunting, and LaChanze sounds amazing on the original cast recording.

Best lyric:  “Even the gods / Won’t dare to cross this line / Where my life is forever yours / And you are mine…”

“The Sad Tale of the Beauxhommes” – A handy way to explain the socio-cultural divide on the island, the history of how the light-skinned grand hommes came to be and what fuels their dislike of the Black peasants.  The “beautiful one…” refrain is really pretty, and I love the wistfulness that fills the melody as the storytellers explain the curse.

Best lyric:  “They despise us for our blackness - / It reminds them where they’re from…”