onceonthisisland, originally uploaded by willisgirl.

The big event today was going to Center Stage to see a matinee performance of Once on This Island. I will always think of this show as Fiona’s show. Fiona was the former assistant supervisor at Center Stages Telemarketing Department. Every year she would insist that they put on Once on This Island. I remember her saying that it was the best play she ever saw.

This was my first time seeing the musical. However, many years ago, I did read the book that the musical was based on, My Love My Love or The Peasant Girl by Rosa Guy. This is the only book that I have ever read that has made me physically cry in sorrow. To me the play did not live up to the book.

After the show I went down to the Gallery to pick up a calendar for my cubicle. I first went to the book store in the Gallery but as I picked up a calendar from the display they had up all the calendars toppled down. I felt frightened and quickly left the store and headed over to Barnes and Nobles.

I ended up getting a calendar illustrated by my favourite living artist, Jack Vettriano. The calendar oddly enough is called,
Jack Vettriano 2006. I also found a coffee table book of his work on sale for 14.95. The name of the book was Lovers and Other Strangers, Paintings by Jack Vettriano. This is makes the second Jack Vettriano book I own. A couple of years ago I bought his Fallen Angels book. I also got a Farside Appointment book and a book on colour mixing recipes.

Oh, before I forget here is a quick review of Once On This Island.

Once On This Island

Viewed January 7, 2005
Center Stage, Baltimore, MD

Directed by Kenneth Lee Roberson

The Cast

Lakisha Anne Bowen....Andrea
E. Faye Butler.................Erzulie
Lavon Fisher....................Asaka
J.D. Goldblatt.....................Daniel
Heaven Leigh Horton.......Little Ti Moune
Christopher L. Morgan.....Papa Ge
Miah Patterson....................Little Ti Moune (alternate)
Erick Pinnick........................Armand
C.E. Smith............................Tonton Julian
David St. Louis....................Agwe
Gayle Turner........................Mama Euralie

Quick Review

Overall, as I said previously the musical was not as good as the book. I also found it hard to understand what the characters were singing. This could have been because they were singing in dialect. Also none of the tunes they were singing were particularly memorable.

As far as the cast goes they were all pretty good. I can not recall any particular standout performances amongst them. They were all just good. I did see two faces in the cast that were familiar to me, Erick Pinnick and E. Faye Butler.

As I was watching the play I got this feeling that I had saw the man who plays Armand somewhere before. It turns out that he is a native of Baltimore. So odds are I probably saw him around town somewhere before he moved to New York to become an actor. Who knows maybe I even went to school with him or his kin?

It was also nice to E. Faye Butler return to the Baltimore stage. Butler is a phenomenal singer. However, I felt kind of uncomfortable looking at her in the costume she had on. It really accented her Dolly Parton-esq assets of which I was unaware of until this show.