Once Again on the 'Island' - Talking with Pascale Florestal and Paul Daigneault on SpeakEasy's New Take on Classic Musical

Back in the 1990s, "Once on This Island" is one of the first musicals produced by Boston's SpeakEasy Stage when it was based in the original Boston Center for the Arts performances spaces. This week, in celebration of SpeakEasy's 31st season, they return with a new production, staged by Pascale Florestal, this time in the company's home at the adjacent Calderwood Pavilion.

First produced off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizon in the spring of 1990, "Once on This Island" moved to Broadway that fall and ran for a year. It marked the Broadway debut of the composer/lyricist team of Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens, who went on to write "Ragtime" and "Anastasia" (amongst others). A London production in 1994 won the Olivier Award for Best Musical, while its most recent Broadway production won the Tony for Best Revival in 2018, with a projected film version from Netflix.

Based on the 1985 novel�"My Love, My Love," or, "The Peasant Girl"�by�Rosa Guy,�this musical fable is set somewhere in the Caribbean and tells the story of�Ti Moune, a peasant girl who falls in love with a�wealthy man, Daniel Beauxhomme, outside her class. For the SpeakEasy production, which runs from March 11 through April 16, director Pascale Florestal gives the setting specificity by placing it in Haiti and in Miami's Little Haiti.

"This production is taking place in Haiti and Little Haiti – which is in Miami – as to not confuse the audience as to the culture we are celebrating," she explained. "We are fully embracing that this musical takes place in Haiti and Little Haiti. Audiences will experience what it means to inhabit a culture like the Haitian culture.

"That means you'll hear the music of the Haitian people, Kompa, and the dances will be rooted and inspired by Haitian and African dance," she continued. "There will be nods to traditional Haitian clothing in the costumes, and the scenic design will highlight the vie brand colors and lush island I know so well to be Miami and Haiti."

SpeakEasy Artistic Director Paul Daigneault fell in love with the show while living in New York during the run of the original Broadway production, saying that he watched it more than a dozen times in standing room. He staged the company's previous version and had hoped to produce it as part of the SpeakEasy's 30th season, but the pandemic caused the delay. Now that theater is returning post-Omicron, he can't think of a better time for the production.

"While the story is timeless, I think, in many ways, the timing for this particular production couldn't be better," he said. "With all darkness and uncertainty in our lives today, I am sure audiences will appreciate the uplift offered by this wonderful score, as well as the show's message of hope, resilience, and community."

Boston-based Pascale is a Boston-based describes herself as Boston-based director, dramaturge, educator, writer and collaborator. She has worked at Huntington Theater Company, SpeakEasy Stage, The Theatre Offensive, and across educational institutions in the area – including as assistant professor of Theatre at Boston Conservatory. She is also the education director and associate producer of The Front Porch Arts Collective, where I created The Young Critics Program to foster and incubate the next generation of arts critics.

Daigneault saw the musical as an opportunity to work with Pascale, whom he calls "one of the true bright lights in Boston theatre - a director, writer, educator, and collaborator with the goal of diversifying representation on Boston stages one play at a time. She is also Haitian American and had a vision for setting this show in Haiti and infusing the story with Haitian culture. I think audiences will be really excited by what she brings to this production."

Pascale explained that she had heard of the musical, but didn't see it until its recent Broadway revival. "I was not prepared for the reaction that I had, which was crying midway through the show till the end. I just fell in love with the music and the story."

Asked to categorized it, Pascale described it as "part 'Romeo and Juliet,' 'Little Mermaid,' and the history of the colonization of the island of Hispaniola." She also explained the decision to do the show in the round, as it was done in its revival. "For me, I love theater where the audience can really feel like they're a part of the experience. So being able to be in the round provides that extension of engagement to the audience in a way that the proscenium style can't. It separates the audience from the story, and I think so much of this story is about the audience experiencing it and understanding it; so the round just provides even more of an opportunity for that connection and engagement."

"Once on this Island" sits in the problematic place where many musicals dealing with race fall – that is, its characters and the lifestyles depicted are multi-cultural, but its creators are white. Given our political contentious times, if the musical were new, would it get a production today?

"'Once on this Island' is one of those musicals that is so universal and so popular so I can't imagine it not being produced again," says Pascale. There is another production of it happening right now at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival that opens about a month after we open, so clearly people are going to want to see it.

"But I think it's important in this moment of racial reckoning to provide the opportunity for stories about people of color to be executed and told by people of color. So it was imperative to me that my entire team be part of the African Diaspora because that's what this story is about.

"And I think there is something so beautiful about having the ability to truly connect and understand the people and culture of the stories you tell. As a Haitian American, I see my family in this musical; I see my home, I see my parents' home and I feel that that perspective can not be duplicated by someone who has never had that experience. So I think it's about how artists of color can reclaim the narratives of ourselves so they are truthful to who and what we are.

Daigneault concurred: "While the writing team behind the piece is white, SpeakEasy's creative team, the group bringing this version of the story to life, is wonderfully diverse. As previously stated, Pascale is Haitian-American and is using this fable to celebrate Haitian culture. It's very special."

Asked what her take-away from the experience has been, Pascal said: I love making work about where I come from, about a place that I think so often people just assume they understand. So much of what I love about theater is being able to educate and understand the world better, and I'm so excited to be able to do that with this show: to celebrate Haiti in a way that we don't often get the chance to. I can't wait for you to experience it and to learn more about Haiti and the culture of its people."

And just to be back in the theater was thrilling for both of them.

"There really are no words," said Daigneault. "When the pandemic first shut us down, I had no idea what lay ahead, and when, or if, we would be back. And for me, one of the takeaways from this whole experience has been confirmation that nothing, nothing, nothing compares to the experience of live theatre - both seeing a show and working on a show. There is something about the energy in the room and the connections that are forged between the audience and the artists that no livestream nor cable movie can - or will ever - replicate."

"It's been such a homecoming to return to the theater especially with this musical, and I'm so excited about it. It's also been nerve-racking. I don't want to pretend that it hasn't been a part of the everyday process, so it's bittersweet. It's also thrilling and exciting, but there's also a side of me looking over my shoulder wondering when the next thing will happen. I blame the pandemic for that."