February 21 – March 7, 2020
Book and Lyrics by Lynn Ahrens
Music by Stephen Flaherty
Based upon the novel “My Love, My Love” by Rosa Guy
2018 Tony Award® – Best Musical Revival
“Ravishing! What a big, bold delight it is to enter the world of Once On This Island… ” — The New York Times
“Just what the world needs now—Inspired and uplifting!” — Variety
How far will you travel to reunite with the one who has captured your heart? This folk tale whisks you away to a sea-swept village in the Caribbean where young Ti Moune, a peasant girl, falls in love with Daniel Beauxhomme, a grand homme (rich boy). The captivating romance is guided by the Gods Erzulie, Asaka, Papa Ge and Agwé, who rule the island and guide Ti Moune on a remarkable quest to reunite with the grand homme who has captured her heart. Their pursuit of love changes the lives of their island and their families forever.
Tickets are no longer available for this show.
Important Dates
February 21 – March 7, 2020
7:00 p.m. Mondays – Thursdays Evenings
7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturday Evenings
2:00 p.m. Saturday Matinees
Sponsors
Richard K. and Shirley S. Hemingway Foundation
US Bank Foundation
Overview
Cast
Creative
GERRY MC INTYRE (Director/Choreographer) As a performer Gerry has been seen on Broadway in a number of shows including Anything Goes, Once On This Island, Chicago, Uptown It’s Hot, and Joseph…Dreamcoat, a role for which he was one of three Americans chosen to be in the film starring Donny Osmond. Gerry is also a highly sought after director and choreographer. Major theatres he has worked at throughout the United States include the Lions Theatre and York Theater (Off-Broadway), Virginia Stage, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Berkshire Theatre Festival, Connecticut Repertory, Gateway Playhouse, Ogunquit Playhouse, Alliance Theater, Le Petit Theatre (New Orleans), Pasadena Playhouse, and Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma, as well as television programs such as “The Rosie O’Donnel Show”, “Major Dad” and “Designing Women”.
TOM GRIFFIN (Musical Director) is a nationally recognized musical director and conductor. Recent productions: Once, Oliver, It Happened One Christmas, Peter & The Starcatcher, Elf and A Christmas Carol: The Musical at Pioneer Theatre Company, the West Coast and Los Angeles premieres of The Last Five Years, Sweet Charity, Sweeney Todd and The Music Man; the West Coast premiere of Spitfire Grill; Annie, West Side Story, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Bye Bye Birdie; the national tour of My Fair Lady for Theatre Of The Stars; and Alabama Shakespeare Festival’s productions of Disney’s Mary Poppins, A Christmas Carol: The Musical, Peter Pan and A Christmas Memory. Awards: Broadway revival of You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown (Los Angeles premiere), Garland Award Best Musical Direction; and Side Show (Los Angeles premiere), Los Angeles Drama Critics Award Best Musical Direction. Tom was the musical conductor of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast on two National Tours.
DANIEL MEEKER (Scenic Designer) Previously at PTC, Meeker designed the sets for Oslo, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Women in Jeopardy!, Outside Mullingar and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. In his home city, Portland, Ore., credits include: set and lighting for Kodachrome, lighting for Twist Your Dickens, Lauren Weedman Doesn’t Live Here Anymore and Wild and Reckless at Portland Center Stage; set design for la Cenerentola, Così fan tutte, The Difficulty of Crossing a Field and The Little Match Girl Passion (Portland Opera); set and lighting design for Scarlet, Fences, A Christmas Carol and The Language Archive at Portland Playhouse; set design for Judy Moody and Stink: The Mad, Mad Treasure Hunt for Oregon Children’s Theatre; Meeker is the lighting director for the Pickathon festival, a graduate of Ithaca College and The Yale School of Drama, and a member of United Scenic Artists.
YOON BAE (Costume Designer) is delighted to return to PTC after her scenic design for musical Once. She is an award-winning scenic and costume designer working internationally, including London’s West End, Norway, South Korea, Japan, and in the USA. Highlights: Don Giovanni (Welsh National Opera), Candide (Tokyo), House of Joy and Oedipus El Rey (San Diego), Evita, Ain’t Misbehavin’, Disconnect (Winner Bay Area Theatre Critics Award for best set design), The Wolves (Actors Theatre of Louisville), The Great Gatsby and The Importance of Being Earnest (Arizona). In London’s West End: Gone with the Wind, Birdsong, Skellig, Equus. Edinburgh International Festival: Three Thousand Troubled Threads. Other work includes Caridad Svich’s Archipelago, Jane Austen’s Emma, The Sunshine Boys, The Magic Flute, Anything Goes, As You Like It, Private Lives, The Full Monty, and Closer. She is Assistant Professor of Scenic Design at University of Kentucky and a member of USA 829 www.yoonbae.com
DRISCOLL OTTO (Lighting Designer) Returns to PTC, after last season’s The Lion in Winter. Recently Driscoll designed lighting and projections for Iolanta at Chicago Opera Theatre. His design work is seen frequently in NYC, regional theatre and opera & internationally. His credits include Utah Opera, Opera Omaha, Opera Philadelphia, Dallas Theater Center, Drury Lane Theatre, The Dallas Opera, The Huntington Theatre Company, Chicago Opera Theatre, Houston Shakespeare Festival, Trinity Repertory Company, Hangar Theatre, Flat Rock Playhouse, Lyric Opera Kansas City and productions of Legally Blonde and Rock of Ages for Norwegian Cruise Lines. Highlights to his resume include projection design for Santa Fe Opera’s production of The Golden Cockerel and The Metropolitan Opera’s production of La Donna Del Lago. He received his MFA from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. His work can be seen at www.DriscollOtto.com
AARON HUBBARD (Sound Designer)
EARON NEALEY (Wig Designer)
ALLAN BRANSON (Live Mix Engineer) is thrilled to be a part of Pioneer Theatre Company. He previously worked at The Arkansas Repertory Theatre as their resident sound designer for six seasons, where he designed such shows as Because of Winn-Dixie (world premiere), The Bridges of Madison County (regional premiere) and Memphis (regional premiere). Branson is a proud member of The Theatrical Sound Designers and Composers Association.
BECKY LYNN DAWSON (Production Stage Manager) joins PTC for her third season. She holds an MFA from Mason Gross School of the Arts and a BFA from Utah State University. Selected stage management credits include From Here to Eternity, Saturday Night Fever (Merry-Go-Round Playhouse), The Spitfire Grill, Chicago, M. Butterfly (Northern Stage), The Christians (Gulfshore Playhouse) and Divinamente New York 2009 & 2010 (EH Arts International). She would like to send many thanks to her family for their continual support.
LYNN AHRENS (Book and Lyrics) won Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards and received two Grammy nominations for Broadway’s Ragtime. For Twentieth Century Fox’s animated feature film Anastasia, she was nominated for two Academy Awards and two Golden Globes. She and longtime collaborator Stephen Flaherty received the Oscar Hammerstein Award for Lifetime Achievement, and in 2015 they were inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame. Broadway: Anastasia; Once On This Island (Olivier Award, Best Musical; Tony nominations, Best Book and Score); Seussical (Grammy nomination); My Favorite Year; Chita Rivera: The Dancer’s Life; Rocky; Madison Square Garden’s A Christmas Carol; Ragtime (2010 Broadway revival). Off-Broadway and regional: Lincoln Center Theater’s Dessa Rose, The Glorious Ones (both Drama Desk-nominated) and A Man of No Importance (Outer Critics Circle Award, Best Musical); Lucky Stiff; Little Dancer (Kennedy Center world premiere). Film and television credits include A “Christmas Carol” (NBC-TV); Camp (IFC Films); “Schoolhouse Rock” (ABC-TV) and others. (Emmy Award and four Emmy nominations). She is a Council member of the Dramatists Guild of America, a co-founder of the Dramatists Guild Fellows Program, and a Lilly Award winner for Lyrics. www.ahrensandflaherty.com
STEPHEN FLAHERTY (Composer) is the composer of the Broadway musicals Ragtime (Tony, Drama Desk, OCC Awards, two Grammy nominations), Seussical (Grammy, Drama Desk nominations), Once on This Island (Tony nomination, Olivier Award, Best Musical) and Rocky. Additional Broadway includes Chita Rivera: The Dancer’s Life (original songs) and Neil Simon’s Proposals (incidental music). Stephen has also written four musicals at Lincoln Center Theatre: The Glorious Ones (OCC, Drama Desk nominations), Dessa Rose (OCC, Drama Desk nominations), A Man of No Importance (OCC, Best Musical, Drama Desk nomination) and My Favorite Year. Other theater includes In Your Arms (Old Globe), Little Dancer (Kennedy Center), Lucky Stiff (Playwrights Horizons) and Loving Repeating: A Musical of Gertrude Stein (Chicago’s Jefferson Award, Best New Musical.) Film includes Anastasia (two Academy Award and two Golden Globe nominations), the documentary After The Storm and Lucky Stiff. Mr. Flaherty’s concert music has premiered at the Hollywood Bowl, Boston’s Symphony Hall, Carnegie Hall, the Guggenheim Museum and Symphony Space. This year celebrates Stephen’s 32-year collaboration with lyricist-librettist Lynn Ahrens. Stephen and Lynn are members of the Dramatists Guild Council and co- founders of the Dramatists Guild Fellows Program. In 2015 they were inducted into the Theater Hall Of Fame. Upcoming: the stage adaptation of Anastasia. www.ahrensandflaherty.com
Notes on the Play
Directors Notes by Gerry McIntyre
I can honestly say that Once On This Island changed my life!
I was fortunate enough to be in the original Broadway company. And since that moment, it has always returned to me like a loyal friend. When on Broadway, the director asked me to be the dance captain—which means she entrusted me with teaching new company members, and keeping the show in good shape. I never had any desire to direct or choreograph, but being given that job opened many doors and I have been blessed to be working as a director/choreographer ever since.
Once On This Island returned again after Hurricane Katrina. I went to New Orleans to direct and choreograph teenagers who were displaced by the storm and trying to acclimate themselves back into a normal life. The show healed these kids. The power of this show brought them back to life, and they realized they had power. They taught me so much! I thought I was there to help them, but they taught me more than I could even imagine.
My father recently passed away, and guess what? Once On This Island returned! It is the best therapist I’ve ever had! Lynn Ahrens’ lyrics in the show are resounding in my life:
“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
And forgive.”
My wish for you is simple. Just sit back and listen, and be open to every emotion which the show brings.
This is why I tell the story!
Gerry McIntyre, Director
