Southeast starts theater season with musical loosely based on "The Little Mermaid"

Many people are familiar with the Disney interpretation of Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale "The Little Mermaid," but the Department of Theatre and Dance at Southeast Missouri State University will be kicking off its 2010-2011 season with "Once on This Island," a slightly different take on the classic story written by Lynn Ahrens.

"Once on This Island" is the story of Ti Moune, a poor peasant girl, and her love Daniel, a man from the other side of the island who comes from a prominent family. After being rescued as a child, Ti Moune is convinced that her life was spared for a reason, and that reason becomes clear when she saves Daniel's life and falls in love with him. She has to overcome obstacles that test the bonds of love and life to reunite with Daniel, battling gods and class prejudice.

Dr. Kenn Stilson, professor of theater and dance at Southeast, calls "Once on This Island" a magical musical that will entertain everyone from kindergarten up.

"This show is so theatrical, so filled with magic and humor and tragedy and is done in such a fantastic way," Stilson said. "It's so radically different than most musicals in terms of the theatricality of it that I think people are going to just go nuts over it."

Preparation for the performance has been demanding. Rehearsals started as soon as classes resumed for the fall semester.

"Classes start on Monday, and auditions for the first show are literally on Tuesday and Wednesday evening," Stilson said. "Rehearsals start on Thursday, and you open in just over four weeks. Basically, you dive in head first and you don't come up for air for a month."

Hilary Peterson is the choreographer, which is an intense job when the entire show is nearly all music and dance. Peterson said it puts a lot of pressure on the students to prepare a performance of this magnitude in such a short time, but she is impressed with their work ethic.

"We have some freshmen, and most of them have never done anything of this magnitude, coming from high school productions, which are very minimal with dance and tech," Peterson said. "It's a new process for them, but they are doing a great job. The attitude and professionalism of our returning sophomores, juniors and seniors certainly helps the freshmen learn how to do this type of show."

"Once on This Island" challenged Peterson to accommodate each actor's needs on stage for space and flow.

"The most difficult part for me is what to do when 30 people are on the stage at the same time," she said. "It's not only organizing them on stage, but making them look good when their personal dancing space is limited."

The first scene in the musical is a large number with most of the cast and lots of action. Peterson said they hope to make a good first impression on the audience and do "a good job in wowing them right off the bat."

Audiences will be taken on a fantastical ride from the opening scene -- a tropical storm with lots of lightning.

He said the intensity of the performance will keep the audience entertained.

"This show is only 82 minutes long," Stilson said. "It's a one-act, but it's a really long one-act. What is difficult about this is that the entire thing except for 10 lines is underscored with music, so it's constant singing and dancing.

"What that means is, in 82 minutes, it's got as much choreography as a three-hour musical. It's just jam-packed. There are more lighting cues in this show than there was in the three-hour production of 'Carousel.'"

Peterson said it's an exciting performance and the production flows seamlessly.

"You don't feel that normal sense when a scene ends and another begins; it has a complete through line from start to finish," she said.

Shows are at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday through Oct. 2 and at 2 p.m. Oct. 3 in the Bedell Performance Hall. Tickets for "Once on This Island" are $19 and $16 and available from the River Campus box office, by calling 651-2265 or keyword "once" on metrotix.com.

Pertinent address: Bedell Performance Hall, River Campus, Southeast Missouri State University