Morgan Hill resident Rachelle Abbey is featured as Erzulie, the
goddess of love, in Children
’s Musical Theater San Jose’s Mainstage production Once on This
Island, May 14-23, 2004, at the Montgomery Theater in downtown San
Jose (corner of Market and San Carlos streets).
Morgan Hill resident Rachelle Abbey is featured as Erzulie, the goddess of love, in Children’s Musical Theater San Jose’s Mainstage production Once on This Island, May 14-23, 2004, at the Montgomery Theater in downtown San Jose (corner of Market and San Carlos streets). Tickets are now on sale to the public for $18 adults, $12 children 12 and under.
With a plot inspired by The Little Mermaid fairytale, this show tells the story of Ti Moune, a Caribbean peasant girl who miraculously survives a flood and grows up knowing she is destined for something special. She and the other peasants believe the gods who spared her life also use Ti Moune to play out their own contest to determine which god is stronger, love or death. When Ti Moune falls in love with a wealthy young aristocrat and encounters the class barrier that separates them, her life’s purpose is discovered: breaking down the prejudice that separates people from one another.
This colorful show features infectious rhythms that give way to great dancing, and songs like We Dance,” “One Small Girl,” “Waiting for Life” and “Human Heart.”
CMT Artistic Director Kevin Hauge has veered from his signature style of incorporating the latest multimedia effects into his shows to create a surprising low-tech Once on This Island, designed to enthrall audiences with its simplicity and great storytelling. Borrowing from the culture of the islands, Hauge uses Haitian masks, folk art and shadow dancing to enhance the telling of the tale.
The set, designed by Jim Culley, uses large, moveable fabric panels to give the stage a liquid, cinematic feel and moveable pedestals, allowing the island gods to observe and direct the actions on earth, without ever actually walking among the peasants.
Vocal and music director Gus Kambeitz returns to CMTSJ to partner with Hauge after a long absence. Kambeitz, who is director of instrumental studies at West Valley College, also chooses to tell the story in a more traditional fashion, adding marimba and additional percussion to achieve a more authentic Caribbean sound.
Choreographer Dana Zell is also back after a long absence. Zell, a CMT alumna who performed in national Broadway tours of A Chorus Line and Bye, Bye Birdie and Europe’s Best of Broadway, last choreographed CMT’s Rising Stars production of Once on This Island in 1997. Although it has been seven years since that production and many of the performers from that earlier show have grown up and are no longer eligible to participate in CMT productions, three of the youngest 1997 production cast members are still performing with CMT and have returned to work with Zell again.
Performances are: Friday, May 14 at 7 p.m.; Saturday, May 15 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.; Sunday May 16 at 1 p.m. and 6 p.m.; Thursday, May 20 at 7 p.m.; Friday, May 21 at 7 p.m.; Saturday, May 22 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.; and Sunday, May 23 at 1 p.m.
For more information or to purchase tickets, please visit the CMTSJ web site at . Or phone the CMT Box Office at 288.5437. Tickets may also be purchased in person at the CMT Box Office, 1401 Parkmoor Avenue (at Meridian), San Jose, Monday through Friday, 10 a.m.- 5 p.m. or the Montgomery Theater one hour prior to performances.
