Back in the day I wanted to be a thespian. When I first moved to NYC I would go out on auditions during my lunch break. I got a few extra roles but nothing to write home about. Back then, I wasn’t about that starving artist life. I had to have a full time job. My has so much changed. Now I’m all about quality of life. Slowly learning to make my money work for me and not having to work for my money. I say all that to say…one of the very first musicals I played in was Once on This Island. And ever since, it has been one of my favorite Broadway musicals.

Darilyn Castillo as Ti Moune and Erich McMillan-McCall as Tonton Julian.

Once on This Island is about forbidden love, colorism, classism and more. It’s based on a novel My Love, My Love: or The Peasant Girl by Trinidad-born author Rosa Guy.  It’s about a little orphan girl named Ti Moune saved from a storm and adopted by an old married couple. She grows up to give her life in exchange for her lover’s. A wonderful Caribbean love story.

Angela Birchett as Mama Euralie, Makayla Flowers as Little Ti Moune and Erich McMillan-McCall as Tonton Julian.

 

Last weekend I was able to see my favorite Broadway musical right here in metro-Detroit. Once on This Island is currently playing at the Meadow Brook Theatre in Auburn Hills, Michigan. The set was absolutely beautiful. The singing and acting were superb. It was a packed house.

If you are in the Detroit metro area, I encourage you to take your children, husbands, church group, sorority sisters, fraternity brothers – EVERYONE! They will love it and you will too.

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