Disney’s live-action division is running point on its newest Broadway musical project: Once On This Island.
What we Know:
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Entertainment Weekly confirmed Thursday that Disney has acquired the rights to the famous Broadway musical Once On This Island. The live-action film adaptation of the musical will be streamed on Disney+. This is coming after the success of the filmed stage musical Hamilton.
- The story, set in the French Antilles, follows a Black peasant girl, Ti Moune, who falls in love with a fair-skinned aristocrat. Throughout her life, the gods – Asaka of the earth, Agwé of the water, Erzulie of love, and Pape Ge of death – looked out for the girl and find her quest for love a chance to prove if love can really outweigh death. With the gods placing a wager on which will prevail, Ti Moune is left to face the challenges of colorism, classism, and death itself.
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The one-act musical is based on the Rosa Guy novel, My Love, My love: or The Peasant Girl, and is written by Tony Award winning Lynn Ahrens with music by Grammy winning Stephen Flaherty. The film adaptation is set to be directed by Wanuri Kahiu, a Kenyan filmmaker, with the screenplay being written by Jocelyn Bioh and produced by Marc Platt.
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The original production only ran for a year, from 1990-1991, and earned eight Tony nominations including Best Musical and Best Original Score. A London production was produced in 1995 where it was awarded a Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Musical. The show was revived by Michael Arden and Camille A. Brown in 2017 – which won the 2018 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical.
- The most recent 2017 revival stars Courtnee Carter as Ti Moune and Tyler Hardwick as Daniel Beauxhomme, Ti Moune’s love interests. Other hard hitting cast members include Kyle Ramar Freeman, Jahmaul Bakare, Cassondra James, and American Idol alum, Tamyra Gray.
There has been no announcement in relation to casting for the film or its production timeline.
