Reviewers love Once on This Island! From the environmental design that immerses audiences into a trashed paradise to the outstanding cast of veterans and newcomers alike, the revival of this musical fable is timely, beautiful, and spirited – a winning combination. Director Michael Arden’s smarts and thoughtfulness are evident everywhere… the musical invites you to look closer and think harder without overtaxing the original material. And the cast brings wonderful life to every character, though Alex Newell and Hailey Kilgore are particular standouts. It may not offer the warm temps of the real tropics, but the world of Once on This Island at Circle in the Square offers everything else and more.
NEW YORK TIMES REVIEW OF ONCE ON THIS ISLAND
I wasn’t expecting the goat in diapers. Nor did I arrive at Circle in the Square the other night anticipating the panorama of village folk barbecuing on the beach, fishing in the lagoon and going about their daily business in a joyful pre-show panorama on the theater’s lozenge-shaped stage.
DEADLINE REVIEW OF ONCE ON THIS ISLAND
A joyful noise thunders through Circle in the Square theater, as Broadway welcomes a smashing revival of Once On This Island. Michael Arden’s exuberant staging of this 1990 musical fairy tale set on a Caribbean island conjures a spell that is devastatingly timely yet affectingly timeless in…
HOLLYWOOD REPORTER REVIEW OF ONCE ON THIS ISLAND
The plight of real-world communities struck by natural disasters adds a powerful emotional charge to Michael Arden’s immersive revival of this captivating 1990 musical fairy tale by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty. Walking into Broadway’s Circle in the Square and taking in the environmental staging of the lovingly crafted Once on This Island revival — with an upturned boat on the edge of a sandbagged pool of water, ensemble members milling barefoot around a steel-drum fire, shoes and clothing hung out to dry all over the theater, medics tending to the sick, and a live goat weaving its way among the cast — the visual association hits you instantly…
CHICAGO TRIBUNE REVIEW OF ONCE ON THIS ISLAND
The closing number of “Once on This Island,” the justly loved one-act musical by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens now in a Broadway revival at the Circle in the Square Theatre, ends with a number called “We Tell the Story.” It’s a song filled with reasons as to why every community must pass on tall tales, in so…
AM NEW YORK REVIEW OF ONCE ON THIS ISLAND
Since it premiered in 1990, Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty’s Caribbean-flavored fairy-tale musical “Once On This Island” has been performed by numerous schools and amateur groups, but there has probably never been a production quite like the stunning new Broadway revival at Circle in the Square. Emphasizing…
Broadway Musical Blog 
One thought on “The Reviews for ONCE ON THIS ISLAND are In…”