Blue Spruce Theatre Presents ONCE ON THIS ISLAND Oct 7-24

Blue Spruce Theatre will present Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty's Once on this Island October 7-24, 2010 at the Arsenal Center for the Arts (321 Arsenal St., Watertown, MA).  Show times are 7:30 pm on Thursdays; Friday and Saturday at 8:00 pm; matinees Saturday and Sunday at 2pm.  Tickets are $22-$25 (+$1.99 fee for credit cards) and are available by phone 1-800-838-3006. For more information visit http://www.bluesprucetheatre.org.

With the announcement of their 2010 production of the beloved Ahrens and Flaherty musical Once on this Island, Blue Spruce Theatre continues to focus on raising awareness of civil rights issues. Once on this Island, which is based on Hans Christian Anderson's classic fairy tale "The Little Mermaid," "tells a wonderfully compelling story of love and longing across societal boundaries," says Jesse Strachman, Producing Artistic Director. "These artificial boundaries that dictate who may love whom are obsolete, and our hope is that by presenting this story in a dramatic setting, this will reinforce the idea that love should know no boundaries."

Once on this Island uses exciting calypso-flavored music, song and dance to tell the story of Ti Moune, a beautiful peasant girl who falls in love with a rich "Beauxhomme" on the heavily class-divided island of Haiti (identified in the show as the "Jewel of the Antilles"). While the original Broadway production was cast along strict ethnic guidelines, Blue Spruce aims to reflect the diversity of the Boston area. This not only provides opportunities to the widest possible range of actors, but also reinforces the notion that the story transcends issues of race, and can apply to any society broken into "us" vs. "them."

In order to help tell this story, Blue Spruce has enlisted the aid of the multiple award-winning director and choreographer Jennifer Condon. Recent IRNE award winner Dan Rodriguez (2009 recipient for Best Music Director for Reagle Players' Hello Dolly! and La Cage aux Folles) also joins the Blue Spruce team and will take the baton in October. For more information about Blue Spruce Theatre, visit them online at http://www.bluesprucetheatre.org

Blue Spruce Theatre was created in September of 2006 to bring high-quality, intimate musical theatre to audiences outside of Boston. Our mission is to produce works that connect us to each other as people, giving us a better understanding of who we are, where we came from, and where we are headed.

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