What do we do on this island?

Once on this Island is the musical adaptation of Rosa Guy’s My Love, My Love. I did not see the show as an audience member as instead I actively participated in it: singing dancing and acting. This is the fifth Musical I have ever done in my life and it was also the most challenging one. Having the role of the History teacher I had my own song along with several smaller solos and lines. Singing my own song was extremely fun and challenging. I was quite nervous and this often causes me to tense up on stage. This made acting the comedic song very difficult for me. I believe that the first night was my worst as I was the most nervous and acted less while singing. The two night after I felt better and loosened up quite a lot on stage.

In addition to my first big part, this musical brought other challenges with it. One of which was the singing. The show Once on this Island is very music heavy. There were realy lines that were not sung and close to none that were not underlined by music and spoken in rhythm. Thought I have taken Music classes since over two years, this was challenging. I had to sing more in this show than ever in another show before. In addition the Alto part included some beautiful yet extremely difficult harmonies that I had to learn. Another major difficulty for me was the dancing. Thought I enjoy it very much, I have little previous experience with it. The choreographies were fun but during the first night I had a few struggles as I was nervous, causing me to forget some of the steps. I was brought the the edge of my dancing abilities when another actor felt to sick to be one stage in one of her scenes. Though she had no lines, she had to be on stage waltzing. When she said she could not do it during intermission her dance partner came up to me spontaneously and taught me the Waltz steps. This was an interesting and challenging experience and I hope that few of the audience members noticed my at times clumsy dance steps and my spontaneously put together white costume.

What I liked most about this Musical was that so many people were on stage and actively participating at the same time. If one were to combine Cast, Crew and Pit we would be no less than 42 people involved in Once Upon this Island, which is a big group. Working in a group with this size is often difficult as there is always people that have nothing to do. I can happen that they quickly lose focus, however this was not a major problem in this Show. I am so happy that I was a part of this wonderful performance. I had a chance to overcome new challenges and work with a lot of amazingly talented people.

And always remember: On this Island, we tell the Story