Music and passion

Tom Titus

The youthful energy at the Huntington Beach Academy for the Performing

Arts spills over into a kaleidoscope of color, light and sound in the

musical “Once on This Island.”

Superb voices and robust, intricate choreography elevate this musical

adventure, told as a folk legend on a Caribbean island. These student

performers create a theatrical experience as enjoyable as any touring

professional production.

Director Tim Nelson -- who also serves as vocal director and plays

flute and clarinet in the pit orchestra -- has fashioned a beautifully

involving presentation of Lynn Ahrens’ adaptation of Rosa Guy’s novel “My

Love, My Love.” Love, indeed, is the centerpiece of this story, which

traces a young island girl’s determined pursuit of her dream, a handsome

Frenchman whom she nurses back to health following an auto accident.

Katherine McLaughlin inhabits the central role of the girl, Ti Moune,

with passion and determination in a most praiseworthy performance. Her

singing voice is outstanding and she draws sustained applause for her

vigorous dancing in a second-act number set at a French society ball.

Her upper-class lover, Daniel, is well played by Brandon Durringer,

torn between his love for Ti Moune and his duty to the girl he’s been

promised to since childhood (a snippy performance by Ashley Luth). Jesse

Gonzales strongly enacts Daniel’s unbending father.

Ti Moune’s concerned parents, skillfully interpreted by Kelly Nitkin

and “D” Pull, project their emotional pain over their daughter’s decision

to pursue Daniel skillfully. Melissa Mitchell, a talented fifth-grader,

wonderfully assumes the role of Ti Moune as a little girl trapped in a

tree by a hurricane.

Superior performances are delivered by the four gods who watch over Ti

Moune on her quest -- Michelle DeHoop, Brian Chapman, Beekki Reichert and

Jonathon Hoover. Especially impressive are Reichert as the earth mother

in a spirited dance and a malevolent Hoover as the demon of deathpressing

his contract with Ti Moune.

The show’s brilliant choreography, by Diane Makas-Colwell, is far

superior to anything displayed at this age level and reflects a

professional glow. The islanders’ spirited dance numbers are rich in

imaginative interpretation.

Greg Gilboe directs the orchestra with an enthusiastic flair, and Joe

Batte’s scenic designs are excellent, enriched by Brit Masterson’s

brightly hued lighting effects. The native costumes, by Katie Timm, are

equally well done.

“Once on This Island” is a mightily ambitious project by many

dedicated students and adults, delivered with a crescendo of color, music

and dance in a thoroughly entertaining production, which also manages to

enlighten on such themes as prejudice and class distinction.It deserves a

wide audience.

CUTLINE: Katherine McLaughlin (right) vows to pursue her romantic

dream despite the misgivings of her parents (Kelly Nitkin and “D” Pull)

in the Huntington Beach Academy of Performing Arts’ musical “Once on This

Island.”

CUTLINE: Brandon Durringer and Katherine McLaughlin rediscover each

other in “Once on This Island,” presented by the Huntington Beach Academy

of Performing Arts.

F.Y.I.WHAT: “Once on This Island”WHERE: Huntington Beach High School

Auditorium, 1905 Main St.

WHEN: Closing performances Saturday at 7:30 p.m., Sunday at 2 p.m.

COST: $10 & $8

PHONE: (714) 536-2514, Ext. 302* TOM TITUS reviews local theater for

the Independent.