Review: Once On This Island, Hackney Empire

Expectations are high for director Susie McKenna's touring production of Once On This Island.

First performed on Broadway in 1990, it earned Tony Awards for composer Stephen Flaherty and lyricist Lynn Ahren, with the subsequent West End revival bagging an Olivier.

Thankfully, this sparkling, silly and hugely entertaining musical lives up to the hype.

The direction is slick, the set snazzy, the reggae infused music simple but soaring and the cast a talented and energetic bunch.

This musical fairytale has much in common with Romeo And Juliet, though with an optimistic and more family-friendly conclusion.

Verona has been replaced with Haiti, an island of two halves, with the black impoverished community living on one side and the affluent French on the other.

The star-crossed lovers are peasant girl Ti Moune (played with verve and charm by Shyko Amos) and the dashing Daniel Beauxhomme and it is their thwarted relationship that inspires this show.

Rumbling beneath this simple love-story is some complicated business involving the Voodoo gods, but this aspect is slightly brushed over in this sugar sweet spectacle.

Even the god of death is dressed up as a figure of fun, in a sharp bowler hat, comedy skeleton suit and sparkling smile.

Sharon D Clarke, pictured, of Holby City-fame, plays goddess Asaka and although her role is not as significant as the posters suggest, her fruity, rich voice hits all the right notes.

This is a high-quality show with production values to match and is a great fit for this stage and its audience.

The local community obviously wants more of this kind of thing.

Queues for return tickets spiralled around the theatre on press night. Let's hope those at Hackney Empire meet this demand and programme similarly light-hearted, heart-warming extravaganzas in the future.