Preview
Identifier
Revue Program_Page_31
Creation Date
4-23-2021
Disciplines
Arts and Humanities | Theatre and Performance Studies
Description
DRAMATURGY - “THE HUMAN HEART”
“The Human Heart” is a song with music written by Stephen Flaherty and lyrics and book written by Lynn Ahrens for the 1990 one-act musical Once on This Island, which was based on Rosa Guy’s My Love, My Love or The Peasant Girl, which was based on Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid. The musical’s revival won a Tony Award in 2018 and currently being adapted into a film on Disney+.
Set in the French Antilles, Once on This Island tells the story of an island separated into two sections: the lower-class which houses the “black as night” peasants, and the upper-class which houses the lighter skinned Grand Hommes. Ti Moune, a peasant girl prays to the Gods that she will find her purpose. The gods granted her with the strongest gift, love. However, the demon of death, Papa Ge, wants to prove that death is stronger than love. Therefore Agwe, the god of water, creates a storm that causes a grand hommes boy, Daniel, to crash his car. Ti Moune takes care of Daniel, during this time she falls in love with him, eventually offering to exchange her life for his.
“The Human Heart” appears in the middle of the show as Erzulie, the goddess of love, sings to Ti Moune and Daniel. When he woke up after his crash, he did not remember Ti Moune at all, but she stayed with him to make sure that he was okay. Erzulie sees this and wants to grant them the gift of love for their dedication to each other. Despite their incompatibility due to social class/skin color, they are still willing to love each other. The style of the song is reminiscent of Caribbean or Island music. It is important to note that Flaherty (composer) and Ahrens (lyricist) do not write to fit a genre or style, instead, they write to further the story.
Publisher
Arkansas State University
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Theatre Program
Keywords
musical, compliation, retrospective, medley
