Broadway Rewind: ONCE ON THIS ISLAND Gets Ready to Return to Broadway!

Hello, I'm Richard Ridge for Broadway World

Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty's award-winning, beautiful musical, Once on This Island, is returning to Broadway

Under the direction of Michael Arden, it will open on December 3rd at Circle in the Square

And we drop by the rehearsal room to bring you a sneak peek and to meet the company led by Tony Award winner Lea Salonga

and making her Broadway debut, Haley Kilgore. Oh God, oh God, let me fly

I've spent the places where no one has been. You're sparing my life, show me a way

Get me to rise like a fish to the lake, then tell me to wait

Well, I'm waiting. Waiting. Waiting for life to begin

One small day, waiting for life, one small day, one small day

You're about to make your Broadway debut. Yay! I'm really excited. I'm sure there's so many things going through your mind

Is it all surreal? It's very surreal. I mean, I'm only 18

I came from a really small town, Happy Valley, Oregon. No one knows it exists

So it's like, I'm on Broadway. I'm in a room full of brilliant minds

It's magical. So Michael Arden was obsessed looking at your video when you were 16 years old

and they were like, we've got to find her. What was that like? Well, first of all, getting that phone call of them saying, you know

Michael Arden, Stephen Flaherty, Lynn Ahrens, Nicky James. Did she want a Tony

That one? Like literally they sent out this email And they said okay we're going to have you sing

And we're going to have you do a few scenes And then gave me a list of everyone that was going to be in the room

And I was like So literally walked in And my hands were like shaking

And Michael comes up and gives me a big hug And just let me do my thing

So what's it like You work with Michael Arden Stephen and Lynn are in the room

Leia Salonga Leia Salonga No we started our first day of rehearsals and I was doing a Netflix binge and I ended up on Mulan and I was like who is that

I'm gonna be in the room with Lea Salonga in less than 12 hours

I should really get some sleep. I remember just being like, oh my god

but no, it's, you know, you hear all these big names, and Lea, and Michael, and Nikki

and then it's like, you meet them, and they're just, they're people

And they're people with good hearts and good spirits, so I'm so happy

Why do you think the time is right to bring this musical back to Broadway? Oh man, because the world needs healing, always

And this is a show about healing, and it does it in such a beautiful way, speaking of love and heart and people and unity coming together

So it's a time for healing. Steve and Lynn in the room. Every day. Every day

And if something needs to change, if they need to make a cut, if they need to add something, if they need to change something

because they're there, the fact that they're in the room, it's amazing

And it's just been such a gift to have the both of them there. Because it's not always like that

I mean, for example, revivals down the road of West Side Story

they're not going to have Leonard Bernstein in the room anymore. so it's stuff like that that makes me appreciate

what they have been able to give and Stephen's husband brings us baked goods

you're talking about the baked goods right? thanks Trevor what an incredible cast you have put together

and your leading lady you've discovered talk about her she's incredible, Haley Kilgore

she's 18 years old she I happened to see a videotape of her

and I said who is that The videotape was when she was like 16

And I said, we have to find her And so we called her in

And everybody just fell in love with her And she's really remarkable And it's so exciting to see

Someone waiting for life to begin Who is at that same point in their life

I sometimes have to remind myself Oh, she's 18 She probably hasn't been to a ball yet

So it's really fun But everybody else you've assembled You have Tony Award winner Leia Salonga

I mean, and then you have someone making their Broadway debut and everybody in between. I really wanted to create a diverse company You know it my firm belief in all the work I do that the show is only as strong as every single member of the company

And they really work together and tell this story as one. There's no star in this production

The company and the story is the star, and I'm really excited to share that. Welcome to Broadway with Once on this Island

Thank you. Is it all surreal? What's it like for you? It's so, like, it's different from Glee

It's so different. No, it's not. It's the same hours. Same people, really

It's refreshing. I grew up doing theater, and so to be on a stage and to reach a goal of mine is wonderful

I always knew that I was going to be on the Broadway. I just didn't know when. I didn't know how

But I feel something starting right now. And it's, I love it

I love it so much. And to work with people like Lea Salonga, whatever. It must be nice to have worked together

Then you come into this beautiful room that Michael Arden's put together. And you're like, oh my God, we're together again

Yes, yes. Michael, I'm just so jealous of his imagination And the ideas he has for this show are just brilliant

I really want to tell you all about them But you have to buy a ticket to actually see it

Because it's some wonderful surprises From this to that and to this other thing that comes down

and this other thing that walks onto the stage, ooh, you will not believe it

Always it. What are you both looking forward to with having your glorious musical back on Broadway

for a new generation? I'm looking forward to seeing the audiences again

You know, I mean, the show is, I'm quite sure that it's going to be beautiful

but I'm so looking forward to seeing faces in the audience reacting to the show all over again

a whole new generation, and seeing the, you know, the mixed-up gender

and the mixed-up race of this new incarnation, I think is so important

and I think it going to be very meaningful And that what I looking forward to is just seeing the first audience I really am dying to see it The show has always been about it not like we the actors you the audience

It's very much a dialogue and I cannot wait for that first audience to see that dialogue

and to watch the show take off. How well did you know the musical

before you started this? I could recite the entire, I had the cassette tape, I wore that thing out

This musical is so in my heart and in my spirit. It was one of the first shows that I ever saw and I saw it at the

International Thespian Festival and it gave me vision for what I could do. So this has kind of

been in my in my bones to to do this on Broadway for a long time. It's a full circle moment for you

like seeing possibilities of what you could be on stage. Yes and the fact that we get to do things

like gender bend and include with race and all that kind of stuff, a whole new generation

is going to see a refreshing new point of view about what they can do and what's possible

What's been the biggest pinch me moment for you so far with working on this

Oh my God. I think when I heard Lea Salonga singing Human Hearts, I was fully wet

My face was just like covered in tears. and that's when I realized

I am doing this incredible thing I am part of something that is huge

that so many people are invested in and care about and it's an incredible opportunity

and just being in a room with all of these incredible pros

who have just been a dream to work with I mean, I pinch myself every day

but I remember when she finished singing that song I was just like, whoa, this is special

this is really special