Treasured 'Island' KAREN SHADE World Scene Writer 8/1/2005 Based on 'Little Mermaid,' this play doesn't tire its director The labor of putting together a musical is work that Troy Powell professes to enjoy -- that is, up to a point. "Normally, when I do a show I tend to really despise the show by the end because I've heard it so much, ... but as I've run this show more and more, I've come to love the show more and more," Powell said. "Once on This Island Jr." is the exception for the youth theater director. "It's a very interesting experience because as I listen to the music, I like it more," he said. Having the luxury of a practice theater to rehearse in also helps. The Union High School theater instructor was able to borrow the Union Intermediate High School's black box theater, similar to the one in which he, his cast and crew will present their show. The musical based on the novel "My Love, My Love" borrows from the Hans Christian Andersen story "The Little Mermaid."

Rachael Cain and Wesam Keesh star in “Once on This Island Jr.,” which starts Friday in the Liddy Doenges Theatre of the Tulsa Performing Arts Center, Second Street and Cincinnati Avenue. STEPHEN HOLMAN / Tulsa World

A peasant girl named Ti Moune living on the side of a Caribbean island allotted to the poor falls in love with Daniel, the rich boy whose life she saves after a car crash.

But there are gods who rule the island, and they get involved and set Ti Moune on a path that will test her love and possibly change life on the island.

How his young cast of about 20 at the Clark Youth Theater tells the story is also a new experience for him, he said.

"It's basically a series of storytellers, and as they tell the story, we see it created for us with the bodies of the actors on stage," he said.

Actors become the trees and the rain and everything else necessary to take viewers through the paths that bring the main characters together.

Maybe it sounds difficult to bring the French Antilles into a small theater without many stage props (there are two), but that's where costumes, color, music and choreography come inwell said Christina Jenkins choreographed the show and included elegant ballroom motions to more physical, "Stomp"-like numbers. But the movement is throughout the production.

"I wanted it to be this living breathing thing, this island. The way we shaped the platforms looks like an island in the sea with mountains. ... Al-most the entire cast is on stage the entire time," he said.

If you want to compare it to anything else out there, he said, the approach to "Once on This Island Jr." is similar to the theatrical "The Lion King" with its masks and actors representing animals, objects and more.

There isn't any puppetry involved here, but action and movement stand in for the storytelling.

During a recent preview for the casts' friends and relatives, the audience found themselves in an odd situation. They didn't know when they were allowed to cheer for performances because the music only stops about twice, Powell said.

"It's about 58 minutes to an hour, very short as far as musicals go," he said. "But as far as the music goes, there's not much that was cut from the original score. Because this a 'junior' production, it's shorter."

Why sacrifice the music?

"I've seen a lot of theater, and this is not the standard cookie-cutter-type of musical at all."

"Once on This Island Jr." will be shown in the Liddy Doenges Theatre of the Tulsa Performing Arts Center, Second Street and Cincinnati Avenue.

Shows start at 7:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday, and 7:30 p.m. Aug. 11-13.

Tickets are $10 adults, $5 children and seniors. They can be purchased at the PAC, 596-7111, www.tulsapac.com