There are people, one supposes, who wait all year to see Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flahertys Once on This Island, that cool-as-an-ocean-breeze tuner that turns up each summer like sunburns and triple-digit temperatures. This time out, the duos tropical love story -- a multiple Tony nominee and the 1991 Olivier Award winner for Best Musical -- is told by Mesa Encore Theatre. A cast of locals will -- hey, jambo jambo! -- sing and dance their way through this island fable of romance between a peasant girl and a rich boy she saves from death.
The production, filled with calypso and reggae rhythms and bursting with archetypal island characters plays at Mesa Arts Centers Nesbitt/Elliott Playhouse.
June 4-5, 7 p.m.; Sun., June 6, 2 p.m.; June 10-12, 7 p.m.; Sun., June 13, 2 p.m., 2010