A Review of "Once on This Island," at the Paper Mill Playhouse Jerry Dalia PEASANT GIRL In "Once on This Island" at the Paper Mill Playhouse, Ti Moune, right, played by Syesha Mercado, falls in love with a young man whose life she saved. Most people who have been on vacation in the Caribbean know that the premise behind "Once on This Island," the atmospheric new production at the Paper Mill Playhouse, is based in socioeconomic reality. At many a destination, the taxi drive from the airport takes tourists through the poorer parts of the island, reminding them that the smiling people in crisp uniforms who bring them beach towels, piña coladas and room-service breakfasts in their bougainvillea-draped mini-villas lead daily lives that are a far cry from a five-star resort. ENSEMBLE Ms. Mercado's character dreams of a life with Daniel Beauxhomme, played by Adam Jacobs, who is from the other side of the island. "Once on This Island" is at the Paper Mill Playhouse through June 24. "Once on This Island," a fairy tale with book and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens and music by Stephen Flaherty, begins by explaining a similar but thoroughly local dichotomy on a fictional Antilles isle. One side of the island is inhabited by the people we meet first, who are black and poor. The other side is inhabited by the so-called grands hommes (this is a French-speaking island), who have lighter skin and are rich and comfortable. And one day the twain meet. It is a love story, a more somber take on "The Little Mermaid" with a Greek-myth kind of ending. And it is told by the poor islanders to calm a frightened little girl. Ti Moune (Syesha Mercado in the Paper Mill production) is a peasant girl whose adoptive parents found her perched in a tree after a major storm. As a grown woman, she happens upon a dying man who has been in an automobile accident. Daniel Beauxhomme (Adam Jacobs) is young, handsome and, most important, a grand homme (as his surname suggests). Ti Moune saves his life and nurses him back to health - spends days and nights in his bed, "healing him," as the ensemble explains with a lascivious wink, a nice touch from the director, Thomas Kail. She falls in love and wonders why, if he loves her in return, she cannot live happily ever after as his bride. Clearly, she hasn't read "The Great Gatsby." Ms. Mercado, who placed third on the reality competition show "American Idol" in 2008, has a lovely stage presence and a big, booming voice. So do many of her fellow cast members, who include Darius de Haas as Agwe, the god of water; Alan Mingo Jr. as Papa Ge, the demon of death; and Aurelia Williams as the earth-mother goddess, Asaka. But it is only when Daniel recovers consciousness, returns to his side of the island and sings "Some Girls" to Ti Moune ("You are as wild as that windblown tree/As dark and as deep as the midnight sea") that the production fully comes to life. Until then, the script feels like too much narration and too little action. And sadly, that moment comes quite late in what is only a 90-minute show. "Once on This Island" is based on a 1985 novel, "My Love, My Love: Or, The Peasant Girl," by Rosa Guy, an American author born in Trinidad. The songs that Ms. Ahrens and Mr. Flaherty (a team best known for their Tony Award-winning musical "Ragtime," with a book by Terrence McNally) have added to Ms. Guy's story sometimes have a Caribbean lilt, but just as often they are simply pleasantly melodic Broadway show tunes that run to the anthemic. The show opened at Playwrights Horizons in New York in 1990 and moved to Broadway later that year, directed and choreographed by Graciela Daniele. In general, Bradley Rapier's choreography for the Paper Mill production is graceful and confident, but the standout number, Ti Moune's dance at the grands hommes" party, is sensual, wild, joyous and African. Donyale Werle's attractive scenic design begins with a stage-size screen that often acts as sea and sky and adds rustically stylized palms and shanties on one side of the island and golden, wooden structures for the luxurious hotel on the other side, where Daniel and his family live. From the first storm to the magical ending, Kenneth Posner's lighting design is good-looking, moody and tropical. Jessica Jahn's costume design is just Caribbean enough, with lots of crinkled cotton in white and soft, fruity pastels. There are some nice aspects to this production. It is impressive, for instance, how seamlessly members of the ensemble transform themselves from understanding gods to apathetic peasants to grands hommes (with little more than Carnival masks and sashes). But much of "Once on This Island" is a soothing children's bedtime story. And most grown-up audiences probably aren't looking for that. "Once on This Island," by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty, is at the Paper Mill Playhouse, 22 Brookside Drive, Millburn, through June 24. Information: (973) 376-4343 or papermill.org.