QuaranTune #29: "Mama Will Provide" from Once on This Island

A show tune a day keeps the quarantine blues at bay...

We hope that, despite the current limitations, all the mothers across the country were able to enjoy at least a moment feeling special yesterday. In light of Mother's Day, we've decided to carry on the celebrations and dedicate today's #QuaranTune to all the moms out there. They nurture, they comfort, and they provide. And we were are eternally grateful for them.

"Mama Will Provide" was written by Broadway veterans Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens as part of the score of the 1990 hit musical Once on This Island. Based on Rosa Guy's 1985 novel My Love, My Love; or, The Peasant Girl, the tuner began its life off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons in May 1990, ahead of transfering to Broadway in October of that same year. The first-ever Broadway revival played the Circle in the Square Theatre from November 2017 through January 2019 and was the winner of the 2018 Tony Award for 'Best Revival of a Musical.'

One of the standout performances of that production came from "Glee" star Alex Newell, who took on the role of Asaka, Mother of the Earth, and made an extremely memorable Broadway debut in the process.

Here's a special music video of Alex performing "Mama Will Provide" to lift all our spirits today...

Walk with me, little girl, don't you be afraid. Follow me, little girl, let me be your guide.
(Asaka, Once on This Island)

^{(Photo by Joan Marcus)}