Jab Molassie.

Jab Molassie's librettist, Caitlyn Kamminga.

Jab will teach Starboy how to use the book, if Starboy will teach Jab how to play the violin.

Some of the musicians performing in Jab Molassie.

The play's titular character, Jab Jab, is one of the most enduring characters of Trinidad and Tobago Carnival, portraying what is known as devil mas .

Traditional characters also abounded in the form of Sailor Mas', Fancy Indians, Jab Jabs (pretty devils), Jab Molassies (the more menacing kind) and Moko Jumbies.

But will Starboy ever really break free from Jab Molassie?

Roger Roberts as title character Jab Molassie photo by Maria Nunes, used with permission.

Promotional photo for the new indigenous music theatre work, Jab Molassie, premiering in Trinidad and Tobago this week.

GV Dominique, walk us through your composition process for Jab what were you trying to capture through the music?

Most Jab Molassies carry chains and a pitchfork and douse themselves with grease, mud, or red and blue paint.

GV Tell us more about the choice of Patricia Cumper as director. What has she brought to Jab Molassie?

It is not the first time a Jab Jab will grace the Little Carib's stage, but it is the first time that it will do so as one of the main characters in a music theatre production, with an entirely original score created by a Trinidadian composer.

GV What have been some of the challenges and successes of taking Jab from an idea to a full stage production?

Jab Jab's costumes are typically very simple the horns and tail are sculpted out of wire and covered with fabric or plaster of paris.

The doctor offered the child a lollipop. Against expectation the child said he preferred no lollipop and no jab to getting the immunisation and lollipop.

Despite Iñárritu's jab at Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto's government, he and his political party, the PRI, tweeted messages of congratulations from their official accounts

A life size poster of the Hindi film Jab Tak Hai Jaan showing Shah Rukh Khan and Katrina Kaif in one of Kabul s music shops.

Jab Molassie, the Devil in disguise, tricks struggling musician Starboy, convincing him that he can realize his wildest dreams by trading his instrument for a magical book.

Jab Molassie, a new work of music theatre that is a modern, Caribbean take on Stravinsky's nearly century old The Soldier's Tale, premieres this Thursday in Trinidad's capital city.

Global Voices sat down with some of the main players to find out more about the production. Global Voices (GV) Explain what Jab Molassie is and why it is important to Trinidad and Tobago.

In the case of Jab, this has very much been a process of steady growth and change supported at all levels and not necessarily with what is considered the standard level of financial or administrative support.

Many of the Jabs move as small bands of devils, in which some members play the role of imps, restraining the Jab Jabs with chains as they struggle to be free in their wild and wanton dance.

Look out for the second installment of this story, when we'll discuss the ways in which Jab Molassie has benefitted from international collaboration, the challenges of getting from idea to stage, and the future plans for the production.

The Jab Molassie world premiere will take place this Thursday at The Little Carib Theatre in Port of Spain, which was founded by the legendary Trinidadian dancer Beryl McBurnie and has long been a home for the expression and development of indigenous culture.

A group of exceptionally accomplished musicians from all over the world comprise the Jab Molassie orchestra, while the cast boasts some of the best local performers whose strengths include everything you would expect in a work of music theatre singing, dancing, and acting.

Revellers cover themselves in mud, grease, tar, clay, body paint or various combinations thereof and dance in the streets in the wee hours of the morning while Jab Molassies wine (a sexually suggestive dance) to a rhythmic beat that they beat on biscuit tins.

Now, thanks to the Calabash Foundation for the Arts, a non profit created to provide both funding and developmental support for new and original theatrical works in the twin island republic, the Jab Molassie will take to the stage at The Little Carib Theatre, a long standing bastion of artistic integrity in the country.

DLG I don't want to spoil the surprises, but in the main what Jab Molassie does for an audience is that it brings to vivid life so many aspects of our Carnival characters and features of our built and natural landscape through the beautifully simple and poetic set on which the performers relate the story of Starboy.

What is original about this work is the way in which it brings together characters, locations and elements of Trinidad's present with its past through the use of carnival, music design and lighting, all the while remaining a piece that is thoroughly of its time. Natalia Dopwell and Roger Roberts playing the role of the Jab Molassies Nickolai Salcedo as Starboy is between them.