I wasn’t expecting the goat in diapers.

Nor did I arrive at Circle in the Square the other night anticipating the panorama of village folk barbecuing on the beach, fishing in the lagoon and going about their daily business in a joyful preshow panorama on the theater’s lozenge-shaped stage.

Had the show never started, I would have been quite content.

But then it did, and all I can say is that after a dismal theatrical fall, in which even the highlights seemed ashen, what a delight it is to enter the world of “Once on This Island.” The musical, first seen on Broadway in 1990, opened on Sunday in a ravishing revival directed by Michael Arden.

You may not know that name, though if you saw Mr. Arden’s reformulated “Spring Awakening” for Deaf West Theater in 2015, you’d remember his signature. It’s a big signature, maximally decorative and triply underlined.