#1
Posted: 3/17/05 at 11:06pm
oh.
my.
god.
now seriously kids, get thee to lincoln center right away and see one of the best musicals to be developed. ever. everything about this show is absolutely first rate. i saw it 3/16 at 8pm, and was sitting front row center, and child. it was an experience and more. i had love ahrens and flaherty before this due to ragtime, once on this island, a man of no importance. but this show will cement them as one of america's best musical theatre composition teams. the story i actually really grew to care about. i have to admit that i grew skeptical due to the first line of the show ("we are descended from a long line of women"). i thought, oh no. but by the end of the show i was in tears and i said yes. we are descended. lynn ahrens really really impressed me with the quality of her book. it was very strong, and each and every scene was important. there was nothing that was useless or frivolous. and the dramatic tension at points was scorching, but then there were also points of comic glory. the score. oh the score. stephen flaherty, where do you learn how to do this. the score was PERFECT. the songs perfectly captured the sounds of the era, the feelings of the characters and yet it was simply glorious. really. not a bad word can i say about it. something that really impressed me was the song "terrible" and the percussion instruments played by the slaves, so that the song was in like 5 part a cappella. it was such a joy. other highlights included the opening ("we are descended"), "at the glen", "fly away", "twelve children", "in the bend of my arm" and "white milk and red blood". really i cannot say enough about this score. and the synthesis between the two, the book and the score, just makes this musical all the better. both are extremely strong and when put together make an even stronger musical. the idea at the end when dessa and ruth's relationship is changing for the old comfortable ground of music to fade away into dramatic dialogue scenes worked so well. it was a larger metaphor about the relationship that i fear was lost on some there who might have just thought that flaherty gave up towards the end. i do not believe this was case. i think it was a deliberate statement about the two women and their relationship.
i wish i could talk about every player individually because they were each so amazing and so necessary in this stellar production.
let's start with the lady of the hour: lachanze. i'd seen her as sarah in ragtime and loved her then and loved her even more now. the woman played 16 and 80 like there was no tomorrow, and it was so clear when she was both. i was worried that it would be difficult to tell, but she proved me wrong. she was amazing. and her voice was in full effect. and in a theatre like that, sitting in the front row, to hear it without the aid of the mic was just magic. her delivery of "twelve children" was really great and i just loved her in this role.
rachel york. i was so impressed with her. maybe it's because i'm white, but her character actually called to me more than dessa. and i understood her and empathized with her. i thought ms. york's portrayal was heartbreaking. she went from a nervous, naive girl to a fully strong, individual woman and i believed every moment of her journey. her transfers from 20 to 84 were just as great as lachanze's and while i loved lachanze, i loved ms. york even more, i think mostly to do with how much i related to the character. also, her "at the glen" was indescribalbe it was so good.
something must be said for kecia lewis, who has the funniest moments in the play as dorcas, and yet has one of the most tear jerking songs too in "white milk and red blood"... she was a real standout.
norm lewis (god i love his voice) and michael hayden and eric jordan young were all great, but obviously the show does not belong to the men. but they all were given great songs and scenes and took their characters on nice journeys and i liked where they started and ended.
the set was so minimalistic and that's what i love! let the characters tell the story, not the sets. and the costumes were really period and fabulous. i loved the venue for this show and when all 12 sang together it was a magnificent sound that would bring me to tears out of sheer beauty. if you haven't guessed by now i loved this show and want to see it again and again. my grade is obviously an A+++, and i am steadfastly waiting for the announcement of the cast recording to be made. because it better be or else i'll simply die. but then again it's ahrens and flaherty, and they always get recorded. so i'm waiting. any other questions feel free to ask! AND GO SEE DESSA ROSE! IT IS BRILLIANT. the end.
my.
god.
now seriously kids, get thee to lincoln center right away and see one of the best musicals to be developed. ever. everything about this show is absolutely first rate. i saw it 3/16 at 8pm, and was sitting front row center, and child. it was an experience and more. i had love ahrens and flaherty before this due to ragtime, once on this island, a man of no importance. but this show will cement them as one of america's best musical theatre composition teams. the story i actually really grew to care about. i have to admit that i grew skeptical due to the first line of the show ("we are descended from a long line of women"). i thought, oh no. but by the end of the show i was in tears and i said yes. we are descended. lynn ahrens really really impressed me with the quality of her book. it was very strong, and each and every scene was important. there was nothing that was useless or frivolous. and the dramatic tension at points was scorching, but then there were also points of comic glory. the score. oh the score. stephen flaherty, where do you learn how to do this. the score was PERFECT. the songs perfectly captured the sounds of the era, the feelings of the characters and yet it was simply glorious. really. not a bad word can i say about it. something that really impressed me was the song "terrible" and the percussion instruments played by the slaves, so that the song was in like 5 part a cappella. it was such a joy. other highlights included the opening ("we are descended"), "at the glen", "fly away", "twelve children", "in the bend of my arm" and "white milk and red blood". really i cannot say enough about this score. and the synthesis between the two, the book and the score, just makes this musical all the better. both are extremely strong and when put together make an even stronger musical. the idea at the end when dessa and ruth's relationship is changing for the old comfortable ground of music to fade away into dramatic dialogue scenes worked so well. it was a larger metaphor about the relationship that i fear was lost on some there who might have just thought that flaherty gave up towards the end. i do not believe this was case. i think it was a deliberate statement about the two women and their relationship.
i wish i could talk about every player individually because they were each so amazing and so necessary in this stellar production.
let's start with the lady of the hour: lachanze. i'd seen her as sarah in ragtime and loved her then and loved her even more now. the woman played 16 and 80 like there was no tomorrow, and it was so clear when she was both. i was worried that it would be difficult to tell, but she proved me wrong. she was amazing. and her voice was in full effect. and in a theatre like that, sitting in the front row, to hear it without the aid of the mic was just magic. her delivery of "twelve children" was really great and i just loved her in this role.
rachel york. i was so impressed with her. maybe it's because i'm white, but her character actually called to me more than dessa. and i understood her and empathized with her. i thought ms. york's portrayal was heartbreaking. she went from a nervous, naive girl to a fully strong, individual woman and i believed every moment of her journey. her transfers from 20 to 84 were just as great as lachanze's and while i loved lachanze, i loved ms. york even more, i think mostly to do with how much i related to the character. also, her "at the glen" was indescribalbe it was so good.
something must be said for kecia lewis, who has the funniest moments in the play as dorcas, and yet has one of the most tear jerking songs too in "white milk and red blood"... she was a real standout.
norm lewis (god i love his voice) and michael hayden and eric jordan young were all great, but obviously the show does not belong to the men. but they all were given great songs and scenes and took their characters on nice journeys and i liked where they started and ended.
the set was so minimalistic and that's what i love! let the characters tell the story, not the sets. and the costumes were really period and fabulous. i loved the venue for this show and when all 12 sang together it was a magnificent sound that would bring me to tears out of sheer beauty. if you haven't guessed by now i loved this show and want to see it again and again. my grade is obviously an A+++, and i am steadfastly waiting for the announcement of the cast recording to be made. because it better be or else i'll simply die. but then again it's ahrens and flaherty, and they always get recorded. so i'm waiting. any other questions feel free to ask! AND GO SEE DESSA ROSE! IT IS BRILLIANT. the end.
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