Dessa Rose

[tazber]

Posted: 7/17/10 at 12:59pm

This has always been a favorite of mine. The cd is an extravagantly packaged hard cover book with the entire show recorded on 2 cds.

Listening to it is always a moving experience for me. The pefromances as recorded are amazing. La Chanze, Norm Lewis, Rachel York, Michael Hayden and Kecia Lewis are superb on cd.

Unfortunately I never saw the brief limited run.

Was wondereing if anyone saw it and if so what your thoughts were.

Updated On: 7/17/10 at 12:59 PM

[Q]

Posted: 7/17/10 at 1:06pm

We saw it, and thought it was beautiful. Touching story, very well acted and directed. La Chanze and York had great chemistry together - it seemed obvious that they trusted each other completely on stage.

In the midst of all those wonderful voices, I distinctly remember being blown back into my seat by Eric Jordan Young - jaw-dropping presense and voice.

[tazber]

Posted: 7/17/10 at 1:21pm

He plays Cain, right?
I play his song "Old Banjar" on repeat just to hear that voice. I wish he had a larger part.

How did having the older verions of Dessa and Ruth narrate work? The one thing I can't get a hold on is how they switched from older to younger so quickly, technically speaking.

And "Twelve Children" is one of the most stirring songs I have ever heard.

Updated On: 7/17/10 at 01:21 PM

[Q]

Posted: 7/17/10 at 1:31pm

I had to drag out the Playbill to find the names - Eric was also Philip and a Field Hand, but it's as Kaine that his simging is featured most prominently.

And the narration worked fine, mostly because of the strength of the two performers - not confusing at all. Essentially, it was handled like Salieri in AMADEUS - minimal outer change, and let the actors do their stuff. Ms. York was very effective in this, but La Chanze was almost frightening in her transformation!

[Mildred Plotka]

Posted: 7/17/10 at 8:26pm

Most beautiful CD packaging I've seen.

That being said: I thought the show had great potential but missed the mark. Having the 2 main women switch from young to old throughout got tiresome very quickly. Also showing them older told tells the audience that the 2 survived and the suspense is killed since you know from the start that everything turned out all right. I also thought Graciela Daniele's staging was a bore. Some good songs though.

[newintown]

Posted: 7/19/10 at 10:24am

I saw it with a few friends, and we all found it to be a total bore. The narration lets you know from the beginning that the women will both survive into old age, killing any suspense that could have been created. (Narration is the laziest, most amateur form of story-telling in the theatre, resorted to by writers who lack the skill to dramatize a story.)

The conceit of them going from the past to being old ladies in the present was so laughable that we got the giggles after awhile each time they would revert to their hammy, sketch-comedy old lady voices. There was something very odd about Michael Hayden's voice; after discussion, we agreed that his placement makes him sound like a hive of buzzing bees.

I rarely agree with Isherwood, but his evaluation of Dessa Rose as "a long, dreary sermon in song" is perfect. It was one of those shows that goes in one ear and out the other - I can remember very few specifics, even after a relatively short time, unlike the two good musicals from that season, Light In The Piazza and 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, both of which live on vividly in my memory.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 7/19/10 at 11:31am

Mildred and newintown pretty much said it perfectly.

Some of the songs were good. Some were lame, like the ending of Act 1 where Dessa has to name all 6 zillion of her brothers and sisters by name...several times.

[Q]

Posted: 7/19/10 at 12:04pm

Obviously, I have a high tolerance for bad theater

[tazber]

Posted: 7/19/10 at 12:17pm

It plays better on cd where the switching from young to old is not so distracting I guess.

[Brick]

Posted: 7/19/10 at 12:36pm

Some lovely music, with an awful book.

[darquegk]

Posted: 7/19/10 at 12:58pm

Narration works best when it functions sort of as a Greek chorus or doesn't need to push the plot along... or when the narrator is almost entirely auxilary and is making his own comments, not the audience's, on the events of the play.

[AC126748]

Posted: 7/19/10 at 1:44pm

A great score, but NewInTown hits the nail on the head. It was a crushing bore in the theatre. However, had it played on Broadway, I think Rachel York would have given Victoria Clark a run for her Tony money.

[lovesclassics]

Posted: 7/19/10 at 3:22pm

I wasn't bored at all. I was quite moved by it. The narration worked for me because I bought into it as oral history/storytelling with the old women passing down the tale to their grandchildren.

I thought LaChanze and York (especially York) handled the split second transformations from old to young beautifully. I found it quite haunting and powerful.

I didn't feel the story was ruined by knowing they survived. Their survival wasn't the point of the story. It was more about the way they developed as women and the way their friendship grew.

It's one of my favorite cast albums.

[newintown]

Posted: 7/19/10 at 3:29pm

Ah, lovesclassics, if only there were 100,000 or so more like you, the show might have had a commercial run.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 7/19/10 at 3:37pm

For those of you who never saw it, my memory is a bit faulty, but the end of Act 1 was really anti-climactic and went something like this:

My momma had 12 children and their names were
Horndog, Milkshake, Sally Mae, Elvira, Succotash, Emmerdale, Pitney, Guernsey June, Homily, Fayetta, Libby Lou...AND DESSA ROSE

My momma loved all 12 children and their names were
Horndog, Milkshake, Sally Mae, Elvira, Succotash, Emmerdale, Pitney, Guernsey June, Homily, Fayetta, Libby Lou...AND DESSA ROSE

My momma had to go out to work in the field to support
Horndog, Milkshake, Sally Mae, Elvira, Succotash, Emmerdale, Pitney, Guernsey June, Homily, Fayetta, Libby Lou...AND DESSA ROSE

My momma died young and those who came to her funeral were
Horndog, Milkshake, Sally Mae, Elvira, Succotash, Emmerdale, Pitney, Guernsey June, Homily, Fayetta, Libby Lou...AND DESSA ROSE

That pretty much sums up how Act 1 ended. And they expected us to come back for Act 2?

[lovesclassics]

Posted: 7/19/10 at 3:41pm

LOL newintown. That's why I don't invest in shows.

Well, that and the fact that I have no money...