Dessa Rose March 25 Performance
Ahrens and Flaherty really gave a solid effort to this show, I’ll give them that, but the show as a whole just has too many faults. The show is too earnest and has this “You go girl” attitude to it that really hurts the show as a whole. I adore Ahrens and Flaherty’s work, but I believe they were doomed from the start on this show for two reasons: 1) They picked a source material that did not benefit from being “musicalised” and 2) They really should have someone else write their books. Whenever they bring in another person to write the books for them (ie. Terrance McNally for
Ragtime and
A Man of No Importance, which are both brilliant) their work just ends up being so much stronger. The story is just trying SO hard to be inspirational and uplifting that it, at times, seems
almost corny. But a lot of that, I would think, stems from the source material.
The book is in desperate need of tightening and tweaking and had some absurd elements to it. The whole “scheme” of going from town-to-town and faking slave auctions just could not have been done. It was ludicrous and undermined the rest of the story. And I also found the entire method of “switching to old women” to narrate the story was not needed. I was waiting for it to materialize into something more than it was, but it never did and made the whole thing seem pointless. Rachel York and LaChanze did a fantastic job of transitioning between old and young, but the transition was not needed.
The score was, for the most part, glorious. Ahrens and Flaherty are one of my favorite composer/lyricist teams, and they do not disappoint here. The score does have its weak spots, but, for the most part, it is soulful and lush with fine dramatic elements. The Ahrens/Flaherty trademarked twenty-minute or so opening number works extremely well, and is very moving, but I’m afraid that the show never again hits heights like it does in the score’s beginning. Ahrens and Flaherty write some the best opening numbers, and I love them for it. The score does have many hints of
Ragtime in it, which I am sure were completely unintentional, and I thought that I heard the opening of ‘Crime of the Century’ three or four times throughout the evening.
There are some songs that seem kind of out of place in the show. Norm Lewis’ Act II number, (I think it is called ‘The Scheme,’ but I left my Playbill in the taxi so I could be wrong), is a fine number in its own right (the absurdness of the “scheme” aside), but musically it doesn’t mesh with the rest of the score.
There is a fantastic moment in the show when all of the field hands start a lively percussion song using various objects on the stage such as chains and buckets.
The performers all do amazingly well with the weak book, and sing the score with true power and emotion. LaChanze was fantastic as the title character, though her voice did seem a little hoarse at certain times, but overall it was vocally powerful with fine acting. She really bares her soul in this role, and plays it beautifully.
Rachel York has moments where she soars, and her acting is mostly superb, but, compared to the rest of the cast, her voice was rather weak. But she plays the role with just the right amount of vitality and angst. The role was a hard one to play, and she succeeds here.
The two standouts in the supporting cast are Norm Lewis and Kecia Lewis. Both are fine actors, and possess powerhouse voices. Miss Lewis had many hysterical moments, and many tender ones, and my attention would perk up anytime she was on stage. She was marvelous, and I am now a big fan of the two of them.
Ahrens and Flaherty write some the best “classic” modern musical theatre scores, but they need to just pick better source material and bring in McNally or someone else to write the books. Then they may get another masterpiece like their brilliant
Ragtime.
Dessa Rose was a noble effort, but it just cannot soar with all of the weight holding it down.
"One no longer loves one's insight enough once one communicates it."
The opposite of creation isn't war, it's stagnation.
Updated On: 3/28/05 at 07:03 PM
