Were Critics Moved by Ahrens & Flaherty's Dessa Rose?

Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty the duo behind the Broadway musicals Once On This Island, Ragtime and Seussical are back at Lincoln Center's Mitzi E. Newhouse Theatre, where their tuner A Man of No Importance played during the 2002-2003 season. This time they bring Dessa Rose, based on a novel by Sherley Ann Williams, and starring LaChanze and Rachel York. The tuner, directed by Graciela Daniele, opened off-Broadway on March 21. Were critics moved by this tale of an escaped slave and the woman who keeps her safe?

Here is a sampling of what they had to say:

Edward Karam in his Broadway.com Review: "Since it's unlikely that anyone in a New York audience believes forced servitude was a good thing, there's a lack of urgency to the first half that may deaden one's interest… The score by turns features recitative, anthems and some effective ballads… But the closing Act I number, a recitation of Dessa Rose's siblings, dead and sold, comes off as a tiresome Biblical list of begats. Unfortunately, much of the show is desperately downbeat because slaves didn't have a lot of fun… The cast is nevertheless exemplary… Dessa Rose doesn't come close to balancing that show's difficult subject matter with exuberant spirits. Instead, it feels like an overly familiar guilt trip."

Charles Isherwood of The New York Times: "An earnest, inert musical about the unlikely friendship forged between a white woman and an escaped slave in the South in the 1840s, it's a long, dreary sermon in song. Dessa Rose is based on the novel of the same name by Sherley Anne Williams. Its episodic structure and mixture of narrative voices should have tossed up a few red flags. Ms. Ahrens, more experienced and more gifted as a lyricist than as a book writer, is plainly not up to the tough task of shaping the material into feasible theatrical form."

Howard Kissel of The New York Daily News: "Ahrens and Flaherty's score aims for a folklike simplicity but achieves only monotony. It is, however, strikingly orchestrated by William David Brohn and Christopher Jahnke. It's sad that the material is so thin because Lincoln Center Theater has assembled a splendid cast, headed by LaChanze and Rachel York as the runaway slave and her white benefactress. Norm Lewis plays another enterprising runaway. Under Graciela Daniele's direction they all work earnestly and hard, but Dessa Rose, with its reduction of history to romantic fiction, only irritates."

David Rooney of Variety: "Despite the moving peaks of the two women's experiences, Dessa Rose remains largely a character study whose deeper resonance is dulled by its enslavement more to the storytelling process than the story itself… The device of having both characters narrate the story as old women is overused, often becoming talky and intrusive. This is aggravated by the actresses' tendency to caricature their roles as seniors, particularly LaChanze, who seems to be aiming for something akin to Cicely Tyson in The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman but comes off as hammy… Notwithstanding that this may be less than ideal material for a musical, there are many rewards in the story of these proud, independent-minded women, played with grit and conviction by LaChanze and York."

Michael Kuchwara of The Associated Press: "Dessa Rose is an earnest musical, heartfelt in song, but burdened with a complicated, often murky story that doesn't come into focus until the second act… Dessa Rose is played by La Chanze, a disarming actress who has a powerful voice and the ability to command a stage. Ruth is portrayed by Rachel York, who sings with sweetness, but who must battle against her character's pinched, often unpleasant personality."

Linda Winer of Newsday: "Alas, Dessa Rose is more earnest than compelling, more admirable as good cause than urgent theater. Composer Stephen Flaherty and lyricist-adapter Lynn Ahrens Ragtime are in their chameleonic cultural-tourism mode, creating clean, ersatz-black music with craft and good taste. Graciela Daniele's plain-wood production designed by Loy Arcenas is handsome, poetic and resourceful. The results are very pretty and pretty deadly."