Dessa Rose, by Lynn Ahrens (book and lyrics) and Stephen Flaherty (music), is a well-meaning musical about love and slavery. It starts in 1847 when a sixteen-year-old, pregnant slave takes part in a minor slave uprising. The story feels trite and quite melodramatic, as bad Massa kills a slave and sells young Dessa. The singing is terrific - LaChanze as Dessa, Norm Lewis, Kecia Lewis, and all the rest of the ensemble - but there is little joy in the show, which often feels like a Greek drama, with most of the action talked or sung about. There is an uplift during her escape with percussion on glass, metal, wood and drum, and director Graciela Daniele has thrown in whatever movement invention she could throughout, which helps a lot.
The set, by Loy Arcenas, imaginatively evokes the time, and costumes by Toni-Leslie James and lighting by Jules Fisher and Peggy Eisenhauer do enhance the proceedings. You want to hear some really fine voices? Here they are. But basically the show, despite its noble ambitions, is only mildly entertaining and doesn't educate us beyond what we already know.
