WERS 88.9 fm - Artist Interview: Dessa Rose

   Lynn Ahrens’s and Stephen Flaherty’s musical Dessa Rose is not the typical musical filled with happy-go-lucky song and dance. A much more serious tone is captured in the telling of the story of Dessa Rose, a pregnant runaway slave. The New Repertory Theatre in Watertown is putting on Dessa Rose from April 22nd to May 18th, and in promotion of the musical some of the cast members from Dessa Rose were on WERS’s Standing Room Only. While in studio they sang the numbers “At the Glenn,” “12 Children,” and “White Milk and Red Blood.”   

Leigh Barrett plays the role of Ruth, the woman who takes Dessa Rose in. "It's been a really really interesting process; it's an incredibly tough subject," said Barrett. There is a whole lot of white guilt, and that's unavoidable... so the beginning of the rehearsal process was really really difficult, but it's been a fantastic process.”    Many people would think a musical dealing with the topic of slavery would come off very preachy and heavy handed. Barrett had these comments about what she hoped the audience would come away from Dessa Rose with: “I hope they don't feel that we are preaching at them. That's really important, because it's a long night to be sitting there feeling like you're being taught a lesson. I want them to understand that everyone has a story, that things aren't always what they seem. We're all a product of where we come from and how we were brought up. As simple as it is, we are all human beings on this planet. Whoever we are we need to help each other out.”   

Dessa Rose was adapted from a novel by the same name, so it may have seemed more logical for it to be turned into a play, instead of a musical. However there is something that music can do that words can, and Barrett touched on this sentiment: “What words can't often do for us, music can. Sometimes the word you can't connect to, but what connects you to the words is the music underneath that. That can tell you how you're supposed to feel.” 

Dessa Rose is without a doubt a very emotionally charged musical, that at the same time addresses a very important subject matter.

www.newrep.org