Adapted by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty from the book by Sherley Ann Williams
At: Apple Tree Theatre, 595 Elmwood Place, Highland Park
Contact: ( 847 ) 432-4335
Runs through: Dec. 31
By Catey Sullivan
This season, Apple Tree Theatre has left the candy cane and mistletoe musicals to larger theaters. Instead, the Highland Park venue ventures into deep, risky waters with the story of a slave rebellion and the extraordinary woman at the heart of it
Dessa Rose is both harrowing and exultant —audiences aren't spared the horrific events that lead the title character to mass murder in 1847 Alabama.
But after the rape, the torture and the explosion of rage and vengeance they wreak, Dessa Rose becomes a story of determined survival and, ultimately, joy.
This stark contrast between the forces that condemn a life as a brutal hell and affirm it as an adventure riddled with joy create riveting tension in Dessa Rose, as evil and compassion slam into each other again and again.
As told by Lynn Ahrens ( book, lyrics ) and Stephen Flaherty ( music ) , the story of Dessa Rose has echoes of Nat Turner, the preacher and slave who led an 1831 rebellion in Virginia. There are small but telling details that recall the Virginia uprising: Nat Turner's closest confidante was a slave named Hark. In Dessa Rose, a slave named Harker plays a key role. There are louder echoes of Nat Turner as well. In one stabbing lyric, Dessa recalls the murder of her lover and sings, 'I killed them white men same as master killed Kane. Because I can. I killed as many as I could."
Such bone-deep, bitter rage borne of absolute oppression and frustration permeates the character William Styron vividly drew in 'The Confessions of Nat Turner," an exhaustively researched novel that delves and imagines the life of the title character from birth to death.
In Karla Beard, director Mark E. Lococo has an actor with the uncompromising intensity and the magnificent voice the character of Dessa Rose demands. Dessa is barely 16 when we meet her, luminous and in love. Beard captures the innocence of first love, and the absolute glow of a young woman thrilled to learn she is pregnant. The story calls for Dessa to change from a woman brimming with youthful exuberance to a shell of near-catatonic grief in the space of a few, short scenes. Beard manages that and more, as Dessa continues to evolve as forces far greater than a single, 16-year-old hammer at her life.
Dessa is a character strong and layered enough to propel the story by herself, but the musical—based on the book by Sherley Anne Williams—mines the lives two other deeply memorable people as well.
Sean Allan Krill plays Adam Nehemiah, a smarmy, self-important writer who becomes obsessed with Dessa. In him, we see a dark, self-loathing soul pushed to madness and disbelieving rage when he realizes that Dessa doesn't see him as a friend and savior and that he—a privileged white man—isn't going to get what he wants from her. Krill, too often stuck in bland romantic leads, is a revelation here, displaying mesmerizing depth. His final scene is an indelible portrait of righteousness stripped away to reveal fanaticism and self-destruction fueled by sexual desire.
As Ruth, a woman whose plantation becomes a haven for escaped slaves, Susan Moniz does a credible job. Raised in southern belle privilege, Ruth's realization that she knew absolutely nothing about the 'Mammy' she claimed to love provides a key moment in the drama.
As for the music here, it's a rich and complex mix of aching ballads and blazing anthems steeped in call-and-response gospel traditions, as well as rhythmic, percussive wonders rooted in Africa.