Original Cast Recording: Dessa Rose, 2CD

Based upon the lives of two real women living in the antebellum Deep South, Dessa Rose explores the fictional meeting of these women and the impact they have on each other. Dessa Rose (LaChanze) is a pregnant slave condemned to death after leading an uprising. Her captors, choosing not to destroy "perfectly good property," delay her sentence and keep Dessa imprisoned until she gives birth. As she awaits her hanging, Dessa is interviewed by Adam Nehemiah (Michael Hayden, of LCT's Henry IV, Far East, and Carousel), who is writing a book on slave rebellions.

Ruth Sutton (Rachel York) is a white woman abandoned by her slave-owner husband on an isolated farm in Northern Alabama. When Dessa and her companions escape, they make their way to Ruth, who has begun to provide sanctuary to fugitive slaves. Initially distrustful of each other, Dessa and Ruth form an unsteady alliance after a bold scheme is devised to win the slaves' freedom by fleeing to the West. Through hardship and humor, the two women slowly become united, discovering greater strength by being together than by being alone.

Dessa Rose, perhaps Ahrens and Flaherty's most ambitious musical to date, is almost entirely sung through. The score and its extended musical themes reveal the rarely told story of the strong-willed American women from whom our country derives much of its strength, character, and identity. The authors have structured Dessa Rose as an oral history being passed down from Dessa Rose and Ruth to their children and grandchildren.

TRACK LISTING

DISC ONE

We Are Descended - LaChanze, Rachel York, Company
Comin' Down The Quarters - LaChanze, Eric Jordon Young, Company
Ol' Banjar - Eric Jordan Young
Oh Slavery Didn't Do Away - Rachel York, LaChanze, Eric Jordan Young, Tina Fabrique
Something Of My Own - LaChanze
Watch You Step, Mr Nehemiah - Michael Hayden, David Hess
Ink - Michael Hayden, LaChanze
Hey...Hey... - LaChanze, Eric Jordan Young, William Perry, Tina Fabrique
You Had No Call To Break That - Eric Jordan Young, LaChanze, William Parry
Why You Kill Him - Company
The Gold Band - Norm Lewis, Rachel York, LaChanze, Tina Fabrique, Company
See Them Stars - Norm Lewis, LaChanze
Little Stars - Norm Lewis, James Stovall, LaChanze
Hey, Pretty Girl - David Hess, LaChanze, Company
The Gold Band (reprise) - LaChanze, Company
Ladies - Rebecca Eichenberger, Kacia Lewis
Bertie's Waltz - Rachel York, David Hess
At The Glen - Rachel York
Good Afternoon, Odessa - LaChanze, Michael Hayden
Observations On The Famed Devil Woman - Michael Hayden
Capture The Girl - Michael Hayden, LaChanze
Janet? Phillip? - Rachel York
The People On Her Place - LaChanze, Rachel York
Miss We Was Only - Norm Lewis, Rachel York, LaChanze
Fly Away - LaChanze, Michael Hayden, Rebecca Eichenberger, Rachel York, Company
That's The First Time - Michael Hayden, LaChanze
I'm Sorry, Master - Kacia Lewis, Michael Hayden
Fly Away (conclusion) - LaChanze, Norm Lewis, Kacia Lewis, Company
Dessa Rose Escapes - Michael Hayden
Terrible - Michael Hayden, Kacia Lewis, LaChanze, Rachel York, Norm Lewis, James Stovall
Mmm...Hmm - Rachel York, LaChanze
Obstinate Little Fool - Rachel York
Their Eyes Are Clear, Blue Like Sky - Tina Fabrique, Rachel York, LaChanze
This Baby Don't Need No Name - LaChanze, Rachel York
Twelve Children - LaChanze
DISC TWO
Noah's Dove - Norm Lewis, Rachel York, LaChanze, Men
Through Talking To Nathan - LaChanze, Norm Lewis
Why Y'all Call Her Devil Woman? - Rachel York, Norm Lewis
It Was Then I Knew - Rachel York
Fly Away (reprise) - Kacia Lewis, Norm Lewis, James Stovall, Soara-Joye Ross, Company
Ah, Look Here! - Norm Lewis, LaChanze, James Stovall, Rachel York, Soara-Joye Ross, Kacia Lewis, Tina Fabrique
The Scheme - Norm Lewis, James Stovall, Company
Nathan Thinks We Might Could - James Stovall, Norm Lewis, Company
Why Miz Ruth - Norm Lewis, Rachel York
In The Bend Of My Arm - LaChanze, Rachel York, Eric Jordan Young, Norm Lewis
Miz...Nathan! Nathan... - LaChanze
Better If I Died - Rachel York, LaChanze, Norm Lewis, Company
Ten Petticoats - Rebecca Eichenberger, Kacia Lewis
We Organized To Go - Norm Lewis, Company, LaChanze, Rachel York
Just Over The Line - Rachel York, LaChanze, Norm Lewis, Company
Now Things Was Going - LaChanze, Rachel York, William Parry
A Pleasure - Rachel York, William Parry, LaChanze
That, Mr Oscar Is... - Rachel York, LaChanze
Not If You Tongue Gets Loose... - LaChanze, Rachel York
I Understood - LaChanze
White Milk, Red Blood - Kacia Lewis, Rachel York
They Tell You About The Gloried South - LaChanze
Anna, I Swear You Are As Slow.. - Rachel York, LaChanze
It Was Just Like Her - LaChanze, Michael Hayden, David Hess
Master, Master - LaChanze, Michael Hayden, David Hess
'S'caped - David Hess, Michael Hayden, LaChanze, Rachel York
I Don't Want Your Money Child - Tina Fabrique, LaChanze
Sheriff, This Girl Ain't Got... - Tina Fabrique, Michael Hayden, David Hess
Sheriff, I Got... - Michael Hayden, David Hess
Master, Master... - Michael Hayden, Rachel York, David Hess
Mistriss, I... - Rachel York, LaChanze
Epilogue: We Are Descended - LaChanze, Rachel York, Soara-Joye Ross, Company
Exit Music - David Holcenberg