Michael Hayden Added to Cast of Musical Dessa Rose

By Robert Simonson
21 Oct 2004

Michael Hayden
Michael Hayden

Michael Hayden, who made his name in the 1994 Lincoln Center revival of Carousel, will return to that theatre to take a part in Dessa Rose, the new musical by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty.

Hayden will play Adam Nehemiah, an author who is writing a book on escaped slaves. The cast includes La Chanze and Rachel York, as previously reported.

Hayden's other LCT credits include Far East and last season's Henry IV.

Dessa Rose will fill the Mitzi E. Newhouse beginning Feb. 17, 2005, and open March 21.

La Chanze will play the title character, a runaway slave. York will play Ruth, the abandoned wife of a white farmer, who formed a bond with Dessa. Donna Murphy played the part in previous readings of the work. York was most recently seen in the Broadway revival of Sly Fox. She is well remembered for her performance as a gangster's moll in Victor/Victoria.

“It's a piece based on a novel called 'Dessa Rose,’” composer Flaherty previously told Playbill On-Line, “and it's set over the course of the 1800s and it's based on two historical women: A runaway slave and a woman who helps her to freedom, and in doing so becomes 'free' herself. The characters get to play themselves at different points in their lives, so La Chanze gets to be an 85-year-old woman and a 15-year-old girl.”

In the past, Lincoln Center Theatre has produced such Ahrens and Flaherty works as My Favorite Year and A Man of No Importance.