One Thousand White Women

In 1854 Cheyenne Chief Little Wolf asked for 1,000 white women as brides for his warriors in exchange for 1,000 horses. Using this true incident, Fergus lets his imagination go wild and creates a journal of one of his ancestors who became one of those brides in 1875. Laura Hicks renders this imaginative work splendidly. She is vivacious and expressive as May Dodd, who tells the story of her family and her new life with the Cheyenne. Her vocal characterizations, especially of the various immigrant women Dodd encounters, are lively. A work this unusual needs a performance that is versatile and out of the ordinary, both of which has achieved. M.T.F. (c) AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine