Years in development at Dallas Theater Center, February's world premiere of the musical Stagger Lee, written by DTC playwright-in-residence and Meadows Prize SMU writer Will Power, filled the Wyly Theatre with impressive talent — Cedric Neal (now living in London and starring in West End musicals there), M. Denise Lee, Traci Lee (Denise's daughter), Akron Watson, Major Attaway, Ricky Tripp, DTC company member Hassan El-Amin, power-belter Tiffany Mann, Saycon Sengbloh and Brandon Gill — in a near-epic retelling of factual and mythical black history. Power, who wrote book and lyrics, with music by Justin Ellington, says this is still a work-in-progress. But the lavishly designed and visually stunning production directed by Camille A. Brown, in its debut here, had a thrilling emotional pull. Its powerful take on "black lives matter" made for a wrenching commentary on what's happening in the real world.