Goodspeed Musicals is presenting Ragtime through June 15, and of all the terrific musicals I have seen there, this is one of the finest in every way. Set at the turn of the 20th century, the choice of this piece itself couldn’t be timelier. Based on E.L. Doctorow’s best-selling novel from 1975, then, as now, this country was in a political uproar. The novel and the musical use three braided plots to explore the often painfully frustrated search for fulfillment in America.
The first plot involves an upper-class family that, at the outset, is conventionally content. Over the course of the play, Mother, Father, their young son, and Mother’s Younger Brother, as a group and as individuals, gradually experience the foundering of their comfortable New Rochelle life.
Next, we travel to Harlem, where we meet Coalhouse Walker Jr., a brilliant Black musician. Coalhouse Walker Jr. carries himself as a wealthy, educated man and expects everyone he meets to treat him as such, no matter their class or race. Since Sarah, the woman who loves him, has no special artistic talent, she struggles even more hopelessly for acceptance. Their love story is the emotional heart of the musical.
Finally, Tateh, a Latvian Jew, is one of the many unwelcome immigrants who are flocking to an America that will, more likely than not, hurt and disappoint them. Tateh, though, like Coalhouse Walker Jr., has talent and imagination. Yet a comparison of the two men’s fates shows us that skin color alone can mark the difference between success and doom.
In smaller but significant roles, Ragtime also includes real historical people of the era: Emma Goldman, Henry Ford, Evelyn Nesbit, Harry Houdini, Booker T. Washington, and J.P. Morgan. Blair Goldberg, as Emma Goldman, is especially believable and winning.
This show has an enormous cast, and everyone on stage sings and dances with fabulous energy and skill. The principal actor-singers are all remarkable. As Mother, Mamie Parris delineates the growth this character accomplishes in the face of profound change. As Mother’s Younger Brother, Behr Marshall is both adrift and frighteningly intense. Michael Wordly is a charismatic Coalhouse Walker Jr., but he is explosive when harassed. Brennyn Lark’s Sarah sings beautifully and demonstrates both steadfast love and tremendous courage. As Tateh, David R. Gordon has been directed to play the role with more youthful comedy than I would have expected, but his duet with Mother, “Our Children,” is a highlight of this production. And Sawyer Delaney, as Mother and Father’s Little Boy, is great fun to watch. He is clearly having a grand time, and his oft repeated line “Warn the Duke!” punctuates scenes in a charming, then chilling, way.
The entire design crew does impeccable work here, notably Stephanie Bahniuk’s Costume Design and Tenel Dorsey’s Wig, Hair, and Makeup Design. Emmie Finkel’s Set Design is especially evocative and effective. Huge arches function as the production’s background and summon up images of Ellis Island’s Great Hall. Two stories of iron work are connected by movable stairways. Not only are these architectural elements reminiscent of New York City in the Gilded Age, but they also keep the transitions, of which there are many, remarkably smooth and dramatic.
Terrence McNally wrote the touching and, at times, unbearably disturbing, book, and Stephen Flaherty (music) with Lynn Ahrens (lyrics) found a way to capture deeply complicated ideas in song. Christopher D. Betts is the masterly director at Goodspeed, supported by Adam Souza’s grand music direction and Sara Edwards’ spectacular choreography.
When the original production opened on Broadway in 1998, critical reception was mixed, with several critics objecting to the element of spectacle that, as they saw it, overshadowed the show’s themes. In the hands of director Betts and his onstage and offstage collaborators, this version could not be called a spectacle; instead, the production foregrounds Ragtime’s family dynamics, intellectual complexity, and disturbingly familiar social turmoil.
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