Ragtime
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Yount
Photo by Katrina Rennells
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By Ben Miles
It is a nation in turmoil at the start of a new century. Issues of immigration, an immense and growing gap between those who have and those who have not, cultural chasms in the arts, rapid technological changes, and terrorism are all topics of the day. Though these are headlines likely to be found in current editions of Time Magazine or US News & World Report, they are also subjects broached in E.L. Doctorow's epic 1975 novel, Ragtime.
In 1996, Terrence McNally brilliantly reconfigured Doctorow's rich conceit so as to make a stage-play of it. Adding a luminous composition by Stephen Flahtery (music) and Lynn Ahrens (lyrics), Ragtime was at last transformed into the grand musical it seems destined to have become. For those who've had the good fortune of seeing other incarnations of this show (Ragtime had a long run at the now defunct Shubert Theatre in L.A. during the late 1990s, as well as a couple of recent civic light opera revivals locally) it is perhaps difficult picturing this lavish and complex theatrical event in anything other than a large to huge performance venue. Now, however, and for the first time in its production history (including 834 Broadway performances), Ragtime is playing on an intimate stage, at the Hudson Backstage Theatre (presented by Musical Theatre of Los Angeles), in Hollywood.
Thanks to Zeke Rettman's meticulous direction and Stephanie Simpson's exuberant, but contained, choreography, this Ragtime is an appropriately in-your-face iteration of a story that is as emotionally cathartic as it is visually and aurally stimulating. While we marvel at Oscar Arevalo, Carl Ruoff, and Rettman's compact scenic creations, Fernando Vasquez's sound design still needs tweaking.
With 18 scenes in two acts, Ragtime offers over 30 enthralling and often haunting songs (Greg Haake conducts a lively 7 piece orchestra), and delivers us to the 1906 intersection--collision?--of a trio of tribal Americana. Mother and Father (Megan Johnson Briones, wonderful; Joe Montgomery, moving) are representative of the white bourgeoisie of the U.S.A. Tateh (an intense yet affable Jon Jon Briones), is a single-parent immigrant from Eastern Europe seeking to make an American life as a sketch-artist. Coalhouse Walker, Jr. is a black piano player who specializes in ragtime tunes. He's in love with the ill-fated Sarah (the tenderly vulnerable Rachae Thomas).
The staging, nearly three-hours long, remains absorbing and affecting in a manner that transcends typical musical theater fare. We encounter historic figures such as Brooker T. Washington (a formidable David Edward Perry), Emma Goldman (an accomplished Amy K. Murray), Harry Houdini (Eduardo Enrikez won't escape your eye in this dashing performance), J.P. Morgan (the credible Doug Gabrielle), Henry Ford (a convincing James Petrillo), and, the "it" girl of the '00 era, Evelyn Nesbitt (Josie Yount in full-feminine resonance). All this sets the context for an invaluable snapshot of recent American history. Surprisingly or not, the past here is portrayed as prologue. As the lyric of the title song says"…it was the music of something beginning, an era exploding, a century spinning in riches and rags and in rhythm and rhyme. The people called it Ragtime." Does this sound familiar? It's the same old song, only in this century it's being sung to a slightly different tune.
Ragtime continues at the Hudson Backstage Theatre--6539 Santa Monica Boulevard, Hollywood--through October 5. Performances are Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. Sunday show-time is at 2p.m. For reservations, dial (323) 960 - 1055. For online ticketing, visit www.plays411.com/ragtime.
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