There is a certain vision that comes with conjuring up an image of America during the early 1900s. It was a time of prosperity, about to start one of the most revolutionary centuries in the country's brief history - only they didn't know it. Who are they exactly? It's anyone who arrives at Musical Theater West's production of the musical Ragtime and sees the curtain, designed like the Statue of Liberty, and feels inspired. The people who are about to wander the stage may not get along or come from similar backgrounds, and yet their journeys all share one thing in common: the quest for freedom. Without a conventional protagonist in sight, the story takes the audience on a journey, deconstructing the idea of America being a simpler, friendlier place in favor of one that's more honest and with a catchy songbook full of undeniable standards. What follows is a story that may be over 100 years old now, but it's one that feels way too relevant still to ignore.
The story starts simply enough with the prologue "Ragtime." A group of dandies dressed gorgeously in white suits and dresses sings about how great America is. It's a dreamlike description. Nothing can go wrong until the song comically begins the ravaging discomfort of the supporting cast. Over the course of 10 minutes, the stage slowly becomes cramped as the dandies circle everyone from blacks to immigrants to even the deviants like Evelyn Nesbitt (Monica Ricketts) and Harry Houdini (Lance Galgon) who are known publicly for their infidelities. With no more than a stage, over 30 characters are given moments to state their case to the audience, doing their best to make this crowded show sensible. It's a credit to Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens' music that it all works. Even if everyone's name isn't known, there's already this sense of familiarity that makes everything going forward more accessible. It also helps that in the small but powerful choreography that the dandies circling the stage in discomfort already reflects the tensions that are about to rise. For a song presented in the appropriate big band swing style, it hides a lot of dark insecurity that will continue to be subverted for the rest of the show.
To chronicle events from here would be a fool's errand, as it spends time growing intimate with every story. In the span of a scene, Ragtime goes from watching Father (Michael Scott Harris) leaving for an Antarctic voyage while Tateh (Gary Patent) sentimentally sings of his boat ride to America, to the vaudeville courtroom scene of Nesbitt standing trial for murdering her husband while riding a swing and yelling "Whee!" (a delightful, higher-pitched catchphrase that will reappear in almost every one of her scenes). The tone is all over the place because of this, managing to reflect one man's joy before sidetracking to another's misery, most notably Coalhouse Walker Jr.'s (Terron Brooks) complicated romance. What's more incredible however is that it all works. There's enough air between each scene that the transition is flawless. Sometimes it has a mirroring effect, showing how Coalhouse came into possession of his car following a rousing factory-like song about Henry Ford (David Kirk Grant). So much exists within the stage that it's a miracle that it works so well.
The world of Ragtime is crowded, and it often feels like characters are barging into each other's narratives. This is more of a feature than a bug, as the show creates this tone that America is not one story, but several. The hat trick of making these all come together is a miracle that shines in key moments. While it all seems rambling in Act I, the second half is where the achievement really lies. The establishment has been mostly done and it's time for key plots to take focus, especially regarding Coalhouse's desire for revenge, and Tateh's journey to Atlantic City. The America that was presented as a shiny new thing is now a bit more complicated, with tensions rising and the back half exploring a potential riot that threatens to tear the story into anarchy. Still, it's done everything right to draw the audience in, finding the more direct show tune numbers as moments for characters to bleed their soul to the audience. It's powerful, and most of all it helps to present a message to the audience of how America's conflict has always been there.
Everything about the show feels bigger than it is. Even the lighting feels at times like it overpowers a scene, as lighting creates abrupt blinding for the audience. The shadowing also becomes rather effective, sometimes even creating bars to symbolize characters trapped in their own doing. There's even a moment meant to depict shooting a film with the overhead lights flickering as actors move in rugged patterns. The stage, mostly designed by a changing digital backdrop, adds to the atmosphere and allows every square inch of the stage to feel used. If one is bored of the foreground, they merely need to shift attention to the back, where the artful design becomes inspiring. The epilogue is easily the most striking, as actors more in silhouette along the back, with few jumping out to add a button to their personal journeys. In that way, it showed how every character is American, following the same line in their own strange ways while looking for something greater to be happy for.
Of course, some stories may feel undercooked depending on which becomes your favorite. With a lot of emphasis on the dandies, Tateh, and Coalhouse, everyone else sometimes has no choice but to exist around them. Considering that the show runs for almost three hours, that's not too terrible of a sacrifice, as a faithful adaptation of E.L. Doctorow's even greater book would run twice the length and maybe be a bit more tedious. Then again, one would love to spend more time with these characters because Terrance McNally's book is ripe with personality and style that conjures up a fondness for the audience, making them desire to be there, even among the darker moments that give the show its charming familiarity. The trends and style may be different, but Ragtime's empathy lies in everything that never went away. Scandal, racial tensions, economic struggles, eccentric personalities, and immigration all still remain. For better or worse, this is America and you have to take the greatness with the areas in need of improvement.
By the end of its running time, Musical Theater West's production has put up a convincing case for why this is one of the most essential, most American musicals ever conceived of. It helps that the music is some of the most infectious, making Scott Joplin-style piano work the most popular it's been since The Sting. Even then, it's more than a novelty. It's an exercise in exploring everything that hasn't been considered when looking into the history and thinking that it was a better time simply because everyone dressed nicer. It was far more complicated than that. Sure it was fun, but that's to ignore the controversies and social dynamics that enriched the culture and lead to innovation. As much as this show can be accused of having too many characters or rambles at times, it gets to the heart of its message loud and clear by the end. America is not one person or type of person. Every one of them is needed to make it what it is. Some stories are happy, others tragic, but the quest for a better life brings them all together. The results, at least from the musical's standpoint, does the unthinkable in making it all seem familiar and yet a snapshot of an era growing more bygone by the day.
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