Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Theater Review: Ragtime

Quentin Earl Darrington and cast
(Photo: Joan Marcus)


A Feast for the Eyes and Ears
By Lauren Yarger
With its beautiful score (Stephen Flattery), grand, elegant set (Derek McLane, design), lovely turn of the century costumes (Santo Loquasto) and issues like racism, immigration and the economy that could be ripped from today’s headlines, the timing for Broadway’s revival of Ragtime seems just right.

Director and choreographer Marcia Milgrom Dodge has found just the right blend of the issues, sights, sounds and movement for one very enjoyable night at the theater. It’s lovely to hear the Flattery score with lyrics by Lynn Ahrens and classics like “New Music,” “Your Daddy’s Son” and “The Wheels of a Dream” sung by such excellent voices.

Christiane Noll is Mother, who puts up with Father (Ron Bohmer) who goes off on explorations, leaving her to cope alone with her son (an very winsome Christopher Cox) and an African-American baby abandoned in her garden. She cares for the baby as well as his mother, Sarah (Stephanie Umoh). Sarah’s lover, Coalhouse Walker, Jr (a delightfully smooth-voiced Quentin Earl Darrington) finds her and plans a new life for them as a family, but Terrence McNally’s book, based on the E.L. Doctorow novel, is not all song and dance.

Sarah dies and Walker turns to crime when prejudice blocks his quests for justice for her murder. Mother’s brother (Bobby Steggert) joins his cause as well. Meanwhile, a recent immigrant, Tateh (Robert Petkoff) ekes out a living to support himself and his daughter (Sarah Rosenthal) selling silhouettes, then finds success as a director of animated pictures. All of the lives intertwine and affect each other.

The production is grand (applause greets the opening curtain which reveals the gaily attired cast on the three-story set) , with small changes transforming McLane’s functional steel frame into all of the locales, including a home, an immigrant tenement neighborhood and the boardwalk at Atlantic City. Walker’s automobile and the piano he plays also are formed of matching steel-frame design and excellent sound design by Acme Sound Partners makes it sound like the tunes really are coming from the interior-less piano (and makes lifelike the cries coming from the doll used for Sarah’s baby, although it amusingly never seems to grow despite the passage of time).

Some other things feel less real too. Supporting roles for vaudeville star Evelyn Nesbit (Savannah Wise) and escape artist Harry Houdini (Jonathan Hammond) are hammy and are forced. Noll, though she sings like an angel, goes through the motions and doesn’t exude the spark we expect from crusading Mother. The best cameos, on the other hand, come from Donna Migliaccio as union activist Emma Goldman and the little tyke who plays Coalhouse Walker III (the role is shared by Jayden Brockington and Kylil Christopher Williams) who’s so cute, you just want to run up on the stage and hug him.

Overall, Ragtime is a satisfying journey to days gone by and hope for the present. Catch it at the Neil Simon Theatre, 250 West 52nd Street, NYC. For tickets call (212) 307-4100. Special discounted group tickets that support Masterwork Productions are available here. Make sure the religious charity you support is Masterworks.

Christians might also like to know:
• Sex outside of marriage
• Minor language

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Gracewell Prodiuctions

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Our reviews are professional reviews written without a religious bias. At the end of them, you can find a listing of language, content or theological issues that Christians might want to know about when deciding which shows to see.

** Mature indicates that the show has posted an advisory because of content. Usually this means I would recommend no one under the age of 16 attend.

Theater Critic Lauren Yarger

Theater Critic Lauren Yarger

My Bio

Lauren Yarger has written, directed and produced numerous shows and special events for both secular and Christian audiences. She co-wrote a Christian musical version of “A Christmas Carol” which played to sold-out audiences of over 3,000 in Vermont and was awarded the Vermont Bessie (theater and film awards) for “People’s Choice for Theatre.” She also has written two other dinner theaters, sketches for church services and devotions for Christian artists. Her play concept, "From Reel to Real: The Jennifer O'Neill Story" was presented as part of the League of professional Theatre Women's Julia's reading Room Series in New York. Shifting from reviewing to producing, Yarger owns Gracewell Productions, which produced the Table Reading Series at the Palace Theater in Waterbury, CT. She trained for three years in the Broadway League’s Producer Development Program, completed the Commercial Theater Institute's Producing Intensive and other training and produced a one-woman musical about Mary Magdalene that toured nationally and closed with an off-Broadway run. She was a Fellow at the National Critics Institute at the O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, CT. She wrote reviews of Broadway and Off-Broadway theater (the only ones you can find in the US with an added Christian perspective) at http://reflectionsinthelight.blogspot.com/.

She is editor of The Connecticut Arts Connection (http://ctarts.blogspot.com), an award-winning website featuring theater and arts news for the state. She was a contributing editor for BroadwayWorld.com. She previously served as theater reviewer for the Manchester Journal-Inquirer, Connecticut theater editor for CurtainUp.com and as Connecticut and New York reviewer for American Theater Web.

She is a Co-Founder of the Connecticut Chapter of the League of Professional Theatre Women. She is a former vice president and voting member of The Drama Desk.

She is a freelance writer and playwright (member Dramatists Guild of America). She is a member if the The Outer Critics Circle (producer of the annual awards ceremony) and a member of The League of Professional Theatre Women, serving as Co-Founder of the Connecticut Chapter. Yarger was a book reviewer for Publishers Weekly A former newspaper editor and graduate of the University of Missouri’s School of Journalism, Yarger also worked in arts management for the Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts, the Hartford Symphony Orchestra and served for nine years as the Executive Director of Masterwork Productions, Inc. She lives with her husband in West Granby, CT. They have two adult children.

Copyright

All material is copyright 2008- 2024 by Lauren Yarger. Reviews and articles may not be reprinted without permission. Contact reflectionsinthelight@gmail.com

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Key to Content Notes:

God's name taken in vain -- means God or Jesus is used in dialogue without speaking directly to or about them.

Language -- means some curse words are used. "Minor" usually means the words are not too strong or that it only occurs once or twice throughout the show.

Strong Language -- means some of the more heavy duty curse words are used.

Nudity -- means a man or woman's backside, a man's lower front or a woman's front are revealed.

Scantily clad -- means actors' private areas are technically covered, but I can see a lot of them.

Sexual Language -- means the dialogue contains sexually explicit language but there's no action.

Sexual Activity -- means a man and woman are performing sexual acts.

Adultery -- Means a married man or woman is involved sexually with someone besides their spouse. If this is depicted with sexual acts on stage, the list would include "sexual activity" as well.

Sex Outside of Marriage -- means a man and woman are involved sexually without being married. If this is depicted sexually on stage, the list would include "sexual activity" as well.

Homosexuality -- means this is in the show, but not physically depicted.

Homosexual activity -- means two persons of the same sex are embracing/kissing. If they do more than that, the list would include "sexual activity" as well.

Cross Dresser -- Means someone is dressing as the opposite sex. If they do more than that on stage the listing would include the corresponding "sexual activity" and/or "homosexual activity" as well.

Cross Gender -- A man is playing a female part or a woman is playing a man's part.

Suggestive Dancing -- means dancing contains sexually suggestive moves.

Derogatory (category added Fall 2012) Language or circumstances where women or people of a certain race are referred to or treated in a negative and demeaning manner.

Other content matters such as torture, suicide, or rape will be noted, with details revealed only as necessary in the review itself.

The term "throughout" added to any of the above means it happens many times throughout the show.

Reviewing Policy

I receive free seats to Broadway and Off-Broadway shows made available to all voting members of the Outer Critics Circle. Journalistically, I provide an unbiased review and am under no obligation to make positive statements. Sometimes shows do not make tickets available to reviewers. If these are shows my readers want to know about I will purchase a ticket. If a personal friend is involved in a production, I'll let you know, but it won't influence a review. If I feel there is a conflict, I won't review their portion of the production.

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