Ragtime the Musical
June 13–July 1
This summer’s musical selection at the Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival is Ragtime, a sweeping historical portrait of an era rife with issues of inequality and segregation that are topical from one century to the next.
Capturing the promise and problems contorting America at the turn of the last century, Ragtime is based on a novel by E.L. Doctorow that weaves historical figures and facts in with fictional characters to create a vibrant context for social themes in a changing country. Through three groups—a wealthy white family, a young African-American couple from Harlem and a Latvian father and daughter entering the ghettos of the Lower East Side through Ellis Island—we experience a nation in tumult with a ravishing musical score. “The syncopated rhythms of ragtime,” says director Dennis Razze, “are blended with beautiful ballads and soaring anthems to create a sound that is infectious and that will linger on well after the curtain has come down.”
That curtain comes down on a cast attired in “literally several hundred” of the same costumes designed for the original production by Tony Award-winning designer Santo Loquasto, and a set influenced by the wrought ironwork and architecture of the Gilded Age. Lighting by the masterful Eric Haugen will create environments and moods for settings like political rallies, the Ford assembly line, train rides and journeys by steamship.
Although Ragtime questions America’s promise to be a land of opportunity and deals in some heavy subject matter, it’s also a hugely entertaining musical show. “The challenges faced by these characters will not seem so different from those we face today,” says Razze, “and I believe that audiences that come to Ragtime will share a powerful experience that is ultimately uplifting and full of hope.”
$25–$62 | Showtimes vary | Labuda Center Main Stage, DeSales University | 2755 Station Ave., Center Valley | 610.282.9455 | pashakespeare.org
