I first saw the musical, Ragtime, several years ago at the Dogwood Dell Festival of the Arts. Both my girls were still in elementary school. I had seen the 1994 film, but had not seen the musical. It was an excellent production, but something I remember so clearly was a question both my young girls asked me at intermission. To give you a little reference, Ragtime focuses on America in 1906, and how the lives of three different groups of people (Wealthy white Americans, African Americans and Immigrants) intersect and the challenges and tragedies they face. There is a scene in the show where the young African American couple (Coalhouse and Sarah) are driving home from a picnic with their baby, and they are stopped by three white fireman, and told they are not allowed to pass. Coalhouse sends Sarah and the baby away, and tells the men he is going to get a policeman. When he returns, the car (Coalhouse's brand new Model-T Ford) has been destroyed, and a pile of human excrement has been left on the driver's seat. It's a hard scene to watch. When intermission came, both my girls asked me why those men were being so mean to Coalhouse. I was so proud that they didn't understand hatred and cruelty to someone simply because they were a different race.
My next experience with the musical came in 2008 when I had the amazing experience of being in the Ensemble of a Staged Concert of Ragtime as a fundraiser for a local theatre company. Ragtime is the kind of musical that's a roller coaster ride. You get strapped in at the opening number, and you just better hold on until the ride comes to a complete stop. The songs will make you feel joy and sadness, anger and triumph. To be able to create the vocal sound with a wonderful group of talented people is still one of the fondest memories I have of my 50 year theatre career.
And the third experience I have had with this awesome work was just 3 nights ago. I love this musical! I have to say it is probably my favorite musical. There are so many numbers in this show that can only be described as thrilling! When I was doing the concert mentioned above, I had never really listened to the soundtrack, but as the concert was a fundraiser, we were all volunteering our time. There was not a lot of rehearsal time, and so my love affair with the soundtrack began as I listened on repeat to familiarize myself with the score. When I heard that Ragtime was part of Arlington, VA's Signature Theater's 2023 season, I really wanted to go! Then I found out that one of my oldest and dearest friends was playing the pivotal role of Tateh, the Jewish immigrant. Ok, now I had to go! Easier said than done. Tickets to anything at Signature Theater are out of my price range. Add to that my trying to finance a wedding. Then add to that needing money for Christmas presents. I was heartbroken! I had only seen 2 other shows at Signature before, and they were stellar! How could I miss what I knew would be a phenomenal production of my favorite musical? My oldest daughter to the rescue! I turned 60 in October, and she gifted me 2 tickets, and so last Tuesday night, we made our trek up 95 North to Signature Theater. When I say that watching this show was a spiritual experience, I am not exaggerating. The cast was superb! As the opening number began to swell to it's climactic ending, my daughter and I were both squeezing each other's knees trying to contain the pure excitement we felt, and those feelings didn't stop until the final bow was taken. I was weeping, sometimes because of sadness, and sometimes because I was so moved by the beauty and the emotion of the music. Both my daughter and I shouted "Whoos!" after almost every number as the packed audience broke into thunderous applause. I had to keep myself from giving a standing ovation all through the show. When the show finally did end, I, along with most of the audience, was on my feet applauding and cheering! There is something about live theatre that just can't be recreated by watching a film or television show. It is the energy in the room, and the collective experience of everyone performing and everyone watching. The other thing about this show is that it is so poignant, and sadly, it is very relevant to the world we live in today. Unfortunately those 2 little girls that couldn't understand why people were being cruel to other people have seen too many examples of it over these past 13 years. There is a moment in the show, the last number before intermission, where something awful and tragic has happened, and we are grieving with the characters, and they sing a song called Till We Reach That Day. The lyrics are:
"There's a day of hope
May I live to see,
When our hearts are happy
And our souls are free.
Let the new day dawn,
Oh, Lord, I pray.
We'll never get to Heaven
Till we reach that day."
Theatre moves us. Theatre inspires us. It makes us feel and think. This production of Ragtime does all of those things. There is something that happens at the very beginning of the show that I am sure was a directorial choice, and it was brilliant. The set is very minimal, and it uses levels with a sort of balcony and 2 spiral staircases that lead up to it on either side of the stage. There is a banner hung from the railing of that balcony that says "E Pluribus Unum," the motto of the United States of America adopted in 1776. The literal translation is Out of many, One. As the opening number, introducing all 3 groups that I first mentioned, ends, the banner is detached and drops to the stage floor. I loved that subtle statement of foreshadowing. It only runs through the first week in January. I wish it could run for much longer than that because everyone needs to see it. Maybe if more people did, we could all get back to the innocence of those 2 little girls who couldn't understand hatred and cruelty for someone different than themselves. Maybe we could finally "reach that day."
