Avon Lake Press
January 21, 2009

"Ragtime": A Real Drama in a Very Real Musical

With E.L. Doctorow¹s novel as its source, the musical "Ragtime" covers a wide swath of American culture in the first years of the 20th century, reminding us that many of the issues then are still with us today. The story combines three fictional families and adds a sprinkling of portraits of real-life celebrities from that era. Ragtime music is an original American musical form which enjoyed its peak popularity between 1897 and 1918. Ragtime was the first truly American music, even predating jazz.

"Ragtime, the musical" unfolds in a variety of turn-of-the century settings, such as Ellis Island, Broadway, Harlem, Penn Station, Atlantic City and Manhattan's Lower East Side. As Mighty Goliath Productions presents ''Ragtime'' when it opens on February 27th, there will be a crowd of true-life historical characters onstage: Booker T. Washington, Emma Goldman, Harry Houdini, Evelyn Nesbit ("the girl on the red velvet swing"), Stanford White, Harry K. Thaw, Henry Ford, J.P. Morgan, and Admiral Peary. These and other figures from early in America's 20th century will flicker in and out of the show. In fact, the lives of these influential men and women will intertwine with those of three fictional families: the prosperous Anglo-Saxon¹s of New Rochelle, N.Y.; the enterprising black musician, the woman he loves and their son; and the Jewish immigrant father and his young daughter who seek a sanctuary in the new world.

The clash of races, classes and ideas, and the extremes of poverty and wealth all are set against the period's new music that signaled a new era: Ragtime. With a score by Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens, a full orchestra, and an MGP cast numbering over 80, the musical attempts to portray the creation of modern America nearly a century ago. Next week we¹ll begin to meet some of the real-life people who will portray these exciting characters onstage!

The dates of MGP¹s production of "Ragtime" are February 27, 28, March 1, 6, and 7, in the Avon Lake Daniel B. Ross Performing Arts Center. Friday and Saturday performances begin at 8 p.m., and the Sunday matinee begins at 2 p.m. This musical is rated PG-13. Ticket purchases will be available beginning Jan. 30th at local venues (including The Press), at the door on the nights of performances, and online through MGP¹s website at www.mightygoliath.com. ###