Book: Terrence McNally
Lyrics: Lynn Ahrens
Music: Stephen Flaherty
Director: Hannah Chissick
Of all the musicals Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty have created together, which include Once on this Island, Seussical, Dessa Rose and Anastasia among others, Ragtime remains their strongest and most emotionally involving.
Based on EL Doctorow’s novel of the same name, the musical is set in the early 1900s as immigrant “rags” ships arrive on Ellis Island. The white ruling classes, already at odds with America’s black population, now have other minorities to demonise as well. Like the source material, Terrence McNally’s book follows three families – an affluent family from New Rochelle in upstate New York, piano player Coalhouse Walker and his girlfriend Sarah, and Jewish immigré Tateh and his daughter – and, as their lives intertwine in various ways, examines the cultural and prejudicial lines with which America was, and continues to be, drawn.
And as if that wasn’t enough story to pack into the musical’s running time, historical figures are also woven into the narrative. Businessmen Henry Ford and JP Morgan have cameo roles, with meatier representation from escapologist Harry Houdini, political activist Emma Goldman, performer-turned-celebrity Evelyn Nesbit and the influential Black orator and campaigner Booker T Washington.
A lot to cram in, then, even with a three-hour running time. Director Hannah Chissick does well to shepherd a cast of 29 young people into telling the show’s story with brisk clarity. A further 22 orchestra performers under musical director David Randall bring out the majesty in Flaherty’s score, switching effortlessly from the piano-led syncopation of the light, breezy Ragtime style to huge swells of emotional complexity and heartbreak.
The emotional core of the piece is Lucy Carter’s Mother who, after being left back in New Rochelle by her itinerant, amateur explorer husband (Robert Merriam), finds Sarah’s baby abandoned in her garden, and takes in both child and mother. Carter delivers the required amount of compassion and forthrightness without ever tipping the scale into becoming the “white saviour” her representation could become.
She is complemented by Laurie Jones as her son, Edgar, whose charismatic precocity shines throughout. Edgar’s gift for precognition, both in world events (his frequent cries of “Warn the Duke!” presage the events that would trigger World War I just a few years later) and in his family life are the musical’s only nod to some sort of magical realism, delivered with assured confidence by Jones.
Also impressive is Katloe Masole as Sarah, who gets the best of the show’s powerful ballads in Your Daddy’s Son. As she sings to the baby she initially rejected but is learning to love, Masole’s voice is so wrought with emotion that sometimes the musicality of her tone wavers. But committing to the heart of a piece over a rigid representation of melody is never the wrong choice, and on those occasions where Masole’s voice breaks, one can hear hearts doing the same thing.
Zolani Dube’s Coalhouse, a placid piano player goaded into violent action by white thugs protected by the country’s systemic racism, makes a similarly impressive impact. So too does Joseph Beach as his tormentor, making the character of Conklim a truly monstrous figure.
Other storylines fade where previous professional productions have been able to get more out of them. Zaya Tserenbat’s Evelyn and Jack Etheridge’s Houdini feel the most short-changed, although both performers make a good impression with their contributions.
Ultimately, this is a production focusing on the core stories. And in those, Sam Sayan as Tateh, the Latvian immigrant who not only survives the dark side of the American dream but thrives as a pioneer in the nascent film industry, gives a pivotal, mesmerising performance.
Ahrens and Flaherty’s musical demands excellence from every member of its large cast, and the National Youth Music Theatre’s production truly delivers. The resulting work speaks as strongly to cultural divisions of class and race in the mid-21st century as it does of those same issues some 120 years earlier. Ragtime is essential viewing in any production, and the same is true for the version performed by this impressive young cast.
Continues until 27 August 2022
