Moonlight Stage Productions does it again, with a smashing version of the complex, three-hour but brilliant musical “Ragtime.”
Based on the 1975 novel by E.L. Doctorow, the show was nominated for 13 Tonys in 1998, winning four.
“Ragtime” memorializes both the musical form and the experience of being or becoming American in the early part of the 20th century in and around New York City. With a book by Terrence McNally, music by Stephen Flaherty and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, all you need is a fabulous, huge cast, an orchestra to match and a terrific director to put it all together.
John Vaughan has the directorial duties, Elan McMahan leads a 26-member orchestra, the tech team put together some movable set pieces and great backdrops (and a crew to manipulate them), and the stunning 24-member cast does the rest.
The plot involves three groups: a lily-white well-to-do family, a Jewish Latvian immigrant and his young daughter and an African American ragtime musician and his wife.
We get emotionally involved early on, after lily-white Father (Jason Webb) books on with Admiral Peary for a trip to the North Pole, leaving Mother (Bets Malone) alone with their little son (Daxton Bethany).
One day while gardening, Mother finds a tiny package and realizes it’s a black baby. She is unable to find out at first who the mother is, but when she does, she takes the mother named Sarah (Brooke Henderson) in to give them both a chance at life.
When it turns out that this baby is the son of ragtime player Coalhouse Walker, Jr. (Charl Brown), Mother tries to get them together.
Meanwhile, a ragtime entertainer named Evelyn Nesbit (Emma Nossal) captivates Mother’s Younger Brother (Jake Bradford) and gets in her own trouble.
Latvian immigrant Tateh (Geno Carr*) is trying to figure out how to make a living in this new country for himself and daughter Little Girl (Leila Manuel). But he is horrified when a wealthy American comes by and offers to buy the girl.
Historical figures come and go: the likes of educator Booker T. Washington (Bill Bland), magician Harry Houdini (Evan White), entrepreneurs J.P. Morgan (Berto Fernández) and Henry Ford (Johnny Fletcher) and Arctic explorers Admiral Peary (Johnny Fletcher) and Matthew Henson (E.Y. Washington).
Even famous anarchist and political writer Emma Goldman (Gerilyn Brault) shows up, though we don’t hear that she emigrated from what is now Lithuania in 1885 and was deported from the U.S. in 1919 by J. Edgar Hoover, who called her “one of the most dangerous women in America.”
The story of America is one of aspiration and disappointment, luck and its lack, kindness and beastly behavior. The whirlwind that is “Ragtime” shows it all, and Moonlight more than does it justice. This is a brilliant show.
The details
“Ragtime, the Musical” plays through September 3, 2022 at Moonlight Amphitheatre, 1250 Vale Terrace Drive in Vista.
Shows August 17-28: Wednesday through Sunday at 8 p.m.;
August 31-Sept. 3: Wednesday through Saturday at 8 p.m.
Gates open at 6:30 p.m.
Tickets: moonlightstage.com
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