Servant Stage’s ‘Ragtime’ opens Friday as an ‘epic work’ | Entertainment

While Ragtime is set in the early 20th century, its plot sounds 2022.

The show follows diverse communities, from African Americans to immigrants and women to the working class, as they pursue the American Dream and confront prejudice and injustice.

That’s why Servant Stage, a nonprofit Lancaster County theater company, chose to produce the musical this fall. Production runs from September 16 to October. 2 At the Performing Arts Center at the Lancaster Mennonite School.

“Although the story takes place more than a hundred years ago, it remains incredibly relevant and engaging,” said theater executive director Johnathan Bauer. “At Servant Stage, we look for programming that inspires, educates, challenges and entertains, and Ragtime does it all.”

Ragtime is based on EL Doctorow’s 1975 novel of the same name, which was adapted for stage in 1996, with music by Stephen Flaherty, lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, Terrence McNally wrote a book.

When Bauer’s team decided to make “Ragtime,” they decided to go big.

“It’s an epic production full of spectacular, massive production numbers, stunning set designs and gorgeous period costumes,” Ball said.

There is a real T-model Ford and Jazz piano on stage. A carousel installation moves the action with the feel of a giant carousel, with a runway show of some 200 era outfits, from grand white lace gowns and sleek suits to the rags of poor immigrants.

But the plot of the show is equally grand. Its fictional characters navigate a rapidly changing world, including real-life tycoons exercising their power, Jewish immigrants seeking a new start in life, women trying to find their place, workers defending the right to safe working conditions, and those who continue to work hard. African American. Facing equality biases and barriers.

“Ragtime” fictional characters rub shoulders with real historical figures of the time, such as escape artist and magician Harry Houdini, political activist and anarchist Emma Goldman, African-American People leader and speaker Booker T. Washington, industrialist and automaker Henry Ford, financier JP Morgan, Gibson Girl model Evelyn Nesbit, architect Stanford White and millionaire murderer Harry Thaw.

High society’s “crime of the century” occurred in June 1906, when millionaire Thaw killed famed architect Stanford White in a fit of jealousy over his past relationship with Thaw’s glamorous wife Nesbit. The sensationalism of the trial has dominated headlines across the country for more than a year.

“You can see that by 2022, we’re still dealing with many of the same issues that affected people in the early 1900s, such as crime, prejudice and human rights, but on a different level,” Ball said.

There were moments of hope and hope, too, as Coalhouse Walker Jr. sang to his beloved Sarah about life “on the wheels of dreams,” the times began to roll, and anyone could get where he wanted to go if he had There is fire in his soul.”

Sadly, these hopes run counter to the realities of enduring racism and prejudice. Little Walker’s hope turned into revenge.

“Ragtime” will feature a large ensemble cast of more than 50 local and regional performers, including Joshua William Green as Little Coalhouse Walker, Kelly Jo Smith as Sarah, Mother Sarah Zayn as his father, David Deere as his father, and Andrew Zayn Hoover as Tateh and Taylor as his younger brother.

Wally Calderon is the artistic director, Reji Woods is the assistant director, and Brandon Cameron is the assistant choreographer. Caleb Heckman, Music Director, will conduct the 12-piece orchestra with a Tony Award-winning score.

“The music of ‘Ragtime’ is incredible,” Bauer said. One of his favorite songs is “Our Children,” about the bond between the graceful New Rochelle mother’s young child and Latvian immigrant Tate.

Parents whose fate brought us together, looking at their children on the beach, singing: “The children run so fast…to the future…from the past. How they dance, not embarrassed and alone. Listen to themselves music.”

With its hymn to the American Dream, Ragtime strives to deliver on its promise of the future. Even in the face of failure, Coalhouse Walker Jr. is looking to a better future for his young son, telling his followers to “Go out and tell our story, let it ring in the distance, let them hear your voice…  “.