BWW Reviews: Shaw Festival's RAGTIME Dazzles

“It was the music of something beginning,” states the lyric in the opening number of the musical Ragtime. While recently attending the Shaw Festival’s scintillating new production of this musical that line resonated as I thought back to the musical’s World Premiere in North York in December of 1996. That was a time when all eyes in the theatrical world were on Toronto as a birthplace for new productions.

Producer Garth Drabinsky was looking for a follow-up to his acclaimed revival of the Jerome Kern-Oscar Hammerstein musical Show Boat. A team that included composer Stephen Flaherty, lyricist Lynn Ahrens, book writer Terrence McNally, and director Frank Galati set about transforming E.L.Doctorow’s 1975 novel Ragtime into a powerful new musical play. Drabinsky was sparing no expense to ensure this musical would have everything: spectacular visuals, a compelling story, a richly melodic score built on the rhythms of early 20th Century Ragtime music, and dream cast including Brian Stokes Mitchell, Audra McDonald, Marin Mazzie and Mark Jacoby. The roar of approval that erupted from the opening night crowd was like nothing Toronto had heard or seen in many years.

Much the same reaction greets the Shaw Festival’s consummate new production. In Niagara-on-the-Lake the buzz about Shaw’s 2012 season seems to consist of one question: “Have you seen Ragtime yet?”

Happily the performance more than lives up to the almost impossibly high expectations. Director Jackie Maxwell and a dedicated team of designers, performers and musicians do everything in their power to ensure that the show delivers a spectacular emotional roller-coaster ride balancing dazzling entertainment, with a serious story, and sparkling musical performances.
Music director Paul Sportelli does his usual exemplary job of bringing out the rich colors in Stephen Flaherty’s score and weaving them into a musical tapestry that seamlessly blends with Terrence McNally’s script and Lynn Ahrens’ lyrics to usher us into the world of early 20th century America.
Right from the first tentative piano notes that introduce the musical’s lengthy prologue sequence, you can feel the refreshing optimism that had taken root in the U.S.A. at the time. “An era exploding, a century spinning” sings the ensemble with excited enthusiasm, completely unmindful of the difficult times ahead.

McNally’s skillful adaptation of Doctorow’s novel centers on a white upper middle class family – so generic that the characters are not given names and merely referred to by their familial positions – Mother, Father, Mother’s Younger Brother, etc. Doctorow later said that he viewed these people as the real historic characters and people like Emma Goldman, Harry Houdini, Henry Ford and others as fictional. In the prologue this family along with their friends and neighbors pose for photographs while celebrating life in a town where “there were no Negros and there were no immigrants.” All of this is about to change.

When the ragtime musician Coalhouse Walker Jr. introduces the family to the sound of this “New Music,” they are not quite sure of what to make of it. Father in particular, despite being a self-admitted amateur explorer expects the world to stay the same. “Nothing much happens in a year” he assures mother as he departs on an expedition to the North Pole. Benedict Campbell as Father superbly shows how his stalwart beliefs are challenged and altered by the sweep of the changing times. His final conversation with Coalhouse is played with a slight feeling of sad resignation that beautifully underscores the poignancy of his transformation.

Mark Andrew Lawrence began his broadcasting career as music director for St. Catharines radio station CHRE. After six years there and eight years at classical station CFMX, he created FRONT ROW CENTRE to supply theatre reviews and articles to magazines, newspapers, and broadcasters across the greater Toronto area. Mark Andrew Lawrence maintains an extensive collection of over 3,500 Broadway show recordings in all formats (78 RPM singles, 45 RPM album, 10 & 12-inch Lps, and Compact discs) dating back to the early years of the 20th century.

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