Ragtime

Reviewed by Katie Buenneke
Pasadena Playhouse
Extended through March 9

Ragtime has got to be up there with Oklahoma! as one of the most undeniably American musicals of all time, and it has finally come home to Southern California. Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty’s musical made its U.S. premiere at the now-demolished Shubert Theatre in Century City in 1997, before opening on Broadway the following year. The musical, which takes place at and just after the turn of the 20^th century, feels timelier now than at the time of its premiere.

Based on E.L. Doctorow’s novel of the same name, Ragtime follows three groups as they intersect and overlap: Black Americans, as exemplified by Coalhouse Walker, Jr. (Clifton Duncan) and Sarah (Bryce Charles); Jewish immigrants, as exemplified by Tateh (Marc Ginsburg); and W.A.S.P.s, as exemplified by Mother (Shannon Warne). The scope of the show is huge, and best served by a large, lavish production. The version now playing at the Pasadena Playhouse certainly delivers on the scope, with a full orchestra and a cast of 21; but it falters slightly in providing the needed lavishness.

The best thing about Ragtime is Ahrens and Flaherty’s score, which is rousing and delightful as ever when sung by the capable cast here. David Lee’s direction isn’t particularly innovative, though the necessity of innovation with a show like Ragtime is debatable; on one hand, the show ran in a prominent Los Angeles theater for nearly a year; on the other, that was over two decades ago, and there are plenty of people who haven’t seen the musical before. Regardless, this doesn’t feel like a daring reimagining so much as a circumspect restaging of an often-overlooked piece from the American musical repertoire.

Duncan and Charles run away with the show, in spite of mitigating circumstances. (Sunday’s evening performance felt more like a dress rehearsal than opening night, with significant, recurring sound issues, missed cues, and a slight wardrobe malfunction.) But when Duncan and Charles sing as Coalhouse and Sarah, separately or together, time seems to stop, and the audience is transported by a dopamine-filled rush of delicious notes and rich harmonies. To be fair, they’re tasked with singing the best-written songs in the show, but they acquit themselves so well.

Yet as well-served as the cast is by the score, they’re shortchanged by Terence McNally’s book. Perhaps it’s due to the difficulties of adapting a 330-page novel into 150 minutes of stage action, but the second act feels overly melodramatic, with multiple characters taking broad actions without textual justification. There’s an idea set up in the first act about the character of Little Boy (Luké Barbato Smith) that never pays off, which is unsatisfying.

Sadly, though, the bones of the story are remarkably resonant in 2019. There are still well-educated, closed-minded white people, just as those portrayed in this musical; and bigots are, once more, openly flaunting their anti-black racism, anti-Semitism, and anti-immigrant sentiments. In the opening song, the cast sings, “It was the music of something beginning, an era exploding, a century spinning.” It’s impossible to listen to those words set to such harmonious chords and not think of the disharmony they still aptly describe today.

Pasadena Playhouse, 39 S. El Molino Ave., Pasadena; Tues.-Fri. at 8 p.m.; Sat. at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m.; Sun. at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.; through Mar 9. PasadenaPlayhouse.org. Running time: two hours and 45 minutes, with a 15-minute intermission.