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In Which We See Ragtime
We saw the Ragtime musical at the Berkeley Playhouse today.
It's based on a 1975 novel by E.L. Doctorow, which I read three and a half years ago, after I saw another play called "Harry Thaw Hates Everyone", which features some of the same characters (because Ragtime features several real-life characters).
After I see an adaptation of a novel I often go back to the original source to read it, because it tends to provide deeper insights that you can portray on a screen or stage. It's extremely rare that I see an adaptation and it gives me insights into the original source, but that's certainly the case with Ragtime.
You see, Ragtime is the story of a rich New York family living in the first years of the 20th century. But it also touches upon the stories of many other people, including an immigrant, his daughter, and any number of famous personages (including Evelyn Nesbit, who is the real-life character shared with "Harry Thaw Hates Everyone"). When I read the novel, I loved the historic context of Ragtime (and the correlations I could draw with Our Town, a play about the first years of the 20th century that still haunts me). I liked the patchwork view of the time. But those other stories felt like vignettes, and I didn't feel they cohered into a novel.
That's because I was missing the music. The ragged rhythms. And the play Ragtime used them wonderfully. There were any number of times when a song started out with one group of people, and then more and more groups were brought in, first as counterpoints, then as harmony. That was Doctorow's point, made brilliantly, audibly obvious by the amazing music of Ragtime: we are a discordant, divided nation of the affluent, the immigrants, and the blacks (to note the three major groups that are featured in the Ragtime musical), but we have the potential to come together.
Overall, Ragtime was one of the most amazing performances I've seen at the Berkeley Playhouse. It apparently has their largest cast (because they couldn't use the same actors for different roles as they often do, because the whole ensemble came together for many songs). It had some of the most intricate stagework (with lots of mobile platforms that were constantly moved, even during the scenes). It had great writing (which moved between scene and narrative). It had moments of wonderful humor. And it had songs which were mainly memorable for the bombastic renditions of ragtime melodies that often featured the entire cast working together. It was a play that almost left me exhausted because it was so wonderful but also so active.
And the topics are unfortunately very true to America 110 years after the setting of the play, 40 years after the writing of the novel, and 20 years after the production of the musical. Racism, bigotry, the plight of immigrants, misogyny, the reduced role of women in society. Love, hatred, division, unity.
It was an awesome experience. Go see it. Though probably not with young children.
It's based on a 1975 novel by E.L. Doctorow, which I read three and a half years ago, after I saw another play called "Harry Thaw Hates Everyone", which features some of the same characters (because Ragtime features several real-life characters).
After I see an adaptation of a novel I often go back to the original source to read it, because it tends to provide deeper insights that you can portray on a screen or stage. It's extremely rare that I see an adaptation and it gives me insights into the original source, but that's certainly the case with Ragtime.
You see, Ragtime is the story of a rich New York family living in the first years of the 20th century. But it also touches upon the stories of many other people, including an immigrant, his daughter, and any number of famous personages (including Evelyn Nesbit, who is the real-life character shared with "Harry Thaw Hates Everyone"). When I read the novel, I loved the historic context of Ragtime (and the correlations I could draw with Our Town, a play about the first years of the 20th century that still haunts me). I liked the patchwork view of the time. But those other stories felt like vignettes, and I didn't feel they cohered into a novel.
That's because I was missing the music. The ragged rhythms. And the play Ragtime used them wonderfully. There were any number of times when a song started out with one group of people, and then more and more groups were brought in, first as counterpoints, then as harmony. That was Doctorow's point, made brilliantly, audibly obvious by the amazing music of Ragtime: we are a discordant, divided nation of the affluent, the immigrants, and the blacks (to note the three major groups that are featured in the Ragtime musical), but we have the potential to come together.
Overall, Ragtime was one of the most amazing performances I've seen at the Berkeley Playhouse. It apparently has their largest cast (because they couldn't use the same actors for different roles as they often do, because the whole ensemble came together for many songs). It had some of the most intricate stagework (with lots of mobile platforms that were constantly moved, even during the scenes). It had great writing (which moved between scene and narrative). It had moments of wonderful humor. And it had songs which were mainly memorable for the bombastic renditions of ragtime melodies that often featured the entire cast working together. It was a play that almost left me exhausted because it was so wonderful but also so active.
And the topics are unfortunately very true to America 110 years after the setting of the play, 40 years after the writing of the novel, and 20 years after the production of the musical. Racism, bigotry, the plight of immigrants, misogyny, the reduced role of women in society. Love, hatred, division, unity.
It was an awesome experience. Go see it. Though probably not with young children.